Stephanie Fernandez is the girl of a thousand faces.
The art created by the 19 year-old painter, photographer, and videographer is powerful enough to have won praise from buzzfeed.com, Good Morning America, the Huffington Post, and other global media ports. Her fame has been won with faces transformed by color and line into otherworldly figures.
Fernandez admits that much of her spectacularly colorful makeup work falls into the category of “colorful/creepy/gory.” She says, “this style is influenced by my passion for horror movies & psychological thrillers.”
But she is even more influenced by music, says Fernandez and her friends.
Notes Justin Powell, “Music is very, very important to her. Images come from the world she hears. She channels the sound into her work.”
And musician friend Jeremy Hefner points out that a female duo called CocoRosie is a big influence. In fact, Fernandez’s best movie, “Rosalee,” an ominous 12-minute piece featuring 8 silent actors (the seven deadly sins plus a heroine), uses four evocative CocoRosie songs as the soundtrack.
“Most of my makeup is heavily influenced by music,” she explains. “I love to be able to create and see what I am hearing, if that makes sense. I hear it and I do my best to create a visual of what and how I feel. Other than music and movies-nature, dark art, psychedelic/pop surrealistic art, and other artists inspire me. I strive to constantly create beauty.”
That is apparent in the four make-up tutorial videos she has produced. In the fast-forward camera work her hands work deftly, whether using fingers or brush. Colors are blended like butter.
In the interview she asks herself, “How do I come up with these ideas and concepts? I simply see it in my mind’s eye and my hands do the rest. Haha; the ideas honestly just come to me. It is not something I can explain with words.”
“Big, open spaces and the colors found in nature are not so apparent but are important themes [in Fernandez’s work],” says friend and model Madison Brown. Pointing out a recent series of fawn faces accented with antlers, Brown sees subtlety. It indicates growth.
That she is in the media spotlight may have something to do with her storytelling ability. A sharp photographer, Fernandez typically publishes four photos of makeup steps leading to the finished image.
On her vivid Instagram stream, a self-described “complex individual” has some 55,000 followers. Yet she remains modest about her notoriety. “People who know her do not necessarily realize that she is so highly regarded,” says Hefner.
Her website, stephaniefernandezart.com, tells an expanded story. In addition to makeup, she produces movies. She fabricates masks. She paints in acrylic. She says, “I would love to direct movies and music videos and well as open a studio to create SFX masks, canvas pieces, and many other mediums. I love the film, fashion, and music industries. I have no limits. My mind is constantly moving. I want to do it all.”
Note: Stephanie Fernandez graduated from Airline HS, Bossier City, and has taken media classes at Bossier Parish Community College. In art she is self taught.