dex fernandez

DESCRY bag

2012-01-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.vgrafiks.com/demografik
Available at Secret Fresh

vscx11

2011-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

nothing new today

62 x 48.5in

2011

i feel lonely here

40 x 30in

2011

floating bighani

17in x 25.5in

2011

strange invitation

19.5in x 29in

2011

730

24.5in x 16.5in

2011

gimme one shot

24.5in x 15.5in

2011

don't look behind

27.5in x 18.5in

2011

ephemeral

18.5in x 27.5in

2011

vigilante justice

19in x 29in

2011

life's a party

13.5in x 20in

2011

卍 wasssssssaaaaakkkkkaaaa 卍

2011-11-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

no more downerz

2011-10-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

11in x 12in
2010

AngelifieD //P

2011-09-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

Coz' We Dont Fucking Care

2011-09-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

This installation depict the anarchy in nature, which is a part of humankind. The precise detail reflects another side of human nature: the need to lose control and create dark structures in our life. These elements represent the wholeness of our opposites. No walls. No restrictions. No politics or religion. No rules. In fact you’re liberating from it all.

My artwork shows some rebellious characters such as audacious, mean hippies, each composed of irrational behaviors. They found this new glory within themselves and couldn’t care about the greater forces beyond. All matter is the happiness they extracted from self-emancipation.

When we give up trying to hold onto the righteous ideas or another and embrace the contradiction, the experience can be liberating, opening new possibilities of consciousness. But still it’s simple as you know who you are inside and you know how this consciousness takes place.

Medium: carboard (balikbayan boxes), acrylic, t-shirts
Size: varied

CONFESSIONS OF A SINNER

September 17 , 2011

Manila Contemporary

Featuring: Catalina Africa, Poklong Anading, Felix Bacolor, Andres Barrioquinto, Ronald Caringal, Kawayan de Guia, Dexter Fernandez, Denis Lagdameo, Nikki Luna, Maria Jeona, Pow Martinez and Christina Quisumbing Ramilo

The last in a trilogy of group exhibitions that looks at the communication of fundamental human experiences (love, hate and faith) Confessions of a Sinner highlights and questions the need for redemption and faith in contemporary society. Purposefully taking as a starting point the religious landscape of Catholic Philippines the show aims to present the confessional side of contemporary art.

Artists have been invited to share once more, intimate personal stories as well as socio-cultural observations on sin and the need for absolution. A problematic term in regards to who sets the parameters of wrong behavior, sin is a religious term that goes against established notions of morality and the authority of God. It can occur through physical actions as well as inner thoughts that are immoral, selfish, shameful, harmful or alienating.Provoking the relationship between Art and Religion, Confessions of a Sinner creates a point of departure to consider human weakness. However, rather than providing a framework for morality like traditional religious art it aims to deconstruct the human desire for redemption through faith in God or personal revelation. In addition, it highlights the structure of the art gallery as a pseudo spiritual/religious home for objects that take on reverential status when placed within the white cube or museum space. Creating a concentrated space the exhibition problematizes notions of sin, forgiveness and faith for new visual and social critique.

X O X O X O

2011-09-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

In XOXOXO, Dex Fernandez plays around with images culled from adult magazines, putting a new spin on them by adding layers of mixed media on the repainted images. Thus, he only hints at their original context, turning them into nearly abstract configurations, especially when viewed from a distance.

Fernandez is not afraid to say, “Art is porn, and porn is art,” not drawing a line between what is acceptable and what is taboo. To him, both aim to entertain and satisfy the senses. And he hopes viewers will be as open-minded as he is when they see his latest works. More than just polishing his skills, he also sees himself as a “warrior,” fighting to open viewers’ minds to other types of art, particularly the so-called low brow art, in which the standards of fine art does not necessarily apply.

Initially, he was thinking of calling this new series “Porn-Again,” as a reference to a newfound belief system or religion to which one privately subscribes. He decided on XOXOXO, from “XOXO,” or loosely meaning, “kiss hug kiss hug,” a term of affection usually written at the end of a written letter, E-mail or SMS message. By adding “XO,” Fernandez distorts the meaning by relating it to “XXX,” connoting censorship or mark-up. Choosing not to put specific titles on the works, Fernandez, who also dabbled in street art, wants to enjoy the moment of creating, and not thinking about rigid rules or criteria on aesthetics.

While still using symbols and other emblems that mark each character in his works, Fernandez has since widened his portfolio after working on assemblage portraits and objects of excessive worship or adulation in his earlier exhibits. With every new exhibit, he wants to surprise both himself and the audience.

