Fernando Reyes: THIS LAND

In 2018, Fernando and his husband purchased this property they call Fair Oaks seeking a new adventure and a quiet place for future retirement away from the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area.

“This Land” will be Fernando’s final exhibition at Mercury Twenty Gallery. In his exhibition, Fernando will display the colors of spring from his garden in an array of blooming irises in paper cutouts, oil paintings depicting the beauty of the land and a large scale woodcut titled Winter Oak. Fernando’s exhibition brings forth his interpretation of the visual pleasures he sees every time he steps outside his home in the Sierra Foothills.

Art is a second career for FERNANDO REYES who spent 17 years in banking in San Francisco. He began as a self- taught artist, then decided to seek formal art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduating with a BFA in 1997. He then returned to the Bay Area and has lived in Oakland since 1998. Fernando’s studio is located in the Jingletown neighborhood in Oakland at Ford Street Studios.

Throughout the years, Fernando has produced a large and diverse portfolio of artwork. His work has been primarily representational and includes oil paintings, drawings, and printmaking. His primary interest has been depicting the human figure which are straightforward and representational, however In 2014 a visit to MoMA in New York for the Henri Matisse The Cut Outs exhibition made such an impact on Fernando that he embarked on creating his own cut outs. Subsequently taking his art making in the direction of abstract art in both paper cutouts and oil painting.

In January 2018, the Mexican Museum in San Francisco mounted the exhibition An Artist’s Evolution, a retrospective which has elevated Fernando’s exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Fernando has an extensive resume of solo and group exhibitions on a regional and national basis. His work has been acquired for the art collections of Sutter Cathedral Hills Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, Alameda County Arts Collection, Amoco Corporation, Ruth Chris Steakhouse, Tom of Finland Foundation, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, George and Cynthia Miller Wellness Center and numerous private collections.