9 Questions with Fdez

Alex “FDEZ” Fernández is an autodidactic artist who works in various mediums, born in New York, partly raised in the Dominican Republic, and currently living in the Bronx. During his years in the Dominican Republic, he began to be influenced by their artistic carnival colors and traditions and the Costumbrista style. As an adult, Fdez moved back to NYC to attain a B.F.A. in Electronic Design and, after 15 successful years creating designs for others. He decided to pursue his passion, albeit in a different way. He went back to the City College of New York to attain an M.A. in Art Education, instead of a studio art degree. While trying to attain his Master’s degree, he started research into art history, social justice, criticism, and the exploration of various mediums and techniques. This had a severe impact on his artistic practice.

As an autodidactic artist, his practice changed constantly. While he strongly felt connected to being a draftsman, he learned that his art spans many other disciplines and areas. Due to his scholarship, research, and calling as an educator, his practice was not just about painting or drawing in a studio, but rooted in the challenges of building a community of artists and working with them to connect to the larger society, as we look at social-political issues that are the root of the struggles we suffer, especially in the Bronx, where he resides.

What drives his practice now is an openness to possibilities and a willingness to take on new challenges and engage creatively as often and in as many ways as he can. Currently, he is focused on completing a solo exhibition based on our current political bearings, emphasizing using printmaking as a central point for the artwork. The use of printmaking is a form of connecting the artwork to the political scene to assimilate how printmaking, poster art, and propaganda art has had a huge influence in our world history when it comes to political activism and its rhetoric.

www.fdezart.com | @fdez.art

ARTIST STATEMENT

His artwork explores social issues influenced by our current world and infused with a reflection of his divided Dominican/American heritage. It uses surrealism, allegory, sarcasm, satire, symbolism & impactful images to compose works that critique world cultures, religions, and social/political issues from the world we live in, with the intent to capture human emotion in response to these. They also serve as a historical record of our times & struggles as humanity tries to deal with over-population, climate change, and other social, environmental, and scientific issues related to human interaction. His work has been displayed in various group shows around the world, including Italy and New York. His most recent work was part of the Latin-American triennial of New York in January of this year. His work has also been used in publications such as The Hand Magazine, The Blue Bee Gallery Magazine, The Promethean, and the book “Dear Democracy”, for which his artwork was used for the cover.

INTERVIEW

What kind of education or training helped you develop your skillset?

My skillset evolved through my life experiences. As an autodidactic artist, I would pick up skills as I went through everyday life. An example of this is drawing. For me drawing is the foundation of all my art. Although it evolved through my adulthood to be more academic, I began drawing using comic books as a resource. At the age of five, I was mesmerized by comic book art and wanted to emulate it, reading and drawing every comic book I could find. This continued until I was 12. Later in life, as I attended college, I started learning more about artists such as Davinci, Michelangelo, Rafael & Caravaggio, it changes to a more realistic feel. Eventually, I discovered artists such as Ingres, David, Jean Leon Gerome, and Bouguereau and started to practice in their more academic ways.

When discussing printmaking, my biggest influence was my career, as I attained a B.F.A. in Electronic design and multimedia and worked in graphic design for more than ten years. Through those working years, I learned about the history of print and its foundations as an art form used mostly for propaganda and social justice. Later in life, when I went back to college and attained a Master's degree in Art education, I was heavily influenced by the Social justice aspect of the program and began to delve more into creating printmaking artwork. Thus, my printmaking artwork has a very graphic feel, instead of a linear artwork that is the trend for relief prints.

Please describe the intention behind your art. How do you successfully express this intention?

My printmaking artwork explores societal issues influenced by our current world from a political and social aspect. I don't partake in a position (for or against) on the issue my artwork is trying to convey. There is a lot of symbology to be found in them that talks about those responsible, but the main intent is to state the situation alarmingly, to capture human emotion. What response will the viewer have to these? That is what I am interested in. I hope that the response will lead the viewers to start a conversation about these issues that might resolve or at least some change. There needs to shock, and my printmaking artworks focus on that "shock" moment for that to happen. 

How do you approach political themes using prints as your artistic expression?