The fine arts graduate from the Technological University of the Philippines and recipient of an arts grant in Vermont this October says this latest series is somehow a product of one of the works featured in his first one-man exhibit, -+*. He just raises it to another level, experimenting with the images repeatedly in an effort to reveal new nuances upon adding more visual elements. By concealing the suggestive portions of the image, Fernandez says he is not purposely sanitizing it. He does it to form a new story or narrative, which he hopes are intellectually stimulating enough to stir the imagination of the viewers.

Texts by Marie Anne

September 13 to October 8, 2011

West Gallery

48 West Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines

i feel so high

2011-08-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

bloddyblessyou

2011-07-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

collab with froi
drawing and vector
2011

t✪k¥❂trip

2011-07-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

acrylic and ink on handmade paper
2008

A A / B

2011-07-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

20in x 40in / dyptich

suspend (series)

2011-06-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

mixed media on photograph (cut out paper, pen and ink, acrylic)

//2011

\\\

2011-05-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

suicidal every idle momment
48in x 60in
2010

search | destroy
24in x 48in
2010

pussy snatcher

2011-05-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

81in x 49in

k m

2011-05-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

17.5in x 13.5in
2011

MM loves you

2011-04-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

"There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling."
--- Victor Hugo

customized MM
2ft height
painted resin
2011

eat your god

2011-04-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

13.5in x 20in
mixed media on photograph (acrylic, thread, ink goldfeaf, acetate)
2011

\m/

2011-02-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

Godbless the Rockstars / 2010 /mixed media on photograph / 91in x 50in

Hey Idol, How you Doin' ? (series) / 2010 / painted resin / 2ft height

This show is all about excessive worship.

Not exactly true or false worship, because the word itself is subject to the relativity of its consecrated believers, and the main concern really is the parallelism between their means of adoration and divination or perhaps, the Gods that they drink the blood of.

I have always seen replicated Jesus Christ images as a stereotypical rock star representation, with his revered image of long ch...estnut hair paired with a thickish beard. The aura alone of these carved marble effigies exudes enough force to make people kneel before the image that they are trying to duplicate. This may be completely ironic, but this poses a veil of dark humor between the similarities of exalted Christian gods to rockstars that we pledge devotion and affection to, they all are, merely products of theatrics and glam-inspired makeups, with the thunder and star signs no different from the halos and thorn crowns that our sculpted idols bear and exhibit. We even tuck band posters on our walls the same way that we design them with altar pieces and Nazarene portraits which we frame in flawless gold, the hue that overflows with human weakness and seduction towards sin. Of course, this is not a statement that leads down to creating an antithesis against religion. It's only an affirmation that further questions the vain worshippers of religion itself. And to that extent, the exposed animal flesh on my main piece signifies that we are all edible to our own teeth, rounding us down to a hopeless, desperate case of self-cannibalism that would lead to our own extermination.

On the wall floats six sculpted images of Christ, adorned with a black, loose-fitting robe that makes it look like a flock of vultures from afar. Markings are engraved on its body, resembling a conjunction of images that narrate the weakness of man when faced with faith and religion. It also shows the fatality of deceitful worship and blind following to a vain repetition of beliefs. Watching the installed sculptures closely, would our faith and certitude remain even despite the fact that Jesus now, in this postmodern perspective, is artistically customized with imprints of struck animals, skulls, and other different patterns. Would we still pray to such images of a God?

This symbolically narrates the slow destruction of man's ego, the corrupted, deadly force that fires sharply pointed arrows towards his soul, causing him to fall down in weakness and eventually lead to our own deaths. This is further amplified with the skull symbols and embroidered caskets found on my works.

This show is not anti-religion or anti-rockstar in any way. It's basically anti-norm, because it affirms the failure of believers and fanatics to any given culture and disposition, and it's up to the audience on how their perceiving would handle such statement presented in this form.

And due to my consistent use of semiotics in my artworks, the title of the exhibition itself is formed within the image of a contemporary symbol, \m/, a postmodern icon which people of our generation give label to as a "rock sign". Because residents of our age are under emblems and logos, commanded under the ambiguity of meaning. As for m, invert it and it could denote w that would stand for worship, so it really works that way. The slash, originally used as a hyphen to separate words or characters, is placed beside the m both on its left and right side. View them all together in a spatial manner and there comes an illusion of movement, creating infinity of slashes and letters, metaphorically slashing either the worship, or the worshippers. It can always stand as a separator, as it originally was, or perhaps a bridge, that helps create perpetuity of symbols. This is all left to the imagination. And from this continuity of slashes, m is spliced into a multitude of definitions, from macabre, to masochism, to masticate; we kill the gods, the machines, the makers, because in wrong worship, we destroy the meaning of the thing itself.

