COMMENTS
“Revelations” (2022)
“That which is marvelous begins as such, unequivocally, when it stems from an unexpected alteration of reality (the miracle), from a privileged revelation of reality, from an unusual or singularly favorable illumination of the inadvertent richness of reality, from an enlargement of the gages and categories of reality, perceived with particular intensity by virtue of an acclamation of the spirit that leads it to a “limit state”.
Alejo Carpentier.
“There are people who walk among flowers without noticing them. Others give them a glance, and continue on their way. Only those who stop a little longer realize that they are looking back.”
Carlos Alberto Fernandez.
PRIVILEGED REVELATIONS.
The floral theme has been approached with such recurrence throughout the history of art that one could trace the evolution of artistic movements and schools by the way each has represented it. However, now more than ever, I feel the need to re-signify this relationship.
We live in a time when humanity must reconcile with nature, fostering a coexistence based on respect and harmonious integration with the environment we inhabit. Only when we understand that we are part of —and not protagonists in— this ecosystem, will we be able to preserve it and discover the magical and wondrous world that surrounds us.
From this perspective, I return once again to the floral universe. In my work, flowers are beings that observe us, that question us through their silence. I reimagine them through Alejo Carpentier’s conceptualization of reality, in which “That which is marvelous begins as such, unequivocally, when it stems from an unexpected alteration of reality (the miracle), from a privileged revelation of reality, from an unusual or singularly favorable illumination of the inadvertent richness of reality, from an enlargement of the gages and categories of reality, perceived with particular intensity by virtue of an exaltation of the spirit that leads it to a ‘limit state.’” In this sense, the flowers become symbols of a diverse, vital life, whose value is essential to our survival as a species.
There are those who walk among flowers without noticing them; others give them a brief glance and move on. Only those who pause a little longer can feel that the flowers return their gaze.
This series consists of circular pieces that evoke the world of numismatics. The works visually resemble large coins and, at the same time, invite a critical reflection on the value —economic, symbolic, and aesthetic— of art in the contemporary context.
Carlos Alberto Fernandez.
“Beauty and Value” (2021)
COINS.
Painting, as an art form, has involved commerce since it was popularized in Europe in the 16th century. It is the during the 19th century that the market for works of art begins to grow and continues to do so to this day.
Art galleries have multiplied, museums have gained reputation, and critics and art connoisseurs struggle to deal with the question that inevitably surfaces in the world of art: How much is the work by the artist worth?
From paintings like those of Paul Cézanne or Jackson Pollock to those of lesser-known artists, everything has a value. Despite the spiritual or the intellectual significance, scholars and laymen alike will attribute to any given piece a numerical value, its prospective revenue is never overlooked.
It is in light of these tendencies and the current relationship between money and art that this project was born. It alludes to a fusion of commercial value with the artistic value of a painting, and whoever admires the works will understand through its visual and conceptual elements that a work of art cannot elude financial implications.
Carlos Alberto Fernandez.
“Evoking” (2006)
The passing of time leaves remembrances in our memory, like the wind scatters the seeds on a fertile field, and one day, these remembrances reveal themselves by the sound of a brook that flows or by the sun rays that caresses the leaves of a tree. It is then when dreamed scenes come to our minds blending in one vision fragments of what we have lived and dreamed.
In the gardens and parks, always utmost in our thoughts, many of these memories have been created; with the complicity of a folded leaf and a broken branch; in the ponds where they traveled; full of dreams, like paper boats or simple fallen leaves; and the hidden places where these precious treasures were kept.
These are the images that surface in my paintings, like mirrors capable of reflecting illusions, flooded with light, surrounded by intense white, as if we had just opened our eyes for the first time to live in that world again.
The trace of the spatula, the line that draws and suggests, the veil with its mysteries and the vibrant colors, as if we could hear the sound of the wind bringing us memories, which will make us contemplate and evoke, but life must continue.
Let’s throw a few coins in the fountain of our memory whit the hope to remember again and continue to move forward.
Carlos Alberto Fernandez.
“Carlos Alberto Fernández” (2004)
…Un buen día me mostró sus cuadros; en los que, acentuando intensamente el blanco, nos permite compartir la impresión de quien por vez primera abre los ojos a la luz.