Unfortunately, we are currently living in a society of change and uncertainty. The old political vanguard refuses to let go, and the new generation and its technology don't understand how to take the reins and lead. This has led to an unprecedented amount of clashes in the last 5-10 years, reaching a climax in the last few years. It seems every day a new social issue is put forth and takes the lead to only be replaced by a new incident the next day. I feel my prints are trying to slow people down and trying to say, "don't forget about yesterday's issue because there is a new one today. Let's look at what is happening and try to deal with it". Historically, prints have been used and are still being used as propaganda and for social activism, and that's why I choose printmaking as an artistic expression for political themes. I look at it as an opportunity to honor those artists who struggled in the past to state their message in prints and let them know that I will keep the struggle alive and this art form.

Where did you get your imagery from? What sources did you use?

Everything comes from my mind. It's part of my creative process. The source is the media or events happening around me. Once I have an idea, I begin with a quick sketch or doodle to look for the right placements. When the sketch is finalized, I look for objects around me or my community to use as an example. If I can't find any, then I search for images I can use and distort online. The difficult part is finding the angles and poses I want for my artwork. That is why when displaying human anatomy, most of the time, I just take pictures of myself or people around me and distort them in photoshop or illustrator before I use that to hand draw the final overall drawing on the matrix. 

Could you talk about your creation process?

My creative process starts with an idea. For the printmaking social-political series, it's usually an event that triggers an image in my mind. An example of this is the piece "Protect and Serve" it was triggered by a video of a police officer in Baltimore, MD, stopping a caucasian lady. When she panicked, the officer stated, "We only kill black people." The first thing to pass through my mind was the taint to the badge, so my initial sketch started with a badge as a centerpiece. Eventually, I started to add elements that reflect on that taint and the issues surrounding it. After the initial trigger image for the event, I go about creating a sketch, and then it evolves into a larger sketch where I start to include imagery or text that is part of the events' discourse. The drawing evolves until I feel I have exhausted every avenue covering the political or social issue or until I feel the image looks aesthetically pleasing. Once the concept is finalized, we move to the printing process that can differ depending on its technique. Every part of my print is taken into consideration and has a meaning. The paper, the technique used, and the colors used to complement the artwork and how it is supposed to reflect on the issue. Going back to my earlier example of "Protect and Serve," you will notice the ink I used was blue. It represents most policing uniforms in the U.S., specifically New York City, and on their self-imposed nickname of "Blue Bloods." The brown paper talks about the stain or dirt on the badge, while screen-print as a technique (clean technique, sharp imagery) is to reflect on the clean posture, demeanor they try to show in public, even though they have some elements of corruption from within. Once the choices have been made, then the printing happens.

What is the hardest part of your creativity? How do you overcome obstacles in new projects?

 Preparing the matrix and printing are the easy parts. The hardest part of the creative process is always the conceptual part. I usually go back and forth, adding and moving objects, placing symbology, and impactful images. I think about how to make the piece allegorical/ironic or satirical. It sometimes takes me a month to finalize one concept.

The best way I have found to overcome an obstacle in a new project is to leave it alone and work on something else. Coming back to the project a day or a few days later usually gives me a fresh new take on the art piece and new ideas that I probably wasn't able to view or initially viewed in a different way.

How have you been so successful with marketing and selling your art during the pandemic time?

The truth is I haven't been that successful. The pandemic has brought about many difficulties and challenges that were unforeseen and unexpected. All of the options currently available are online, and that brings its own challenges as well. Not being represented by a gallery makes it difficult, but I have managed a few sales here and there based on my website and Instagram. Currently, the bulk of my marketing has been done this way. We are all hoping for this pandemic to end so we can return to business as usual.

Any shows, galleries, or publications where our readers can find your work?

As it has been the modus operandi for the pandemic period, my recent print shows have been almost exclusively online from exhibitions organized in various countries in South America. The two most recent are Contingencia Mundial- Mes del Grabado (World Contingency -Month of Printmaking) in the middle of September, which can be seen here.

There was also the Antiimperialist open call at the start of September, which can be seen here.

The most recent publications where readers can find my artwork are BlueBee Magazine (UK) Issue No. 2, Winter 2019. And 2018 The Hand Magazine, (Us) Vol. 21, July 2018.

You can also visit my website and my Instagram for up-to-date artworks and information about my craft.

What's the coolest art tip you've ever received?

The coolest art tip came from a close friend, who is a classically trained artist. He said, "create artwork that interests you, not what people want you to create, unless they are going to buy it, lol." I think we all get lost in the fact that we want to sell our artwork, but we end up doing so many art pieces monotonously trying to sell and eventually end up losing desire for what we're doing. Creating and loving every moment keeps your creativity alive.