Mike Fernandez | OJOSEXO STUDIO
OJOSEXO STUDIO is the creative practice of LA-based mixed-media artist Mike Fernandez. With a background in fashion spanning nearly a decade in New York as a wardrobe stylist, hairstylist, and groomer, my work is rooted in the aesthetics of editorial imagery and the language of style. Transitioning into photography, I began working across digital, polaroid, and 35mm formats, exploring themes of homoeroticism, graphic typography, and the power of constructed identities.My current practice revolves around collage, where I recontextualize found imagery—sourced from vintage advertising, bodybuilding magazines, and subcultural ephemera—to create layered visual narratives. These works, assembled by hand, are not static compositions but evolving ideas that extend into large-scale painting collages. Using water-based glue and acrylic on canvas, I translate the precision of cut-paper into a textured, expressive format that blurs the lines between print, painting, and assemblage.Born and raised in Sacramento, California, and partially in San Francisco, Mike Fernandez is the son of gay fathers, a unique upbringing that shaped his visual identity. He spent nearly a decade in New York working in commercial and editorial fashion as a wardrobe stylist, hairstylist, and groomer. His transition into photography was a natural extension of his aesthetic exploration, leading him to mixed-media and collage. Now based in Los Angeles, he operates under OJOSEXO STUDIO, where he continues his investigations into visual culture through large-scale collage paintings that blend digital and analog techniques.A Fine Arts and Vidal Sassoon academy alum, my work has been exhibited in galleries and publications, existing at the intersection of fashion, photography, and contemporary art. OJOSEXO STUDIO is the synthesis of these influences—a space where past and present media collide, remix, and take on new life.Exhibitions and Publications
Icon-ic, Group Exhibition, November 2024, Covet Gallery, Oceanside, California, “Burt”, 24"X18", water based glue and acrylics on canvas with wood frame,2024The NEXT, Art Show, Group Exhibition, October, 2024, Covet Gallery, Oceanside, California, LEG DAY, 36"x24", water based glue and acrylics on canvas, 2023July 2022, Cute Gloom Group Show exhibition, Lauren Powell Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, ”Payaso Exploited”, 5”x7” mixed media, ceramic frame with found, digitally altered image, with painted, acrylic overlay, March 2022, New Mythology Group Show exhibition, Steven Arnold, Mike Fernandez, Daniel Morowitz, Lauren Powell Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, 13, 11”x17”, mixed media, photo paper collages with acrylic, colored, photo gel overlays Feb 2022, “Blue Boy”, singer, songwriter Fields for LadyGunn Magazine, photo editorial featureJanuary 2022, Mike by Mike, singer, song writer Mike Taveira for Totem Tienda Magazine, photo editorial featureDec 2021, Tom of Finland Art and Culture Festival, Raw Anatomy, Online Viewing room, mixed media piece titled, “Playboy Liquor”, 11”x17” photo paper collage with colored, photo gel, overlay Dec 2021, Round the Block, Photographs and Collages, Solo Exhibition, solo produced pop up gallery, Los Angeles, 22, 8”x11”, mixed media, photo paper collages with colored, photo gel, overlays Oct 2021, Iris Covet Magazine, Johnny Sibilly Of HBO’S “Hacks”, photo editorial featureJuly 2020, Pineapple Magazine, “Noir Gaze”, photo editorial feature April 2020, Pineapple Magazine, “For Sadao” photo editorial feature Feb 2019, Vogue Arabia, “ Freedom Fighter, creative direction, fashion, photo editorial June 2019, Iris Covet Magazine, ” Nightskin” featuring artist DESAMPA, creative direction, fashion, photo, editorial April, 2018, King Kong Magazine, “Men like Gods”, creative direction, photo editorial feature