Fermin Castro, whose art is on display now at the Boston Sculptor’s Gallery, knew he was an artist from the time he was a child, drawing in classes with friends. But he wouldn’t realize that calling until after a detour into the sciences.
“My idea was trying to figure out the world in some way, and I try to represent my ideas and paper, and that is, I believe, that’s the basis of my beginning of being an artist,” Castro told the Sampan.
Castro’s exhibit of abstract figurative wood sculptures, “Origins,” is on display at the Boston Sculptors Gallery’s Launchpad until Nov. 3. The exhibit is featured in the front windows of the gallery and is a combination of over a dozen wooden sculptures and a few of Castro’s recent acrylic paintings.
Born and raised in Havana, Castro studied chemistry at the University of Havana, starting a career in that field before moving to Miami in 1994. He is a self-taught artist and credits his time in the scientific field as where he learned to pay attention to detail and have patience and persistence — all qualities that are helpful in his work as an artist. He studied other artists’ work in books and museums, as well as using social media to learn.
“Now, social media also is a good chance to be in contact with different new artists, you know, emerging artists. That’s very important. Texting people that express an idea which fitted me in the way that I really want to create my own style without (forgetting) the old artist language in Havana, you know; I just learned from them and I get what is the idea of the Cuban style.”
When asked how being a part of the Cuban Diaspora affected his work he responded, “In my field, my previous artists on the ground at that moment was my normal life, walking around and seeing and being involved with friends and seeing them walking in the street. And I did not pay too much attention at that time. But when I came over here in the Diaspora, I found these memories very important, and I tried to get them, and I made my mind as better as possible, and I just tried to reproduce that kind of idea, that kind of image, and I incorporate in me that kind of idea and try to express my art with that specific experience in my lifestyle.”
“Being an immigrant in this country is a very interesting process for everyone. So I am not an exception. What is kind of tough: I tried to get from Havana to Miami, where my family was part of that, very tough to get in there. So I just went to Europe and returned, and I stayed in Miami asking for political asylum. And I have been granted this at that time. We’re talking about 1994. The beginning of my life in Miami was kind of tough. The language is the first big barrier … I just tried to get involved in school and prepare at the same time, find out a job and try to get involved with my degree somehow. But it was kind of difficult.”
Castro says each piece in the exhibition has a story behind it, but one that is special is a piece called “Pittire,” which is named after the onomatopoeia sound that a certain bird makes. When Castro was a child in Cuba, his grandfather told him about the bird making the purring sound as it flew over the countryside. The “Pittire” piece is made from red oak from New York.
“In my mind, I created a picture,” he said.
From that picture he found the perfect piece of seasoned wood and carved then sanded it to perfection until it gave way to the shape of the bird he envisioned. “Pittire” is just over a foot tall at 14 inches, with two holes in the center; one is reminiscent of a bird’s eye. The other serves to move the eye over the shapes of the body and bring it back to the bird’s curved beak.
Castro has two large scale public works projects on display in the city of Somerville that he carved from tree trunks in 2000 and 2022.
His process for a new piece starts with a sketch before matching the idea, which often comes early in the morning around 3 or 4 a.m., to the perfect piece of wood. He has piles of wood drying at his home studio: black walnut, cherry maple, silver maple. He often waits years until the wood is perfectly seasoned before beginning to carve. Once the piece is carved, it takes a lot of time to sand it to perfection. Some pieces take as little as 10 days while others, more complex pieces, he may work on for over month.
Several of Castro’s pieces in the window are long, thin, gently curved pieces, some with sharp points that evoke living organic creatures. They have emerged from the wood under a skillful hand. They have names such as “Lungfish” and “Figure with Spined Tail,” and “Origins.” Several of these pieces are made of African mahogany, and have beautiful rich brown tones. The pieces for this exhibition were created as far back as 2021 and as recently as 2024 with all three acrylic paintings being from 2024. One piece entitled “Caribbean Soul” stands at over 31-inches tall with a gently curved body making way to a square shaped top, its black walnut wood painstakingly sanded to perfection.
There are three paintings in the exhibition each on a rich, black background. “Pequena Forma Nocturna/Small Nocturnal Form Series: Early Dreams” features white shapes moving across the negative space. There seems to be no beginning or end to the shapes, they feel infinite and practically writhe under the viewer’s eyes. The other paintings are in a similar style with different colors. There is “Form in Red” and “Figure Transforming to Blue/Figura Convirtiendoes al Azul.”
When asked how it feels to stand in a gallery surrounded by his work, Castro explained that seeing his work in a gallery in Boston where he can tell people to “enter over here and start to enjoy what I try to express in my culture and painting” was a great feeling and a fantastic time.”
He went on to say that his time showing in the gallery is an “ incredible opportunity, an incredible experience.”
