(Vegadeo, 1952)

Born in Vegadeo in 1952, he studied philosophy and design. A self-taught artist, he held his first exhibition in 1976 at the Círculo Mercantil in Santiago de Compostela. In 1983, he was awarded a grant for young artists by the Ministry of Culture, and in 1987 another from the Principality of Asturias.

The subject matter of his work is highly varied: ranging from landscapes, mainly of northern and central Spain, to mythological scenes. From his earlier works characterised by austere forms and muted colours, Fega has evolved towards compositions in ochre tones and a greater formal refinement.

He has taken part in several editions of Arco (1988, 1990 and 1991) as well as in numerous group exhibitions, notably the ‘VI Salón de los 16’ (1986) at the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art.

The creative process he usually follows is pictorial, though not exclusively so. Fega uses canvases which he prepares with a plastic primer that evens out their texture, smoothing away any roughness and the weave of the fabric. This results in a finish over which the hand glides with deliberate fluidity. On this smooth surface, he creates a variety of compositions. Many of these consist of geometric fields of colour, or thick bands running across the painting from one side to the other. A constant feature of his work is the profusion of paint—mostly black, heavily diluted and applied with brushes.

The paint he uses is so liquid that he has to work on the floor.

His choice of painting technique, as well as his choice of materials and the treatments he subjects them to, stem from a single intention: to subject his craft to automatism. His works convey an overflowing vitality, a genuine longing for communication, which is neither monotonous nor contrived. Thus, in some of his series, one can appreciate a festive and more pleasurable character in his more synthetic paintings.