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Artist Spotlight: A Miami-born Artist with Tropical Sensibilities

Artist Spotlight: A Miami-born Artist with Tropical Sensibilities

October 27, 2017

At the heart of One River Point’s unparalleled experience is the seamless harmonizing between Rafael Viñoly’s architectural masterpiece, the private Riverfront Park designed by Sasaki Associates, and the forthcoming art installations and exhibitions that will animate indoor galleries and the Park. One River Point creates a distinctly kinetic experience in which art is a priority, not an afterthought. With unmatched gallery and outdoor spaces primed for art exhibitions, the art program will match the aesthetic sensibilities of its residents.

Through rotating art exhibitions and artist in residence programs, residents will be fully immersed in art. More than simply living amongst art, One River Point will host educational programs and provide premiere art advisory services for residents––building, or starting, their personal art collections for their private residences.

Teresita Fernandez

The artist Teresita Fernandez in front of her work “Epic,” 2009

Many artists share this holistic vision—naturally integrating architecture, design, and fine art into their practice. One such artist happens to be the critically-acclaimed, Miami-born sculptor Teresita Fernández. Her work transcends the classification of pure sculpture, existing in an undefinable realm that encompasses architecture, sculpture, and installation art. Reflecting Miami’s tropical environs and underscoring the importance of the city to her artistic production, much of her oeuvre confronts issues of environment and landscape.

A true Miamian, Fernández was born in Miami in 1961 and received her BFA from Florida International University, Miami in 1990. Though she began her formal training in art in Miami, her work quickly exploded onto the international scene. At mid-career, the artist has received the most prestigious accolades afforded to artists and creatives alike, awarded the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2005, the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, and the Aspen Award for Art in 2013.

Beyond these accolades, Fernández has managed to produce a distinct artistic style that at once represents Miami’s tropical culture and takes part in a broader dialogue with conceptual and interactive art.

Perhaps owing to her Cuban heritage, Fernández’s large-scale sculptures and public installations chart the trajectories of interactive art that emerged at mid-century in Latin America, developed by artists such as Lygia Pape (1927 – 2004) and Hélio Oiticica (1937 – 1980). These Neo-Concretist artists set out to activate the body by creating immersive environments and objects that required viewer participation, taking the form of moving elements and games.

Hélio Oiticica

Hélio Oiticica, NC6 Medium Nucleus 3, 1961-63

Fernández’s work tackles these modernist concerns with her own personal twist—by introducing abstracted forms that evoke the experience of landscape.

Inspired by natural phenomena, her installations harness a bevy of materials to create the illusion of nature. For example, in her striking 1997 intervention “Landscape (Projected),” Fernández painted an interior space shamrock green and laid tubing onto the floor, forging a simulacrum of a forest in abstract terms.

As Romantic era painters desired to imitate nature, so too does Fernández. Tellingly, Fernández’s first exhibition was at Miami’s Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, underscoring her commitment to bridging nature, art, and architecture even in her most nascent practice as a college student.

Teresita Fernández

Teresita Fernández, “Landscape (Projected),” 1997

Her more recent works have seen a turn towards highly inventive explorations with materials. The project for which she is most widely-remembered is “Fata Morgana”—the title a reference to the natural phenomena and a book of the same that the famed Cuban artist Wifredo Lam illustrated in the 1940s. The work was a 500-foot-long sculpture elevated above park-goers at New York’s Madison Square Park in 2015.

Made of mirror-polished, golden metal the aerial sculpture’s intricate perforation created shadows that simulated the park’s foliage, and the reflective material produced shimmering effects, playing with the light provided by the outdoor venue. Such works adeptly navigate concerns of natural environments, representation, and experience-based art.

Despite her exhaustive exhibition history, Fernández has only had four solo exhibitions in Miami since she began presenting her art publicly. One River Point will feature artists who traverse issues central to its mission of creating curated experiences with architecture, design, and fine arts, as each artist will inherently be in conversation with the visions of Raphael Viñoly and Sasaki Associates.

Fata Morgana

Teresita Fernández, “Fata Morgana,” 2015. Madison Square Park, New York.

Teresita Fernández is the type of artist that One River Point would be privileged to showcase: with a Miami heritage and a sensibility for tropical culture, Fernández’s refined sculptures and installations are at the cutting-edge of contemporary art.

Learn more about this exciting luxury living opportunity. Check out One River Point.