Red Wedge is pleased to present a wickedly talented and painfully underrated working artist to a new audience.
Many of us can recall the moment when we accepted that we are not going to "make it" as an artist. For some, this came as the none-too-subtle advice from a friend or professor, a poor reception to a show, or slumping -- nay nonexistent -- record sales. For many more of us, the hostile economy has forced us to put our creative ambitions on hold while we make ends meet, scraping out a living doing odd jobs, staving off some stuff-shirt career while we wait for our luck to change.
Still, others continue to work as artists in the informal sense, meaning we are working artists, not working as artists.
Fenando Antilez makes his living at a high-end grocery retailer. He is a graduate of the American Academy of Art, with a bachelors degree in Fine Art, and initially pursued a career in illustration and design. Though he doesn’t support himself as an artist, he maintains his relationship to a creative community through his visual arts and music.
From a Mexican immigrant background, Fernando’s youth was weaned on comic books and Dr. Seuss. His visual work incorporates the color, boldness and movement of these early influences and shows a conscious connection to the works of Fernan Leger, Egon Schile and Peter de Sève. Fernando also plays bass in local Chicago hard-core bands Haka and Cold Lovers.
Fernando’s work reminds us to take nothing for granted. That an artist should never be defined by what they do to make ends meet. That after all, the idea of the "everyman" is only just an idea and culture is indeed ordinary, but only as ordinary as ourselves.
Fernando’s visual works, as well as perspectives on the world, are best embodied in his artist statement, drafted for Red Wedge magazine:
"When I draw, I try to be honest and accurate in representing what I am feeling and seeing. My line is not perfect, nor do I wish for it to be. I am an artist. My search is not in material but in the desire for my spirt to grow and for the many shared experiences of the spirit to flourish. Washes of color and movements of lines are the tools I use to represent my many worlds. I utilize labels in society to describe who I am, but the image I express on paper are the most definite representations of who I truly am in this world, as categorization is not necessary in this aspect of my identity.
"As an audience, you allow me to visually depict the joys and sorrows of our lives; you allow me to illustrate what is in the dormancy of your subconscious. It is through your eye that my/our artist expression allows for a comprehension of each other, a communal thought. Is it through you that I am able to achieve visual semblance? The truth is I create because I must. I create so that we can share emotions and have an experience together, without ever knowing each other. No matter what world we may have come from individually, the language of art translates to the heart and mind. Through this I will be what you need me to be: a friend, inspiration, laughter, hope or simply emotion. I create art for the enjoyment of any person anywhere, I create art for us."
Still, others continue to work as artists in the informal sense, meaning we are working artists, not working as artists.
Fenando Antilez makes his living at a high-end grocery retailer. He is a graduate of the American Academy of Art, with a bachelors degree in Fine Art, and initially pursued a career in illustration and design. Though he doesn’t support himself as an artist, he maintains his relationship to a creative community through his visual arts and music.
From a Mexican immigrant background, Fernando’s youth was weaned on comic books and Dr. Seuss. His visual work incorporates the color, boldness and movement of these early influences and shows a conscious connection to the works of Fernan Leger, Egon Schile and Peter de Sève. Fernando also plays bass in local Chicago hard-core bands Haka and Cold Lovers.
Fernando’s work reminds us to take nothing for granted. That an artist should never be defined by what they do to make ends meet. That after all, the idea of the "everyman" is only just an idea and culture is indeed ordinary, but only as ordinary as ourselves.
Fernando’s visual works, as well as perspectives on the world, are best embodied in his artist statement, drafted for Red Wedge magazine:
"When I draw, I try to be honest and accurate in representing what I am feeling and seeing. My line is not perfect, nor do I wish for it to be. I am an artist. My search is not in material but in the desire for my spirt to grow and for the many shared experiences of the spirit to flourish. Washes of color and movements of lines are the tools I use to represent my many worlds. I utilize labels in society to describe who I am, but the image I express on paper are the most definite representations of who I truly am in this world, as categorization is not necessary in this aspect of my identity.
"As an audience, you allow me to visually depict the joys and sorrows of our lives; you allow me to illustrate what is in the dormancy of your subconscious. It is through your eye that my/our artist expression allows for a comprehension of each other, a communal thought. Is it through you that I am able to achieve visual semblance? The truth is I create because I must. I create so that we can share emotions and have an experience together, without ever knowing each other. No matter what world we may have come from individually, the language of art translates to the heart and mind. Through this I will be what you need me to be: a friend, inspiration, laughter, hope or simply emotion. I create art for the enjoyment of any person anywhere, I create art for us."
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