I was born in Madrid and moved to Florence in 2012, after studying humanities, philosophy and artistic research at the Universities of Navarra and Granada. In Florence, I continued my training in drawing and sculpture, and the city gradually became my home. Its early Renaissance painting, sacred spaces and long tradition of drawing have deeply shaped the way I look at images and understand the work of an artist.

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My practice moves between oil painting, drawing and sculpture. I begin with the visible world—the human figure, animals, gardens and landscape—but I am interested in what these forms can hold beyond their appearance: intimacy, solitude, desire, spiritual longing, relationships and the passage of time. The work changes as my own life changes. Rather than pursuing a single fixed style, I think of each new body of work as part of an ongoing search for meaning through form, material, colour and light.

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My paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in Italy and the United States, including presentations at Arcadia Contemporary in New York and The Inner Garden at Gadarte Gallery in Florence. I am represented by Arcadia Contemporary.

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Alongside my studio practice, I serve as Coordinator of Didactics at the Foundation for Contemporary Art, also known as the Sacred Art School, in Florence. I teach painting in its master’s degree programme, offered in collaboration with IUL University, and drawing in the Foundation’s three-year programme. Teaching keeps me connected to artistic tradition while allowing me to accompany other people as they develop their own ways of seeing.

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Becoming a father has introduced another dimension into my work. My son Arturo has made me think more deeply about care, inheritance, transformation and the beauty of what arrives unexpectedly. Arturo’s Garden, my first illustrated picture book, grew from these questions and was created especially for him. Painting, teaching and fatherhood are not separate parts of my life: each continually changes the way I understand and practise the others.

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To contact me you can write me an email to fernandocidoncha@gmail.com.