Artwork Description
Fausto Fernandez – Xochiquetzal
Dimensions: 60 x 48″
Year: 2018
Media: collage, acrylic, resin, spray paint on canvas
Xochiquetzal (pronounced Show-chee-ket-zal) is the Aztec goddess associated with concepts of fertility, beauty, and female sexual power. Her physical form is that of a beautiful young woman, and her name means flowering quetzal bird. In many myths, she relates to the moon, following its lunar cycles in a feminine character arc. Xochiquetzal also represented pregnancy, childbirth, and weaving. Usually flowers are included in her representations in art, alluding to the feminine divine.
Fausto Fernandez is a mixed media collage artist whose works include a variety of paintings, public art, and community engagement projects, through which he explores the relationship of nature and technology as they intersect with human behavior. Materials used include wallpaper, asphalt, spray paint, acrylic paint, and laserjet transfers. Instructional materials, such as schematics and blueprints, provide meaning to his work. Fernandez’s artworks are a reflection of his identity, challenging the cultural environment in which he was raised along the border of Mexico and the United States. He explores the unique ways in which people communicate and express themselves as individuals within society, and attempt to capture the essential ingredients of wonder that exceed the limits of multicultural border subjects.