Fausto Fernandez was born in El Paso,Texas and grew up in Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, until age 25, he currently lives in Phoenix Arizona. The artist has also resided in Anthony, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California.

Fernandez is a mixed media collage artist whose art works include a variety of paintings, public art, and community engagement projects. His paintings employ the use of traditional media, photography and found objects. He layers identifiable subjects with abstract elements in dense arrangements, resulting in large compositions that serve as metaphors for human interaction and behavior. The ideas develop from questioning his upbringing and are inspired by communities and societies that expand beyond his cultural identity. Even though the process and overall themes are generally consistent, he tend to work in series. He has created artworks inspired by mathematical equations, technology, preservation of culture and mythology.

Exhibitions

His work has been selected for exhibitions at the Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, California; McNay Museum of Art in San Antonio; Akron Museum in Ohio; Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona; Tempe Center for the Arts in Arizona; Smithsonian’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York; and Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Museum Permanent Collections

His collages are in the permanent collections at The McNay Museum of Art in San Antonio, Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum, The Heard Museum, The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at The University of Texas at El Paso, Sky Harbor Airport Museum in Phoenix, and The City of El Paso Museum and Cultural Affairs Department.

Public Art

Public art works produced by Fausto Fernandez include the production site-specific artwork at the Scottsdale waterfront in Arizona, which was commissioned by the city of Scottsdale Public Art; the 10,000-square-foot terrazzo floor design at the Sky Train Station at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, commissioned by The City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture; a community arts project and art installation commissioned by Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro California partnered with members of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, as well as pile drivers, bridge dockers, and wharf builders; a permanent installation at the East Rancho Dominguez Park in East Compton California commissioned by The LA County Arts Commission; a sculptural art installation at Helios Educational Foundation in Phoenix Arizona; an immersive public art sculpture for the Alamar park in Avondale Arizona; and in 2022 he presented his first Augmented Reality public art project during Canal Convergence in Scottsdale AZ commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art.

In 2023 Fernandez completed a residency at Art Farm Iowa, Northwood IA, and a residency at Camino al Arte in San Miguel De Allende in Mexico. He was the Border Art Residency in La Union, New Mexico in 2014, and artist in residence at the Martin and Lorraine Kaminsky Residency program in Miami Florida in 2016. He currently serves at the advisory council at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, was awarded the Juror’s award for his panting at Visual Syntax at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, and was awarded the “Artist to Work” grant from The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture in 2023.