Dex Fernandez Sketches Outside The Lines

With a pencil, a parasite, and a pop-fed imagination, Dex Fernandez draws outside the line and never stops moving.

It was in the dense grid of Caloocan where Dex Fernandez grew up. While children ran the streets with scraped knees on afternoons spent playing, the young Dex was in his room, sketching the characters he saw on television. Born in 1984, Fernandez’s instincts as a soon-to-be artist were shaped by what he gravitated to as a kid in the 90s. “I really liked drawing anime, like Voltes V, Dragon Ball, and Sailor Moon,” he says. “I didn’t know what fine arts was yet, but I knew I was different. While my friends played, I drew.”

That difference eventually shaped his identity as Garapata, a name now recognized across Manila’s art and street culture scene. For nearly two decades, his work has appeared in museums, murals, galleries, clothing, with some pieces even found underwater. 

The path wasn’t straightforward. After studying advertising in college, Fernandez worked for several years as a graphic designer. “I thought I was going to be in an office forever,” he says. That changed when a mural commission brought him to Saudi Arabia, where in that moment, the budding artist decided he was going to “quit everything.”

Since 2008, Fernandez has worked full-time as an artist. Around the same time, he began exploring street art by joining Pilipinas Street Plan, a collective that helped popularize graffiti in the country. It was during this period that he started developing his signature character, Garapata. Meaning “tick” in Filipino, the name was inspired by the dogs his family raised at home. “The idea of infestation stuck with me,” he says. “The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. You put a sticker, you paint on a wall, it spreads. Like advertising. Like a tick.”

Over time, Garapata became a character that carried different stories across different mediums. “It became this vessel,” Fernandez says. “I could inject whatever story I wanted into it, and it would still be Garapata.” That flexibility shows in his body of work, which includes photography, animation, murals, installations, and digital art. In Bataan, he contributed to an underwater museum’s artificial reef program in Playa La Caleta, creating sculptural versions of Garapata designed to be overtaken by real coral over time. Back on dry land, he also painted a mural titled “Secret Garden,” which greets visitors to the newly constructed section of Pinto Art Museum through his distinct style of chaos.

As an artist, he also works in bursts, often moving between several pieces at once. “I get bored easily,” he says. “You’ll see me jumping from Photoshop to paper to canvas. When I get tired of one thing, I move to the next. But even when I’m distracted, I’m still productive.” His studio is filled with visual clutter: loose sketches, half-finished paintings, prototype toys, digital mockups, and stickers. Garapata has been adapted into everything from t-shirts to plush toys. Most recently, Fernandez opened a physical store to house and sell Garapata merchandise. “This was a dream 10 years ago,” he says. “Now it’s real.”

Still, he doesn’t overthink how his work is received. “Sometimes I look back and think, why did I even make this?” he says, laughing. “But then I remember the point was just to express myself. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. It was just for me.” He doesn’t consider himself a muralist, or a painter, or a designer. Instead, he sees himself as someone who moves through many forms. 

Looking ahead, Fernandez has a few things in mind. “Ten years ago, I wanted a store. I have it now. So maybe next, I want to build something like a foundation. A space for kids who want to explore street art. Give them access.” If there’s one thing he hopes younger artists understand, it’s that art doesn’t have to start big. “Tell your own story. Be honest. Don’t try to create a version of yourself just for the sake of it. Create because you have something real to say.”

For Fernandez, that story started on the streets of Caloocan with a pencil and a few sheets of paper. Today, it continues in galleries, public walls, and underwater sculptures. And through Garapata, it keeps flourishing. 

By GABRIEL YAP. Photographs by JL JAVIER. Talent: Dex Fernandez. Vogue Man Philippines Editor: Danyl Geneciran. Producer: Julian Rodriguez. Photographer’s Team: Nikki Bonuel