My name is Fernando Lopez (el, him, his) (they, them, theirs) I am a San Antonio west sider and a child of Mexican immigrants, Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas on my mothers' side and Allende Coahuila on my Fathers side. I was born in 1994 and am  27 years old. My sun sign is cancer. My artwork explores west side/ downtown barrioscapes, 90s nostalgia, gender identity and indigenous identity, spirituality, mysticism, and magic. Indigenous feminisms, critical race theory, and decolonization are the theoretical frameworks that influence my body of work. 

My current body of work explores magical realism in indigenous Mexican culture and my experiences as an urban Chicanx existing under the imperialist capitalist nation and living in the 78207 area code of San Antonio. I use barrio scapes featuring familiar and recognizable landmarks to open a discussion about borderland experiences and gentrification in my neighborhood. The Barrio scapes serve as representations of the spirit world seen through or every day reality. Through the motif of the bus stop in my Barrio scapes, I create a portal through which the viewer can travel from our everyday reality into the spirit realm where the paintings take place. Once in this new reality, the viewer is introduced to creatures who inhabit this realm. Fears and emotions that take form and materialize into sentient characters who travel from the depths of my psyche into the landscapes I recreate. With this combination of realistic representations of familiar scenes combined with introspection and  the mystic summoning of spiritual entities and protectors, I attempt to weave together the inner and outer worlds to make sense of my experience as a center of awareness existing in the west side of San Antonio.