But these are all just meanings that I have put to it…in the end; everything else would still depend on everyone’s interpretation. As a whole, or individually, it doesn’t really matter. Because these are just symbols and they are what we make of it.

And in this method of psychedelic, semiotic, and perhaps (psychotic) juxtaposition of human elements, I come up with the slow murder of faith itself, loosely painted in Technicolor.

Second Solo Show

Feb 16 to march 19, 2011

Silverlens / SLab / 20square Gallery

http://www.silverlensphoto.com/slab/newsletter.php?id=308#308

http://manilaartblogger.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/dex-fernandez-rocks-on/
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/218127/lifestyle/jesus-as-tattooed-rock-star

A P A C

2010-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

December Show at West

2010-11-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

West Gallery celebrates the Christmas season with "12 x 9," a newly annual exhibit.
"12 x 9" is a celebration of the diversity of the Philippine art scene, showing new works from over 140 artists.
All the pieces are created within the given dimensions, each acting as an exploration of space.
December 8 2010
West Gallery, 48 West Avenue Quezon City
http://westgallery.org/

Patay Tayo Jan

2010-10-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

// SEVERO cd cover

SYNAPSE

2010-10-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.myspace.com/lipservicemanila

Lip Service: Surging Like a Storm Over the Filipino Music Scene

It is the night before a so-called “super typhoon” in the heart of Metro Manila, and four musicians are willing to brave the impending heavy downpour to rehearse their original materials in their favorite music studio.

After a glance and nod, they start playing their first song. One of them produces a trail of ambient sounds with his guitar, signaling the calm before the storm. The drummer starts and stops a series of fills that sound like firecrackers popping inside a tin can. The bassist locks in with the beat, giving the rhythm an alarming presence within the room. The singer pitches a wild synth sound with his guitar, adding an eerily familiar 80’s feel to the mix. Then the band seemingly synchronizes its music with the crack of thunder and loud raindrops outside.

Meet Lip Service – four individuals with widely varying musical backgrounds merging as an entity, determined to inject a fresh vibe to the Filipino music scene. They banded together just a year ago and now the band has quickly matured and started to rock out in radio stations and popular venues across the metro, earning respect and praise from bar-goers, radio listeners and fellow musicians.

The members come from diverse background that greatly contribute to the Lip Service sound. Singer Pats Co had his share of glam rock experience playing as the lead guitarist of Trigger Bliss and singing to the dance-punk beats of Karma Coma. Lead guitarist Robby Mananquil explored the six-stringed instrument playing in Karma Coma, new wave act Stereodeal and for a time also played for the indie pop group The Pin-Ups. Together, these two guitarists created a musical nucleus through the band Karma Coma, which they played in until they yearned to pursue their project with the resolve of finding band members with the same interests.

Eventually, thanks to communication through an online music forum, two members came along to help them in their musical search. Mike Ducusin had earned his hardcore cred playing bass for Hampaslupa and Witchtree Symbol, while Gep Macadaeg spent his teenage years with post-hardcore group Elevator Action and alternative band Five Feet Adjustment. Together, they started their musical journey by collectively paying homage to their heroes and combining the best of their musical influences, from alternative rock, indie-pop, new wave, punk, and grunge, into a new breed of music.

The songs of Lip Service attest to the rush brought about by the band’s rollercoaster dynamics and angular yet melodic riffs, like a shot of adrenalin straight to the heart. “Weekend Dreams” skips and jumps its way across syncopated patterns through melodic hooks that eventually lead to a wild chant-along bridge and a rock-out ending. “Chandeliers” seemingly commands listeners to formation with its staccato intro, only to break the cadence with dance-punk frenzy until the very end. Melancholy and memories of old romance kicks in through the melody and lyrics of breather track “Velvet Burn”, until the ambiance takes a 180-degree turn through the rumbling drums and feral guitars of “Celebrate”. The band then takes on a sinister theme as it dabbles into math rock territory with “Black Sheets”, which showcases the band as an intense and tight unit. “Patintero” synthesizes the two worlds of soulful guitar playing with drum-machine precision over the theme of juvenile fun, only to explode with bravado at the end. In between these songs, listeners are allowed to gasp for air as they marvel in the post-rock audio landscapes of “Heliopause” and “Two-Eyed Violet”.

