Fernando Reyes American

Overview

Fernando Reyes’s extensive resume of national and regional exhibitions was built from his Jingletown studio in Oakland, California, where he has worked since 1999. Born and raised in Fresno, California, Reyes spent his childhood summers picking grapes with his family. The brown kraft paper used to dry the sun-drenched fruit became his first source of drawing paper. Like many artists, he was a creator from an early age. After almost two decades working in San Francisco as a professional, Reyes left the Golden State to study at the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a BFA in painting. His early career was defined by an academic style of painting, heavily dedicated to figuration and landscapes. In 2014, Reyes’ work shifted profoundly after seeing a Matisse exhibition called “The Cut-Outs” at MoMA. Reconsidering the painted compositions he had spent his career refining, he began to explore new mediums. Just like Matisse, he found that composing with paper cut-outs was a completely different way of creating and one that opened new avenues for exploration. In the subsequent years, he has integrated paper cut-outs and printmaking into his artistic practice. He allows these new mediums to work separately and flow together, expanding his visual language from representations to complete abstraction.

 

Over the course of his career, Reyes has built a diverse portfolio and an extensive exhibition history. In 2018, he was honored with a retrospective at the Mexican Museum of Art in San Francisco. His work is part of the collections of Stanford University Medical Center, Alameda County Arts Collection and the Lesbian and Gay Museum of Arts in NY, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. Today, he splits time between his studios in Oakland and the Sierra foothills, finding inspiration in the diversity of his surroundings.

Works
  • Fernando Reyes, Poetic Grace XII, 2024
    Poetic Grace XII, 2024
  • Fernando Reyes, Poetic Grace XIII, 2024
    Poetic Grace XIII, 2024
  • Fernando Reyes, Dazzle, 2023
    Dazzle, 2023
  • Fernando Reyes, Gracia Solitario, 2023
    Gracia Solitario, 2023
  • Fernando Reyes, Swirl II, 2023
    Swirl II, 2023
  • Fernando Reyes, Martini, 2022
    Martini, 2022
  • Fernando Reyes, Prudence, 2021
    Prudence, 2021
  • Fernando Reyes, Winter Oak, 2020
    Winter Oak, 2020
Biography

Born in Fresno, CA

Lives and works in Oakland, CA

 

EDUCATION

 

1997 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, B.F.A

1993 San Francisco City College

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2023

REALMS, Pamela Walsh Gallery, Palo Alto CA

2021

RHYTHMS, Pamela Walsh Gallery, Palo Alto CA

2020

THIS LAND, Mercury Twenty Gallery, Oakland, CA

2019

Looking Back Cutting Forward, Mercury Twenty Gallery, Oakland, CA

Construct/Deconstruct/Reconstruct, Bond Latin Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2018

The Figure Progresses, Mercury Twenty Gallery, Oakland, CA

An Artist’s Evolution 1991 - 2017 (Retrospective), The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA

2017

Making the Cut, Mercury20 Gallery, Oakland, CA

2016

Paper Dolls, Mercury20 Gallery, Oakland, CA

2015

Dance Dream Drama, Mercury20 Gallery, Oakland, CA

The Figure, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2012

Incarnate, Nieto Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

Form, RiskPress Gallery, Sebastopol, CA

2009

Emblematic Ink - Drawings of Tattooed Men, Underglass, San Francisco, CA

Sweet Dreams, Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007

Bodies In Relief, RiskPress Gallery, West Hollywood, CA

2006

Body, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA

Body Language, Studio 26, Oakland, CA

2005

Introducing, JSL Fine Arts Gallery, Newport News, VA

 
Exhibitions
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