FERNANDO FEIJOO sees himself as a journeyman: traveling around, absorbing all the variety of cultural differences and architectural styles when he visits a new city, exploring people’s lives and conditions in the twenty first century. These observations are then reflected throughout his work, whether that is in the technique or the subject matter. 

Fernando Feijoo makes art that is bawdy, brash and bursting with energy.  He depicts the impolite side of the human race; prostitutes, drug dealers, alcoholics and thugs crudely;  as if he hasn’t the time for fussiness. At the heart of what he does is narrative and urgent need to tell a story; although his work is “aesthetic”,  it is very much as a side product of his image-making process.” 

​- Chris Pig

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artist statement

Humour appears within my work as well as the shadows of the darker sides of human nature. I am interested in social and political issues and these often appear as the main theme within my work. Narrative images have hidden, partially concealed layers of information within them, which become revealed further into the work, almost as a subtext which the individual viewer reads into the work. The closer you are drawn into the image, the more you understand about the characters and the lives they lead.

I enjoy exploring new ways of making work through combining different media together, working with the interactions and juxtapositions of materials and techniques, which encourage fresh viewpoints and outcomes.

Drawing is a powerful medium which allows me to push my ideas into different directions and create the fantastic. There are no rules to be followed: just pure experimentation and fun to be had. Mixed media is a common starting point for the idea development within my sketchbooks. These books travel everywhere with me enabling me to record my ideas to progress onto possible future projects.

- Fernando Feijoo

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about frenando feijoo

Fernando Feijoo’s work is like that of a modern day William Hogarth with its satire, acute observation, scathing comments and great humour. The mordant asides about contemporary society, illustrated through a wide variety of techniques and media, reveal a talent to be watched and followed with great interest.

The gestation of an idea is clearly seen in Feijoo’s sketchbooks which travel with him everywhere and his pages of sketch, collage and doodle constantly explore the stories of the society around him. His working books capture the adventures of travelling in differing cultures and climates, and in every location it is about the stories of people caught up in the great themes of our modern world – the little person versus the large organisation, the corrupt dealings in the back streets and alleyways of our cities, and the petty filching. The poor diddle the rich: the rich exploit the poor. And as subtext, rats invade every corner, suns shine or glower, dogs defy authority and little creatures (are they human?) run the sewers of the city.

Contemporary writing is utilised by Fernando to bring new rhythms to Hogarth’s cycles of The Rake, the Harlot and the married couple. Rap, para rhyme and sharp word play tie up this great saga which is just as relevant for eighteenth century London as our own metropolis. In other pieces alphabets, sayings, cliches and a range of other familiar language devices inform the visual work, constantly encouraging the viewer to engage on many levels.

Informed and inspired by Mexican popular prints, German Expressionist woodcuts, Victorian packaging and ephemera, comics, robots, and animation from the Quay brothers, and many other sources, Feijoo’s eclectic tastes are clearly transformed into new forms and styles of visual communication. He has mastered a number of print techniques and now experiments with combining some of these in non traditional ways, in order to push the boundaries of contemporary visual storytelling.

Feijoo’s art is not about decoration, but about questioning, challenging and interacting with our society: being shocked, but informed, being upset, but viewing things differently. When you have seen his work, you have an indelible impression, like the print surfaces he works on, left in your imagination.

- Pat Francis
Writer and teacher

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CV

education
Winchester School of Art MA Fine Art Printmaking
Kent Institute of Art & Design BA Illustration
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selected awards
2010
London Lives, Highly commended award, Bankside Gallery, London 
2008 
London Print Studio Prize RE annual exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
Prize winning book at the 14th Tallinin print triennial, held at the Kumu Art Museum Estonia 
2005
Grant from the Birgit Skiold Foundation to help fund new Artist Book project 
2004
Winner of the ‘Design a Book of Fables’ competition set by the Fine Press Book Association FPBA 
2003
Illustration selected for headboard design within a room dedicated to my work at the Dolphin Hotel, Southampton, UK 
Winner of the Gwen May Award at the Royal Society of Painters & Printmakers, London, UK 

selected collections
MOMA, Aberystwyth, Wales
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
V&A London

selected exhibitions
2010 
International Print Triennial Vienna 
International Print Triennial Oldenburg 
2009 
International Print Triennial Krakow, Poland 
2nd Qijiang International Print Exhibition, China 
WA open print exhibition, Bristol, UK 
Cliford Chance Solicitors, Canary Walf, London, UK 
2008 
Graphic Printmaking show, Kunstverein Frechen, Germany 
Royal Society of Printmakers Annual Show, Bankside Gallery, London, UK 
Originals 08, Mall Gallery, London, UK 
2007 
Mini Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London, UK 
Fine Press Book Association, Oxford Artist Book Fair, UK 
International Lithography show, The Naughton Gallery, Belfast 
Stone, Plate, Grease, and Water Bankside Gallery, London, UK 
Book Arts Exhibition with Billy Childish, Vinson Gallery, Decatur GA, USA 
Book Arts Fair, Arnold Finny Centre, Bristol, UK 
14th Tallinn print Triennial, Estonia, Tallinn 
Influences of Bawden & Ravilious, Selected show at Fry Art Gallery, UK 
Printmakers & Illustrators 2nd Space Gallery Brick Lane, London, UK 
IMPRESSED, Group show with MC Escher, Vinson Gallery, Decatur GA, USA 
Originals 07, Mall Gallery, London, UK 
Caixanova, selected for printmaking exhibition, Orense, Spain 
2006 
Hung, Drawn, Quartered Xmas show, Eyestorm Gallery, London, UK 
University of Aberystwyth, Touring exhibition of Lithography, Wales 
Kings College Cambridge Printmakers Forum, Annual show, UK 
Sole Book Art Fair, Korea 
2003 
Panoramic Gallery, Barcelona, Spain 

selected publications
2009
Inspiring Writing in Art & Design illustrations used in book 
Printmakers Secrets – published by A&C Black 
2008
Printmaking on a Budget – published by A&C Black 
Ambit – Illustration work shown 
2007
Contemporary Street Alphabet (limited edition book) 
Cracks Progress & Charlie’s Progress (limited edition book) 
Interviewed for arts magazine in Estonia about my own work 
2006
Ambit front cover illustration December 
2003 - 2007
Printmaking Today Magazine