Lip Service is now ready to set its mark in the Filipino music scene as they unleash their debut mini-album, Synapse. This self-produced album, set to be launched on November this year, documents the bands’ ability to fuse melody, rhythm, and harmony to become vessels of the band’s dreams, loves, and fears. After months of crafting and refining the songs that have grown and intensified in their collective consciousness, Lip Service is now ready to share its raw and driving music to the world through Synapse.

Want to catch the band live? You can check out the band’s gig schedule and activities through their MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/lipservicemanila, and through their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/lipservicemanila.

Outside the studio, there was a flash, then a thunder. The band has ended their rehearsal when the eye of the storm has loomed over the city. The calm may have dominated the moment, but Lip Service, like the storm, will resonate once more with astounding power. Watch out for this intense force of nature known as Lip Service!

// Lip Service

//Best Album Cover by QLE3 Young Star (Philippine Star)http://www.philstar.com/youngstar/ysarticle.aspx?articleId=645939&publicationSubCategoryId=84

2010-10-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

berliner-liste 2010

2010-09-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

fair for contemporary art,
photography and art since 1960
/// october 7 - october 10

Sex and death, consumption and decay, sensuality and the macabre are prevalent themes infused in my work. Hardcore pornographic pictures are transformed into profound images bearing with my distinct illustration style; the vivid lines, figures, and colors highlighting naked flesh and visible guts rather than masking the provocative imagery. Polarity plays a crucial part in the effectiveness of this images—the obscene couplings with whimsical illustrations, morbid fascination and flippant curiosity—but on the other hand, i didn’t entirely go off tangent with pairing sex and death for this series of work. Snuff as pornography, intercourse as another form of death, sexual consumption as total possession; both are irreverent and verboten subjects that figure in my works, but I injects my own brand of artistry that makes us view these topics with fresh insight and an amused grin.

http://www.berliner-liste.org/

third of the third series

2010-08-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

we are FFF...

LATITUDES.
ENCOUNTERS WITH THE PHILIPPINES
at www.primomarellagallery.com

In Her Elizabeth

2010-08-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

A collection of Kooky Tuason's poems

2010

Siren's Hall

2010-08-30T02:39:00.000-07:00

Visual arts and Music have always had a particular link. What with all the music one needs to listen to while making art, to the reference artists have been making in their art works from Mondrian's Boogie Woogie Broadway to Bencabs rockstar portraits to all the art bands that have cropped up from art schools to all the noise and fury sound art makes. Siren's Hall came up as a way to tie up music and art together not as cover art to a bands album but as a separate project that talks about music in a visual way whether it be a visual artist collaborating with a musician, or musicians using visual art to convey music , or visual artists using sound and music to make their projects. The people invited to the show are usually involved in the arts. It is a celebration of the ongoing love the visual art has for music and a way to engage in experimentation and play.

Participating artistsAllan Balisi, Bru Sim, Dexter Fernandez, Dina Gadia, Enteng Viray, Erick Encinares, Eugene Jarque, Gani Simpliciano, Gary Ross Pastrana, Kanamura Hitoshi, Kat Medina, Louie Cordero, Lena Cobangbang, Lyle Buencamino, Lourd de Veyra, Mariano Ching, Mark Salvatus, Marcus Nada, Mike Munoz, MM Yu, Masi Solano, Manuel Alvero, Nice Buenaventura, Poklong Anading, Pow Martinez, Romeo Lee, Raena Abella, Radioactive Sago Project, Sam Kiyoumarsi, Sleepyheads, Tim Brown, Vic Balanon

Organized by Mariano Ching
http://www.mo-space.net/

vintage poster series

2010-08-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

please remember me

ante-nuptial

conversation of naivete

die die may darling

a dog of plunder

her artificial friends

son of rashieda

come on pablo come on

blissfully hell

-+*

2010-08-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

There can be no way that people can be broken down into modest portrayals for Dexter Fernandez. Instead he provides a certain kind of abundance to them. It is true that they are straightforward and flat at first, having being shot with a camera's automatic setting, fixed at a certain equilibrium (a 0, a center, lacking excess and nothing short of a “without -”). In fact, it is at this platform that they are made backgrounds – these photographs – of themselves. These assemblage portraits, as gestures of familiarity, are of Dexter's friends and family – some directly and exactly associated while a number stand as incognito subjects filling in for the continents of Dexter's world/s.

As basic universal symbols as “-”, “+” and “” are, they contain a list of what they might signify. Primarily used in mathematical equations, these symbols are selected by Dexter to layers of personality and narratives attached to his portraits. As much as the “-” sign would connote a negative quality, it can also point to the process of “subtracting” a persona – this happening in events of contradiction or when they are disproved, criticized or judged badly. This “-” sign is applied by Dexter through symbols or texts that are obviously perverse or loaded with humorous vitriol. On the other hand, “+” can point to the brighter, hopeful elements in a portrait. Likewise, it relates to the constructive “additions” Dexter attaches to these people. An “” may encompass both former signs as a footnote – that beyond deductions and additions there is still relevant data on the side, giving the context of these symbols and people themselves and in turn creates the “bigger picture.”