Así, los lienzos de Carlos Alberto revelan el perfil y los matices de la naturaleza; o sea, el entorno del hombre. Para él, lo inmediato se torna trascendente; y un universo de encantadas criaturas -Descubiertas y exaltadas por la imaginación del artista- habitan en deslumbrantes follajes.
En su obra se aprecia un apego irrenunciable a la belleza íntima; y en ella prima el concepto de que la creación es un canto de esperanza a la concordia interrumpida cuando los primigenios seres humanos abandonaron el paraíso.
Eusebio Leal Spengler (Palabras al Catálogo).
“La flora de Cuba” (2001)
Carlos’ work is more like jazz than salsa when making those parallels. It moves in and out of a recognizable melody.
It’s a bird. It’s a flower. It’s a seed. And it’s an abstract pattern in the sense that that’s what some jazz is. It moves away from the melody, into improvisation, and returns to the melody.
At the same time, Fernandez’s choice of subject matter makes it easy to understand, at least at an elemental level. It’s accessible art. You could show it to a 10-year-old and he would get it.
Stuart Ashman. Museum of Spanish Colonial Art . Director.
The paintings are both provocative and innocent. Large sensuous flowers invite the viewer to drink in fragrances. A small bird, found in many of Fernandez’s paintings, tilts its head in a knowing gaze at the viewer. Liquids seeps from open fruit, seeds exposed. Images of flora and fauna blend, creating one organic form. The vibrant colors Fernandez uses conjure up the heat and life juices that permeate Cuban culture.
Elena Vazquez. (Pasatiempo Magazine)
“Sobre la Tela del Viento”. (1999)
…En esta exposición Carlos Alberto Fernández muestra unas originales y elegantes obras donde frutas y pájaros ocupan el primer plano. Estas piezas están siluetadas por su personal manera de hacer donde tienen cabida figuración- abstracción como un todo indisoluble.
En estas pinturas -que bien armonizan con el hermoso entorno físico de la parte vieja de la ciudad- sigue presente ese gusto por la pintura, tanto en su sentido más material como en su acepción más histórica, y las variaciones de algunas de las formas insisten en su calidad de signos simbólicos.
Toni Piñera.
“Despertares” (1997)
Es un pintor de cielos, de alas, de vuelos, de libertad y de luz. Su arte nos hace brillar en la noche de Nicaragua la luz de Cuba.
Ernesto Cardenal (Palabras de Apertura).
“A la Sombra de un Ala” (1996)
A la sombra de un ala, quiere José Martí, contarnos un cuento en flor. Ala y flor. Para verlas, en todo su irisado esplendor, nos convoca Carlos Alberto Fernández. Sí, eso hace: con el pincel en vuelo, ligero, soñador, traza los matices que fijan en el blanco etéreo, imágenes que evocan una natural, misteriosa semejanza entre ala y flor.
Para Patrick Lane, “un pájaro es un poema / que habla del fin de las jaulas”, y Carl Sandburg se pregunta: ¿Por qué es siempre mi amor una cosa sonora con alas? Carlos Alberto Fernández reitera al recrear en el lienzo esas joyas aladas y sonoras las inquietantes definiciones de esos poetas.
En su mano señorea la luz. Luz que dibuja fiel las características esenciales de las criaturas que él elige para acercarnos a mundos de virtud y belleza. Nada falta a la mano rigurosa que nos revela reinos de la naturaleza donde aún la luz ejerce sus dominios.
Pablo Armando Fernández (Palabras al Catálogo).
“Imago” (1990)
Las “vivas visiones” de esta pintura, llenas de luz, color y sugerentes formas vegetales, con agresivas formas en fuga o a veces estáticas y contemplativas, en el momento de la exaltación, hacen que estas “vivas visiones”se tornen, no sólo aladas extensiones, sino sugerentes, casi íremes en giro, ora cuernos y agresivas terminaciones en ancestral unión, con agudas membranas enhiestas desafiantes, en medio de veladas forestas.
Muy temprano se adentra nuestro pintor en los misterios del lienzo; enérgico y a su vez lírico, lleno de transparencias y sugerentes imágenes, integrantes de un universo personal pleno de imaginación y capacidad receptiva del entorno transformable.
Lic. Esteban Ayala (Palabras al Catálogo).