Jubilation by Fernando Reyes
Oakland, California
SLATE Art Consulting is delighted to announce the completion of Fernando Reyes' public artwork Jubilation, installed at the courtyard entrance to a new apartment building, known as Denizen, on Valley Street in Uptown Oakland. Commissioned by Signature Development Group to satisfy Oakland's percent for public art requirement, the artwork was built to last using powder-coated cut-metal shapes attached to a custom-built arch structure.
This was Fernando Reyes' first foray into public art. Since he is a primarily a painter, print-maker and collage artist, he was not thinking in terms of sculpture or architecture when SLATE Art Consulting first approached him about the project in 2018. SLATE had been contracted by Signature to curate and project-manage the commission, and had already met with Signature and the architect of the building, John Chang of Flynn Architecture, to discuss approach. Together, the group agreed that a colorful graphic archway would identify the entrance and the building in a truly unique way. SLATE presented several artists' work to the team, and Oakland artist Fernando Reyes' paper collage work (shown below) was selected as a point of departure.
Reyes explains in his own words: The design for the Denizen gate comes from a group of very small collages called Festival, which are about joy and celebration. Recently, I was excited to take the series to a new level when I scaled them up to produce larger examples. I loved how they became more like Post-Mid-Century-Modern paintings, with a sense of movement and gesture that surrounded the viewer and filled their field of vision, so it almost felt like you could step into the artwork.
The Denizen gate design presents an opportunity to push this to the next level again, increasing scale even more, and creating an experience where the people really can literally step into and through my work. By removing the background from the design, so that viewers can see through the piece, we hope to create a sense of floating forms that defy gravity, bringing a sense of levity to the solid concrete wall to either side of it. . . creating something that identifies a sense of place, memorializes the artistic history of the neighborhood, and can be enjoyed by the public for many years."
At the start of the project, SLATE and Reyes explored various ways to translate the artist's work into durable materials. Eventually, a partnership was formed with Oakland design studio ICOSA, to draft and engineer both the gate structure and the artwork elements, and with sister company DEKA, to fabricate and deliver the finished artwork. Once the gate design was finalized, ICOSA printed a template, on which Reyes built one of his trademark cut-out paper collages.
Above: Architect John Chang (left) and artist Fernando Reyes (right) discuss the preliminary design at a meeting in the artist's studio, with representatives from Signature, SLATE, ICOSA and DEKA looking on.
ICOSA then traced and digitized the artist's design, so that each shape could be accurately scaled and laser-cut from 1/4 inch steel plate.
DEKA welded fixtures to the back of each metal shape at precise locations, and sent all 150 pieces to a local powder-coater to be treated with 20 different colors that had been hand-selected by Reyes.
Meanwhile, the gate structure was built in DEKA's shop, delivered, installed, and painted, before the artwork elements were attached.
This project demonstrates how assembling a team with a spectrum of skills can enable a 2D artist with no public art experience to manifest a major permanent commission. It is also a great example of how fine art can be translated and integrated into architecture. In addition to the artist who created such a wonderful and vibrant design, we would like to acknowledge Flynn Architecture for not being afraid to go bold, and Signature Development Group for their steadfast commitment to using Oakland artists and fabricators as a way to support the local art and maker community, as well as the city's broader creative ecosystem.
Jubilation
Oakland, CA | Artist: Fernando Reyes (2020)
Photo credit for all images of finished artwork: Sen Creative
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Fernando Reyes graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in 1997. He then returned to the Bay Area and has lived in Oakland since 1998, with a studio located in the Jingletown neighborhood at Ford Street Studios.
Throughout the years, Fernando Reyes has produced a large and diverse portfolio of artwork. His work has been primarily representational and includes oil paintings, drawings, and prints that depict the human figure. However, in 2014, a visit to MoMA in New York for the Henri Matisse “The Cut Outs” exhibition made such an impact on Fernando that he embarked on creating his own cut outs, subsequently taking his art making in the direction of abstract art, in both collage and oil painting.
Fernando has an extensive resume of solo and group exhibitions on a regional and national basis. His work has been acquired by Sutter Cathedral Hills Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, Alameda County Arts Collection, Amoco Corporation, Tom of Finland Foundation, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, George and Cynthia Miller Wellness Center and by hundreds of private collectors. In January 2018, the Mexican Museum in San Francisco mounted the exhibition An Artist’s Evolution, a solo retrospective that has elevated Fernando’s exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.