Who are you and what do you do?
Fausto Fernandez: I am a fine artist. My works include a variety of mixed-media collages, paintings, public art, and community engagement projects. My studio creations are colorful, geometric, mixed-media collages on canvas, photo transfers of people and crowds and aviation renderings.
How did you get your start?
I studied graphic design and painting at the University of Texas in El Paso. A year after graduating in 2002, I moved to Phoenix where I continued to make art and completed a non-paid internship at the Scottsdale Public Art program. Thereafter, I was hired to install exhibitions as a contract museum preparator at The Heard Museum and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). I later became an employee at the Arizona State University Art Museum for 5 years.
Working at the museums was my introduction to the Phoenix art scene, where I met other artists and worked alongside curators with whom I learned professional museum skills. I had the privilege of installing art shows for friends and other artists I admire, and this is how I received insight into the art world and started participating in shows. I moved into my first art studio at The Lodge on Grand Ave in 2002 where I was able to maintain my artist studio for 10 years. I later moved to Los Angeles and I currently live in Anthony, New Mexico.
What inspires you?
Living vicariously through the experiences and challenges of the people I’ve met. They challenge me and provide me with opportunities I didn’t think I was capable of achieving.
What do you like about Arizona?
The Arizona landscapes are beautiful. Arizona is my home away from home; It is where I was able to grow up independently from my family and where I have cultivated a good family of friends. Arizona has seen me fail and succeed, so I owe much of my experience to the 10 years I lived in Phoenix and I love it.
Where can we see you(r) work?
The floor at the Sky Harbor International Airport Sky Train Station in Phoenix, AZ; Turner Carroll Gallery and The Bataan Memorial Building in Santa Fe, NM; City Hall in El Paso, TX; East Rancho Dominguez park Installation in East Compton, CA and my Website and Instagram.
What would you like to accomplish before you die?
I’d like to own a classic car and go on a road trip, build a house with a studio to use as my home base, and travel to find a passion for something new and unexpected.
What is your mantra?
Make a lot of friends everywhere.
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