Fernando Reyes

Fine artist in Oakland's Fruitvale Jingletown Arts District celebrating 24 years of creating art.

At first glance when one comes upon Reyes’s collages, they appear to be active colorful abstract paintings.  However on closer examination, the intricacies of the work engages the viewer with an explosion of cutout elements and the tactile sensation they elicit.  

Initially inspired by Matisse’s “The Cut-outs” Fernando embarked on creating his own paper cut-outs from one of kind “mono-prints”.  These prints in abstract patterns and designs are created by printing from his enormous inventory of cut wood blocks.  Other methods include stenciling and solid color painted rollups of oil based printmaking ink.  Fernando then sources from this inventory of mono-prints when determining what particular shape he will cut and collage into my art project.  All other non collaged areas are painted in oil.  Fernando’s work is an abstracted reflection of a myriad of images that have captured his imagination for years particularly from the Mid-century modern art period.

Art is a second career for Fernando 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 lived in Oakland until 2022.  He currently lives in Somerset in the Sierra Foothills where he has opened his second art studio while maintaining his Jingletown studio in Oakland.

Over the course of his career, Reyes has built a diverse portfolio and an extensive exhibition history. In 2018, he was honored with a retrospective at the Mexican Museum of Art in San Francisco. His work can be found in numerous corporate and private collections nationally.  Today, he splits time between his studios in Oakland and the Sierra foothills, finding inspiration in the diversity of his surroundings.