Interdisciplinary artist Fernández was born in Miami, Florida, in 1968 and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from Florida International University in Miami and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She is the recipient of many awards, including a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. In 2011, President Obama appointed her to serve on the US Commission of Fine Arts for four years. The 100-year-old panel advises the president and congress on national matters of aesthetics and design.

Fernández often creates thought provoking public art, such as Fata Morgana. This 500’ mirror-polished golden metal sculpture used the upper registrar of the visitor’s space. The perforated intricate patterns created abstract flickering effects as sunlight filters and cast a golden glow across paths for 50,000 passersby. The walkers were the viewers and a crucial part of the artwork. As Fernández said, “One of the most interesting things about being an artist is that my work is based on this very strange way of linking and making connections between things that normally would have nothing to do with one another.” This type of thinking is touted as the most creative thinking skill we can master. It is an intuitive way of seeing and a knowingness born of the unconscious mind. Fernández combines research and philosophy, which allows her to absorb the meaning and understand how the information can come together to produce specific effects on the audience. She sees her work as a mirror of her immensity, reflecting on the audience their greatness.

Designed for the first Setouchi Triennale 2010, Blind Blue Landscape has become a permanent work on Naoshima, Japan’s Art Island. Fernández composed the art of over 30,000 cubes that serve as mirrors, showcasing the landscape and reflecting the audience that comes to see it. The artist’s use of this material shows the indigenous truth that the landscape is not outside of us, but we are of the landscape. The hexahedrons also serve as small lamps reflecting sunlight during the day and sunset at the shore in the afternoons. Blind Blue Landscape explores natural phenomena while challenging perception and redefining “seeing.” The ambulatory motion of the viewer erases preconceptions and allows the piece to reveal the unexpected. This is a sight-specific installation and is an integral part of the socio-cultural identity of Naoshima.

An interest in self-reflection and conceptual way-finding characterizes Teresita Fernández’s work. She creates immersive, monumental works that are inspired by a rethinking of landscape and place, as well as by diverse historical and cultural references. Often drawing inspiration from the natural world, Fernández’s practice unravels the intimacies between matter, places, and human beings. Her work questions power, visibility, and erasure in ways that prompt reflective engagement for individual viewers.

 

Lehmann Maupin gallery represents Teresita Fernández.

 

 

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