Biography
Artworks
Movements

Rafa Fernández

Belgium • 1966

Rafa Fernández's black and white photographs transport us to the purest North America through the photographer's road trips in the style of other great names like Robert Frank or Garry Winogrand.

Biography

Originally from Liège, Belgium, where he was born in 1966, Rafa Fernández boasts an extensive career, having worked for years with Espacio Foto (Madrid) and El Arte de lo Imposible (Gijón). He has also held solo exhibitions at Mediadvanced (Gijón) and at the SegoviaFoto Festival in the Palacio de Quintanar. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including several editions of the Hablando en Plata Festival. His latest group exhibition, El gran libro del mundo. Una década de fotografía en Asturias (The Great Book of the World: A Decade of Photography in Asturias), was presented at the Juan Barjola Museum (Gijón) in April 2021. Also in 2021, he opened a solo exhibition, American Way, at the Antiguo Instituto Jovellanos in Gijón.

In his work, photography and travel go hand in hand. His words are defining on this point: “I read that Annie Leibovitz remembered the long car journeys with her family, traveling to her military father's various postings. He commented that the car window frame was his frame long before he ever held a camera. The same thing happened to me; through the window of my father's Volkswagen Beetle, I became accustomed to seeing the world as we crossed half of Europe from my native Belgium to return to Asturias for vacation."

Although he has traveled extensively and has notable works from countries like Japan, his true passion lies with the United States. Perhaps this is due to his diverse musical and artistic influences, all directly linked to this nation: jazz and blues; the photography of Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, and William Eggleston, among many others; and the hyperrealist painting of the second half of the 20th century by artists such as John Baeder and Richard Estes.

Nationality

Belgian