Fernando Sandoval
Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
1972




“Realism is the least arrogant form of art and the
fone closest to man”
Antonio López
An acute observer of mankind and its surroundings in its day-to-day interaction; a man of few, but precise and concise words. Fernando Sandoval’s detonator for his creations is completely visceral and empirical, with an almost poetic approach to everyday situations. With strong ties to cinema and literature, his pieces are frozen moments from his everyday experiences, unconsciously selected and vivisectioned, but which ultimately, and seen as a whole, narrate a story, a recollection of his interests and things that catch his attention. Fernando acts as an antenna, he collects fragments of his experiences, which he documents through the lens of his ever-present camera, to make them a part of an extensive visual archive, to which he resorts when he feels a need to do so.
Sandoval expresses feelings in his images. His pieces are representations of past events or of situations that are about to happen, but we don’t see them; he removes the obvious to leave us with the doubt or curiosity to discover and feel for ourselves the action that the picture evokes. Hence, the main subject or subjects are not always
represented in the piece, but always present.


He approaches his work in a very cinematographic way:
fragmented, but at the same time connected at some point. Due
to his college education in communications, he uses multiple tools to
create a stage production and synthesize it in an effective way to make us
feel something, as if we were seeing the photogram of a movie, where there is a before and an after, but we don’t see that, he presents a single image of the entire ilm, and leaves to us the task of completing it.
La piscine
180 x 250
acrylic on canvas 2005


This is evident in several of his series of paintings, one of the clearest examples being: short stories, where he combines literature in the form of haikus, or small phrases next to images isolated from their context, captured on completely white, large format canvases. His intent is to present a comment open to the viewer’s interpretation, that triggers something in the viewer that leads him to create his own story through his own experiences and references.
Fernando has his own iconography that repeats in some of his pieces, they are symbols that represent stories; indications that are placed, intentionally or not, and that force us to question their significance and reason for being. This is the game where he feels most comfortable in, letting his pieces speak for him and allowing observers to build their own interpretations from the objects, scenes and situations that he presents.
A multi-faceted artist, who is hard to categorize or define; always restless and never satisfied, he inquires and takes risks in a subtle way, without scandals or fuss, without unnecessary or forced provocations, in a serene work that increasingly acquires greater maturity and depth, and which simultaneously is very digestible and universal.
He acts automatically, he is an artist who is more sensitive than analytical; certain situations or memories inspire him to create. The analysis follows the creation, therefore, the work is so honest that it reveals, which is why it is tremendously important not to settle with the first impression. One has to look twice, thrice or more times at his work to detect his motivations and find meanings.


El incendio empieza
180 x 180 cms acrylic on canvas 2014


Incendios 1
80 x 240 cms acrylic on canvas 2015


Sandoval does not paint, he comments.


He makes very specific references, but at the same time, open to interpretation, his oeuvre may seem very disperse or disconnected at first sight.
But on a closer look, we can see that everything is connected, his searches for materials, techniques, languages, styles and media reveal his interests at the time each piece was created. He can jump from the abstract to hyper-realism and from there to figurative expressionism; from photography, to the ready-made object, to poetry and music. All this search is part of a path, that is why his work has to be seen through the lens of time and from a distance. It is a message created unhurriedly, with the passage of time, where topics that excite him appear and disappear. This diversity of searches does not represent a lack of discipline or style, on the contrary, it speaks of a completely personal style, free from ties, and of a craft that he building which flows in a very honest way. A word that can summarize Sandoval’s aesthetic proposal is: honest.


