Mastery

by Robert Greene

Teresita Fernández was born in 1968, in Miami, Florida. She received a BFA from Florida International University, and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Fernández is a conceptual artist who is best known for her public sculptures and for her large-scale pieces in unconventional materials. In her work she likes to explore how psychology impacts our perception of the world around us; for this purpose, she creates immersive environments that challenge our conventional views of art and nature. Her work has been exhibited in prominent museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Her large-scale commissions include a recent site-specific work titled Blind Blue Landscape at the renowned Bennesee Art site in Naoshima, Japan. Fernández has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy in Rome Affiliated Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Grant. In 2005 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, also known as the “genius grant.” In 2011 President Barack Obama appointed Fernández to serve on the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.