Drawing from live models is how Fernando Reyes conveys the beauty strength and sensuality of the human form. The show DANCE – DREAM – DRAMA is very much about body language, or the conscious and unconscious ways in which our bodies communicate often with much richer honesty than verbal language allows. Reyes has a modern and striking aesthetic and his current work, though still essentially representational, reveals steps toward abstraction. Drawings, paintings, and woodcut block prints include single figures as well as complex juxtapositions and overlapping of multiple figures. The show offers a sophisticated take on sensuality, invoking the title themes: dance, dream, drama.
The artist feels his influences are broad in scope but points out that three of the works in this exhibition (Rollicking I, II, and III) were specifically inspired by the Blue Nude pieces seen in a Henri Matisse exhibition The Cut Outs at MoMA in New York in 2014.
Art is a second career for Fernando who spent 17 years in banking in San Francisco. After some years as a self-taught artist he received a BFA in 1997 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has lived and worked in Oakland since 1998. His studio is located in the Jingletown neighborhood at Ford Street Studios.
Reyes’ work is primarily representational and includes oil paintings drawings and prints. Subjects include figurative nudes landscapes and urbanscapes with a primary interest in the human figure. He has exhibited widely both as a solo artists as well as in group shows. His works have been collected regionally nationally and internationally.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Artist Reception: Saturday Nov 14, 4-6 pm (with Artist Talk at 4:30)
Third Thursday on 25th Street: Nov 19th 6-8pm
Art Murmur First Friday: Nov 6th 6-9pm
Art Murmur First Friday: Dec 4th 6-9pm