“The Extraordinary Journey of Sculptor Fernando Costa: Honored with a Street Name in Gignac”

Fernando Costa is honored by the town of Gignac which named a street after him in the village of Genestes. We met him to retrace with him his extraordinary adventure as a world-renowned sculptor.

Is it here that it all started, in Gignac in the village of Les Genestes?

Indeed, it is here, I was 27 years old, after studying hospitality, I became a steward on board the Queen Elisabeth 2 liner. I decided to leave everything in 1998 to devote myself to artistic creation. I had the immense chance to meet César the great sculptor, my idol! Me, the son of a family of Portuguese immigrants settled in Sarlat, I thought that, to succeed in an artistic career, it was essential to come from a well-to-do background, from the seraglio. Cesar gave me this great self-confidence.

In Gignac, a family, a man meant a lot to you?

I will never be able to thank René Peyrodes and his wife, who unfortunately passed away, enough. He graciously offered me his Genestes workshop, he hosted me, fed me and he was my apprentice master in the art of welding. A kind of spiritual father!

Success is waiting?

With my discarded road signs, I somehow become the artist of recycling. In 1999, before the changeover to the euro, I managed to sell my first sculpture for 200 francs (Editor’s note, €30). The first public successes came with an exhibition at Paris la Bastille in 2005, 18 years ago! A current of sympathy is established with visitors, lovers of modern art, journalists and gallery directors. Then the exhibitions follow one another all over the world.

For more than ten years, you have been riding the wave of success; in 2015, your exhibition in Biarritz is entitled: “COSTA, 10 years after CESAR” with, in homage to Picasso, a reinterpretation of “Guernica”?

At the moment, I am focusing on France, I favor local exhibitions (Lot, Dordogne, Corrèze); I exhibit at the Maison des Consuls de Saint-Céré. I also take great pleasure in welcoming and interacting with visitors to my studio in Calviac-en-Périgord.

What are your themes for reflection in 2023?

I work on the subject of the death penalty and on a great gentleman whom I admire: Robert Badinter.

Having a street named after him during his lifetime is quite rare, what inspires you?

After the surprise, I am very touched by this gesture from the municipality. There are many great scientists, philosophers, Nobel Prize winners; highlighting a self-taught artist is great!