At first I did not even know where this was taken from. I only found out months later where this was from and it turned out to be an old church facade in Macao just outside of Hong Kong. It was hanging at Oola until someone pointed it out to me where it was because this person lived there. It was later purchased by my friend Linda who is a continuing collector of my art. Thanks for the support Linda.

Commissioned by Matt Lundberg 2007

These images were commissioned by my good friend Matt Lundberg. The family portrait was from an earlier childhood family photo. Seems like your typical average 'All-American' family image. The other image is of his grandmother dressing a buck. What an image!!! These are the kinds of photos that I look for when I dig around my usual photo hunting bins. Simply amazing.

Waiting on the tarmack....

This is probably the most inviting image Ive made so far. When people see it, they feel very adamant about telling me where this photo was taken and what the whole story behind it is. "Oh its in Miami..." or "That lady is married to that guy, and she's pissed at him..." or " That guy seems to be the happiest one..". Whatever the story behind them is, we will never know for sure. Thats the dialogue that we create for ourselves in order to understand the dynamics of the painting. What do you think the story is behind this image?

what can we say about this guy?!....I mean c'mon! Denim shorts....tailored and not torn off....denim vest with patches....million dollar grin....who does this guy look like to you?could be anyone from your past....

Beach Lake Scene from a slide I acquired of a family vacation ...who knows where...during God knows when....I really liked the composition and the hue the way it came out. It becomes very compelling and interesting as I look into the image itself. Lots of things going on...almost allegorical...

Resume'

Gallery Showings:

2002-"The Brewery" Los Angeles Ca
2004-"Familiar" Pigman Gallery, SF Ca
2005-Zonal Store in Hayes Valley, SF Ca
2005-Dare Stay Late at Great American Music Hall, SF Ca
2005-JR Gallery, Manhattan Beach Ca
2005-Gallery Cafe, SF Ca
2007-Barber Lounge SF, Ca
2008-Barber Lounge SF, Ca
2008-Ritz Carlton Residential, SF Ca
2008-"All for Love" at Oola, SF Ca

Miscellaneous Venues:

Permanent viewing at Oola Restaurant and Bar, SF
Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant, SF
Harlot, SF
Les Amise, SF
Loomis Group, SF

2006 I started honing in on the quality and subject matter of my paintings. I felt that I needed to step up the practice up a notch and focused on more interesting brushwork and compositions. It has been my most energetic and exciting year so far. However, Im not done with 2009 and Im already at the same level in 3 months where I was after 12 months in 2006.

3 Amsterdam paintings

This series of paintings done in 2005 were all taken by my dad back in the 70's maybe early 80's. These were the rejected junk photos of what we grew up with in our photo albums of his business trips to Amsterdam. Love this series. I wish it were all purchased by one buyer instead of being separated. Maybe a reunion will be executed someday.

2009 Hyde Street Gallery Event May 8th

Last Friday, May 8th was my opening event at the Hyde Street Gallery in Russian Hill. The event drew about a 100 people more or less and was told that it was the gallery's most attended event! I couldnt have been more humbled by the number of friends, fellow artist, and collectors that enjoyed the night. Oola restaurant on 860 Folsom donated some ribs and tomato tart for the event.

As I started to develop this style, I was mainly focusing on painting the subject and thought that the background was irrelevant. I painted my paintings with the subject in oil and filled the rest of the background with a random color in Latex house paint. I thought that the contrast of the gloss of oil with the flatness of latex created a jolt of the image popping out rather than the painting the whole image. It worked for that period but not for long.

This is the house we grew up in back in the Manila. The address was 49 Dona Ines. I created this painting for my brother Martin and his family when he commissioned me to do a painting of anything I wanted to do. I was at liberty to choose any image so I chose something that hit close to home....okay sure...Ill intend the pun. This house was full of great memories and charm. I miss this house....

End of 2004/early 2005 I started to really focus on the found random family photograph. It was a sort of exploration into 20th Century American cultural anthropology; to see how people lived. Quite intriguing in fact. Because I didnt have as much of a collection of found photographs as I do now, I first used some of my own old family photographs and some from wife Astrid. The two little girls loving each other is my wife and her sister when they were young kids. It shows the sweet sentiment that two sisters have for each other.

The Pigman Show (which you can tell was quite pivotal) was dedicated to my family and was named 'Familiar'. I produced large portraits of every member in my family from my old family photographs that I considered myself to be memorable. I figured that I would first pay respects to my family first for my induction to the art world. Not all of my family members were there but we were all connected in spirit. What an event it turned out to be....

clay sketches....

These were produced at a clay figure sketch demo in SFCC in 2004 (pre-Pigman). I actually really liked doing these clay figures from a live model. I wish I could expand on this particular medium as I had a great time doing it. Maybe I should take some classses again to do some more of this type of work.

'Blue Bus' and 'Crowded Street' 48x48 were the first paintings I created from the found photograph images. I hold a very special place in my creative heart for these pieces as they were the ones that helped my art career. Call it luck of the draw when I chose such provoking images...or did I luck out on painting a simple image provokingly....either way, i felt more confident after I recieved such an amazing response from these images. I miss them. Blue Bus was purchased by Russell Gray and Anthony Garcia, and Crowded Street was purchased by John and Aussie (who were the first buyers at the Pigman Show)...

Abstraction #2 was the second one....and for some reason, was the last. I then jumped on to working from the found photographs when I discovered a photo album for sale at a thrift store. This one was purchased by Gary McGuirre from Gyro Group and was later displayed at there downtown office on Maiden Lane. Who knows, maybe Ill come back to doing abstract work again down the road. Thats the great thing with art is that its perpetually evolving within oneself.

Abstraction #1 was the first of my really focused abstract image completed for the 2004 show at Pigman Gallery.

I think its both funny and humbling to see these primitive images I created back then. Its clear that I was trying to find myself as a person and as an artist like a teenager finding his personal style. The figure in the Box was borrowed from my oldest brother's idea about the figure trying to get out of the limits of the framed surface. he would sketch it out in the back of his notebooks in high school and college. I guess it was from him that I began drawing jet planes and Disney characters as a child. Thanks Migs....Maybe I can dig up some of those images from the vault....

press info....

Check out www.lostateminor.com as I was written up on this creative website/blog by Domingo Robledo. Type in Manny Fabregas and see what he had to say....not bad I thought....

2001/2002 was the time that I wanted to get serious about my art. I started experimenting with different styles and mediums to try to see which worked for me best. I thought doing abstract images was the best way to begin after seeing the Willem DeKooning's "Tracing the Figure" exhibit at the MOCA in Los Angeles in 2001. It was most inspiring to me at the time and still is one of the most impressive exhibits I have seen yet. Yuu can probably see a little influence with the jagged points and loose strokes. Abstract art proved to be more confusing and difficult as one might seem. But I kept on. These early images were produced as going away presents to friends and some even gave donations in return. This gave me a little boost of confidence as I was approaching my last days in Los Angeles to move to San Francisco to pursue art school at CCAC....which I did not end up going....long story.