200 days ago
100 x 120 cms acrylic on canvas 2010


The bath 2
180 x 140 cms acrylic on canvas 2012
So far, his discourse does not venture on a macro or social context, it is not a discourse against something or someone, but ventures on intimate, interior and personal aspects.
Photography is an essential tool of his pictorial work and in general, of all of his work: he sees the world through a lens, zooming and shooting the shutter when something catches his attention.
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While his work can be very intimate, it has had great impact on a large group of spectators and collectors who have widely embraced his art. He has remained professionally active and well positioned for more than twenty years, successfully exhibiting his work in cities such as: Seville, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Canberra, Australia; Riverside, California, Phoenix and Chicago in the United States; Mexico City, Oaxaca, and other cities in Mexico, as well as repeatedly in his hometown Guadalajara.
He also plays with sculptural forms, a large portion of his sculpture work is based on elements extracted from his pictures or photographs, or on simple or everyday objects that evoke feelings and tell a story with a minimum of elements. Again, Sandoval’s sculpture is subtle, elegant and incites the spectator to give it personal signiicance.
The use of texts, phrases and language in general is another tool that he uses to give his pieces another dimension; he tries to shift the literary experience to the visual experience in a minimalist, synthesized, and especially, very sober form.
The bath 1
120 x 120 cms acrylic on canvas 2012


Congrats
120 x 150 cms acrylic on canvas 2012




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Music is also a very important part of his language and aesthetic proposal. A musician, composer and self-taught producer, he creates soundtracks or soundscapes for non-existent ilms and then transforms them into songs. He has a musical project, The Broken Flowers Project whose name stems from his passion for cinema, paying tribute to a Jim Jarmusch ilm.
The Broken Flowers Project is another outlet for Sandoval’s ideas and emotions. It is a project open to interaction with other musicians that grows and improves through collaboration and that interacts directly with his visual work. Both his photographs and pictures have a connection with the music he composes and vice versa; it is a feedback that creates something new. Live performance is a project that wagers on the visual form at the same level as the musical form, erasing anew the limits between his paintings and his musical work; they are joined and complement each other in such a way that it is dificult to separate them, which gives the project a unique identity.


He has 28 individual exhibitions and over 25 collective shows, 6 edited catalogues of his work as a visual artist, a CD of his musical work and another in progress, as well as some musical videos. Sandoval is very active and has increasingly ambitious projects. He is about to begin a commissioned, individual and multi- disciplinary work that includes architecture, furniture and space design, sculpture, murals, musical composition and landscaping. It will be his most ambitious project so far.
Currently, he is working on a proposal for a large format urban sculpture in the city of San José, California, as part of a collaboration program
between the sister cities San José and Guadalajara.




El incendio empieza
180 x 180 cms acrylic on canvas 2014




Still memories will never fade
200x180cm
acrylic on canvas
2012
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The ire no longer burns
200x180cm acrylic on canvas 2012


But suddenly
200x180cm acrylic on canvas 2012


And then was the silence
200x180cm acrylic on canvas2012


Once upon a time
200x180cm
acrylic on canvas
2012
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And inally you came
200x180cm
acrylic on canvas
2012


Galería Diéresis
2012




Galería Diéresis
2012




Pequeñas grandes pérdidas 1
glass ceramic
high temperature
Height:32cm, Width:24cm (diameter) 2012


Cabaña
glass ceramic
high temperature Height:22.5cm, Width: 47cm Length: 30.5cm
2012
Pequeñas grandes pérdidas 2
glass ceramic high temperature Height:38.5cm, Width:16cm, Length:16.5cm 2012




Incendios 1
Detalle




Solace 2
150 x 120 cms acrylic on canvas 2011




Solace 1
250 x 150 cms acrylic on canvas 2012


Solace 3
140 x 240 cms acrylic on canvas 2015




Ecos de antes
120 x 150 cms acrylic on canvas 2014




Incendios 2
acrylic on canvas 80 cm x 400 cm 2016




Buenos aires 12:45
250 x 200 cms
acrylic and ink on canvas 2011/2012


Buenos aires 12:47
200 x 200 cms acrylic and ink on canvas 2011/2012


Crossroads
120 x 150 cms
acrylic on canvas
2012




Cancha
50 x 70 cms acrylic on canvas 2011