Artist Statement
My art organically extends from my Caribbean roots, influenced by master visual artists and Afro-Cuban sculptors, connecting both primitive and modern Latin American and African artistic expression.
Through my sculptures, images are conceptualized in abstract-figurative forms, transcending the imagination and awakening fantasy.
Biography
Fermin Castro is an emerging self-taught artist whose abstract sculptures evoke both fantasy and mysticism, often conveying his own vision of evolution. His sculptures portray images conceptualized in abstract-figurative forms, transcending the imagination and awakening fantasy. His art is influenced by his Caribbean roots, from Cuban and Afro-Cuban sculptors and painters, connecting both primitive and modern Latin American and contemporary European artistic expression.
Castro was born and raised in Havana, Cuba where he graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in chemistry. He always had a passion for art, but it wasn’t until 2017 that he formally began his artistic career, pursuing his life-long dream of sculpting. He sculpts wood from a wide range of geographical areas, but more often creates his sculptures from the wood of local fallen trees, purchases from small land owners, and reclaimed pieces. Using both the texture and the color of the wood, Castro re-interprets Cuban stories, legends, and marine life, creating imaginative forms in which the viewer can find an unexpected harmony.
As Jane Epstein states, “Each sculpture is unique and has its own story to tell. The different shades, grains of wood, and the formation of each piece is shaped by his inspiration and interpretation of the natural growth of the wood itself. His passion to reinvent different shapes and forms in wood is fervently expressed in his sculptures. Fermin Castro is truly a master sculptor.”
Castro resides with his wife and maintains his studio in East Somerville, Massachusetts in an 1850s Greek Revival home which he and his wife restored.
Resume
February 7-March 18, 2026, exhibition of selected works, with four other artists, The Unbound Mind, Galerie d’Orsay, Boston, MA
July 3-October 25, 2025, exhibition of selected works and other sculptures from Origenes + Identidades/Origins + Identities, Galeria Cubana, Provincetown, MA
August 16-October 25, 2025, exhibition of selected works, On the Edge, Provincetown Arts Society in Association with The Sally Project, The Mary Heaton Vorse House, Provincetown, MA
July-August, 2025, Studio visit, Fermin Castro, by Alix Woodford in Art New England, vol. 46 (Issue 4), p. 12
July 3-14, 2025, exhibition, Origines + Identidades/Origins + Identities, Galeria Cubana, Provincetown, MA
May 3-4, 2025, exhibition, Somerville Open Studios, Ebenezer Davis House, Somerville, MA
April 25-May 17, 2025, exhibition with local artists, First Look, Somerville Open Studios, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
March-April, 2025, featured as one of ten emerging artists in Art New England, vol.46 (Issue 2), Emerging Artists Issue, p. 30, pp. 35-36
October 3-November 3, 2024, exhibition, Origins, Boston Sculptors Gallery, Launchpad, Boston, MA
May 15, 2024, recipient of Grant for Creative Individuals, Mass Cultural Council, Boston, MA
May 4-5, 2024, exhibition, Somerville Open Studios, Ebenezer Davis House, Somerville, MA
April 11-May 14, 2024, exhibition with local artists, First Look, Somerville Open Studios, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
March 26, 2024, featured artist, Somerville Open Studios, Somerville, MA
September 15-October 23, 2023, exhibition of selected works, Inside-Out Gallery, Somerville Arts Council (SAC), Somerville, MA
October 2022-February 2026, exhibition, Guijes and selected works, Ellenbogen Gallery, Manchester, VT
May-July, 2022, public art project, tree sculpture, We Are Still Listening, Symphony Street Park, Somerville Arts Council (SAC), Somerville, MA
October 10-11, 2020, exhibition of selected works with local artists, Salem, New York, Fair Weather Gallery Barn, Salem, NY
June-July, 2020, public art project, tree sculpture, Mother and Child, Marshall Street Children’s Park, Somerville Arts Council (SAC), Somerville, MA
Pez Antillano/Fish from the Antilles