Filipino painter exhibits at Saskatchewan art fair

Patrick Fernandez in Regina’s Art NOW with is main piece, “Punla sa Bagong Simula,” (Seed of a New Beginning). CONTRIBUTED

REGINA, Saskatchewan — Filipino Artist Patrick Fernandez held a solo exhibition at the 5th Edition of Art NOW Fine Art Fair 2020 in Saskachewan, Canada.

Fernandez’ solo exhibition “Luntian” (Green) opened at Art NOW Fine Art Fair 2020, Saskatchewan’s premier fine art fair for modern and contemporary artists from across Canada September 17 to 27.

His paintings are reminiscent of a journey across oceans with remnants of his identity, customs and traditions intact. He draws on the strength and resilience of his people to nurture his quest for greener pastures, a comfortable life and better opportunities for his art practice.

With gratitude and inspiration, he draws on the quiet voices that keep him going, portrays novel characters with varied personalities and invents hybrid creatures that offer fresh perspectives on growth, being transplanted, and blooming while dwelling on the concept of home and belonging.

Batangueno

Born in the Philippines in the lakeside town of Taal, Batangas, just south of the capital Metro Manila, Patrick Fernandez is no stranger to migration as he found himself relocating several times with his family as a child.

At the 5th Saskatchewan Art Fair where Fernandez exhibited. CONTRIBUTED

He watched his father, a cartographer, working both in the field and in the office, draw maps which might explain the young artist’s fascination with the fine lines, grids and demarcation lines that populate his paintings while he uses loose topographic curved lines used to map terrain to delineate his figures’ features.

After living for a few years in mountainous Montalban, Rizal, the whole family then went further north in Lingayen, Pangasinan, a coastal and agricultural town. This is where Fernandez built on his newly discovered talent in drawing and painting, joining exhibitions and art competitions as a student, and finally launching his art career in Manila before flying into Saskachewan with his wife in 2017.

Fernandez in Luntian finds opportunities unfurling, turning chance and circumstance into turning points for growth. For the artist, this is a time for continued cultivation and the expansion of his art production; his concepts budding, flowering, and sprouting abundance.

For more information on the exhibition and the other galleries that participated in the 5th Edition of Art NOW Saskatchewan Fine Art Fair, contact SaskGalleries at [email protected] or go to https://www.artnow.ca/online/the-woods-art-space