“In art, we must look to the future, mix techniques and always keep innovating.”
At only 8 years old, Fernando García Herrera, from Cordova, discovered that painting was his passion and that he had special skills that he could develop within this art form. His insight into the world of engraving is coupled with a skilful command of oil painting techniques, which García Herrera has used to innovate and create a new concept which he calls “Contemporary Realism”. Ever since, his works have never failed to surprise by way of their magnitude, and his use of large formats coupled with his ability to faithfully capture reality, especially that of the animal world, has revolutionised social networks and with it the dissemination of his work throughout the world.
Self-taught, Fernando García Herrera began painting at just 8 years of age, and immediately stood out both at school and within his family, surprising everyone with his skill in handling the pencil and brush. Through the passage of his childhood and adolescence, the Cordovan began to convert his passion for painting into his way of life, starting his training at the San Fernando School of Arts in Madrid.
He continued these studies at the Mateo Inurria School in Cordova and then, in 1995, he joined José A. Castro Cadenas’ workshop, where he studied the engraving techniques that would mark the important evolution of his career.
He never stops studying or going deeper into the methods which allow him to obtain complete command of his drawing, and he criticises new trends and concepts from “artists who barely know how to draw and whose art is a joke”.
The name of this Cordovan artist began to sound around artistic forums for his use of the ballpoint pen coupled with oil painting techniques; something that broke the mould of more orthodox artists. However, for Fernando G. Herrera, art nowadays “must look to the future, mix techniques and never stop inventing”.
In this way, the artist created a technique of his own in which he combined new technologies with the use of classic materials, naming it “Contemporary Realism”.
This trailblazing artistic concept has depth, consistency and strength. The result is paintings so spectacular that they cannot go unnoticed and thanks to social networks the real magnitude of García Herrera’s work can be fully displayed.
“His passion for the animal world has led to Fernando being known as an animalist painter, since he faithfully produces large format paintings that accurately represent the reality of the Iberian fauna and also of the African one. He discovered and studied the latter when he travelled to South Africa in 2004, where he stayed for 6 months at the Elandela Reserve & Lodge in Limpopo.”
Recently, the artist has also been focused on “the contextual image in a universe where animals have a place that is better than the serious, monographic depiction”. Highlighted within this pictorial genre is the copy that García Herrera delivered to the matador Juan José Padilla before his last paseíllo at the Feria de San Isidro in Madrid, in the season of his retirement from the ring: An 81x 81cm portrait of the matador in full bullfighter costume, made on canvas in ballpoint pen and oil, in which the artist displayed the strength and personality of the bullfighter, together with the admiration that the artist clearly feels for the Jerez matador, for being an example of achievement and of professional consistency.
His crowning achievement would be to create his own “Noah’s Ark with all the animals of his universe which, together with those he has already painted, would form a legacy for future generations.”
