Nicasio Fernandez

Ross + Kramer is pleased to present At Some Point, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Nicasio Fernandez, at the gallery’s Chelsea location.

Nicasio Fernandez’s latest body of work expands on his portrayal of phantasmagorical imagery that grasps an ineffable link between fiction and the commonplace. What was once a fleeting, casual moment at a kitchen table becomes, in his paintings, an inconceivable, dramatic visual narrative that only Fernandez can conjure. Each canvas is replete with perplexing psychological questions, which are carried by painterly depictions of humanoid figures, bathed in saturated hues, who navigate their way through one existential crisis after the next. It is precisely their precarity that summons our sympathy — they want to be heard. This, combined with high-octane, alluring color combinations makes it difficult to look away. So we enter the reality of each work as an admirer of painting and as a psychic empath.

“Anthropomorphism” is the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to nonhuman entities, and “zoomorphism” is when animal characteristics are assigned to humans. The beings that populate Fernandez’s world slip in and out of these two states; ultimately, any summary of their identity is bound to leave the viewer in a whirl. Yet despite their mysterious identities and biology, their expressions of anxiety, disgust, fear, inferiority, and oppression are all very relatable. Fascinatingly, these deep-seated emotions stem from the artist’s real-life experiences, which he cleverly transposes into hyperbolic metaphors peppered with an unusual brand of humor.

In terms of their physical presence, Fernandez’s theatrical paintings are animated by his skillful handling of paint. The directionality of brushstrokes are calculated, and in certain areas paint is built up to simulate the physicality of a depicted object, which adds a perceptual twist to the fictive atmosphere. Fernandez’s bold but selective use of non-naturalistic colors are balanced across his compositions, aided by his interest in scientific color theories. At times, complementary colors are interlaced with repeating patterns, as seen in Squeeze (2022), to create a pulsating effect on what is an otherwise static object: a painting.

Faced with a painted image, it’s all too common for viewers to seek out precedents among the last several centuries of painting. And from a certain vantage, Fernandez does in fact find commonalities with 19th- and 20th-century Expressionism (especially the notion of depicting a distorted, exaggerated, and fantastical reality), Surrealism, and the Chicago Imagists, as well as artists such as Peter Saul, Philip Guston, and Chuck Jones. Yet Fernandez carves out his own unique space, characterized by deep dives into a fertile imagination and a hybridized vision of the personal and the universal.

—Andrew Sendor

Nicasio Fernandez (b. 1993 Yonkers, NY) received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2015. Recent solo exhibitions include Within and Without at Harper’s, East Hampton, NY, (2021) How Can I Tell You? at Ross+Kramer Gallery East Hampton, NY (2020); and Something’s Off at Over the Influence Los Angeles, CA (2020). Fernandez’s work has been featured in group shows in Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Paris, New York, Miami and South Korea among others. His work is included in the collections of the Hall Art Foundation, North Adams, MA; and the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (The Bunker), West Palm Beach, FL. Fernandez lives and works in Mahopac, NY.