Dexter shows signs as process to shaping our perspective on people. From the immediacy in the shots of these people, he proceeds to etch, stitch and fit together cut outs on the photographs in a likewise fashion as he breathes visual, symbolic life into the unseen layers of their persona. An example that these symbols represent an extraneous perspective that is self-conscious is that most tend to hover in the background and around, and not stringently embedded into characters.

Certainly people cannot be encapsulated into slight representations as Dexter proves in -+*. Therefore, what makes us his portraits verging on various media of picture-making can only show the complexity of the people in close proximity to his physical space and affections as well as the certain issues of faith, socio-politics, personal progress and individual transgression they, or Dexter himself, encounter.

Le Fool. A fellow non-believer, this chum of Dex likewise calls to mind the so-called folly of revering religious icons and other practices of a formidable faith institution. Using the icon of Doraemon, he states his opinion on icons as a form of idolatry who share no difference to the reverence attributed to Doraemon. DILLIGAF stands for “Do I look like I give a fuck.”

The Maiden. The characters translate as “She's wearing a nice dress.” This work questions our perception of beauty, and the dress that the figure wears are flab and the tattoos (which, in turn are collected symbols of physical attractiveness, self-assurance and innocence).

The Warrior. In his sitting stance, the character of this work is already establishing himself as one of might. Other indications of his warrior nature is of the helmet and the Shiva multiple arms. Despite this, demons and other dark figures lurk, making known the adversaries the warrior needs to get over. His tattoo indicates his unpretentiousness – animal being of no other agenda than fulfill instincts.

The High Priestess. Situated in a sanctum, the character is undressed in every state of being, thus allowing the release of neutral to hopeful elements. Symbols of purity and harmony mark her body as she settles in a comfort zone where she needs not to hide anything.

The Fall. Heavenly Hell accompanies “Harakiri”. A transgression and solipsistic decline, this image carries symbols of alcohol, of fashion and lurking dark figures. A work about wasted youth, it speaks about life fluctuation in the midst of over-gratification.

The Man- Child. Popular cartoons flock the headspace of this eight-year-old boy, yet a beard amasses on his chin. This work displays the contradiction of a child mentally growing in an accelerated mental state that sprung from his exposure to adult activities and innuendos found in paraphernalia he is exposed to.

The Fractional Hermit. “Deafening Hikikomori” is strewn across, the latter meaning “acute social withdrawal”. Dexter inserts the paisley to further add to the hippie image that inevitably points to psychedelia. Text and symbol amidst the dark background look at the phenomenon of isolation creating monsters. Passing through a period of solitude and alienation, he has not gotten past the proverbial “Valley of the Shadow of Death.”

The Gender-crossed Lovers. A take on sexuality, symbols meaning “freedom and liberty” are stamped on them. While their ill-fated affair (this work weighing on a “-”) is marked by the text that translates into “stupid, stupid, stupid...” which may end or flourish tragically in their incompatibility.

The Puer Aeternus. The nihongo characters translate to “Older brother” while “Kipper” is slang for an adult whose domestic life is still tied with the parental home. Dexter aims to depict perhaps a typical older sibling whose coming of age is still “stretched” through the proximity of his/her parents.

The Scapegoat. Providing new versions to acronyms, Dex provides the context of which institution is messing up with the people. Agents meant to ”serve and protect” pull a bukkake on the very people they are meant to aid, and their ways are cutting and sharp and degrades not just individuals but homes.

The Loner Anti-hero. “Basta” and “Crypto” refer to the secretive nature of Dexter's comrade. Likewise, he points to the isolated places his friends keep in them – shown through the marking on the torso and the hidden places along his lower body. Skulls lurking about describe the potential of this reclusion to unleash demons.

Medicine Women. With word play and street slang, Dexter aims to introduce altered consciousness. Along with “Just one hit” and “Extra Valium Meals”, the work is accompanied with symbols stating an avid awareness to bodily functions and other figures at the course of this type of consciousness.

The Tower. Of a power system gone wrong, this photo portrays a common policeman with the background that repetitively screams “Rape Civils”. Obviously a “-” perspective with other perverse elements attached to the persona with DDDDC standing for “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, this photo encapsulates the widespread impression towards these figures of aid.

http://pablogalleries.com/