In 1959 Fernandez moved to Paris, where he would remain for more than 10 years, producing a series of erotic work. While his work of the 50's was more colorful, after a beige period, Fernandez's work of the 60's moved to a more limited palette of black and white. His ambiguous, yet provocative paintings combine soft, fleshy human-like forms contrasted with hard metallic surfaces.

Using the machine as reference, his work conjures subconscious, often erotic imaginings. In 1968, after moving to Puerto Rico, and destroying much of his earlier work, he began to work in collage, and continued to explore the armor-like metal facades. He would also create three-dimensional objects, like those of Duchamp or Man Ray. Slowly color started to reappear, but Fernandez continued to represent the sometime conflicting, often emotional, human conditions.