Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1964. Lives and works in Caracas.
Magdalena Fernández's studies began in the fields of physics and mathematics. Although in 1982 she took a course in Graphic Arts at Boston University, in 1983 she enrolled at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, where she studied Education, mentioning physics and mathematics. After two years at the university, he returned to design and studied Graphic Design at the Neumann Institute in Caracas, graduating in 1989. She then traveled to Italy, where she studied with architect and designer AG Fronzoni Inscape and graphic design at his "Scuola Bottega" in Milan.
Parallel to her artistic research, she worked as a freelance graphic designer in Italy from 1990 to 2000, where she collaborated with different companies and projects. From her studies and these experiences, she developed a rigorous familiarity with line and structure. She began making sculptures and installations in acrylic and stainless steel in the mid-1990s, inviting viewers to move in and around them. This inclusion of the public bears some relation to the strong history of Venezuelan sculpture, especially the early interventions in the field of sculpture by Alejandro Otero and Jesús Rafael Soto.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Fernández began using analog video and digital media to incorporate moving images into his work. In 2003 she began a series of videos and video installations called Mobile drawings and paintings, interpreting canonical modern artists such as Piet Mondrian, Joaquín Torres García, Jesús Rafael Soto, Alejandro Otero, Mercedes Pardo, SolLeWitt, among others, breaking with the authority of these images. In her opinion, there is a dialectic of abstraction. In fact, many of Fernández's abstractions also look to the experience of the natural world. From the organic forms of nature, Fernandez adds sounds and noises to play with how we experience these forms and how, by making them unstable, they can be transformed. In her words "instability has to do with movement, with fracture or with a possible transformation". These thoughts have given rise to different formal results in her work, both in structural pieces and in videos. The instability in her work "is a physical event, an event that separates me from modernity".
By 2017, when many young people were injured, arrested and killed in the streets of Venezuelan cities, while protesting the political and economic situation of the country, she began to work with the body and the collective generating experiences and videos of larger format, with the intention of enhancing light and energy in moments of great darkness. In the year 2022 she began an exploration with man and landscape.
In addition, she has taught courses and workshops in Plastic Arts, at undergraduate and graduate level, at the Instituto Universitario de Estudios Superiores de Artes Plásticas Armando Reverón (IUESAPAR), Caracas, Venezuela, as well as in different institutions in Venezuela, El Salvador and Italy.
solo exhibitions
2024 "Pinturas móviles", Gallery Nosco. Bruselles, Belgium 2023 "Pinturas móviles corporales", Clavijero Cultural Center. Morelia, México 2022 "Magdalena Fernández", Clavijero Cultural Center. Morelia, Mexico 2021 Catalog’s exhibition of "Ecos" and "Estructuras Elásticas". Carmen Araujo Art Gallery. Caracas, Venezuela 2019 "Ecos", Amparo Museum. Puebla, Mexico. Carrillo Gil Museum. DF, Mexico 2018 "Estructuras Elásticas", Carmen Araujo Arte Gallery. Caracas • "Mares/ instalación corporal", Centro Cultural Chacao Theatre. Caracas 2017 “Video Crossings: Magdalena Fernández". Phoenix Art Museum. Phoenix, USA • "Rain: Magdalena Fernández at the Houston Cistern" Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern. Houston, Texas, USA • "Flexible Structures", Sicardi Gallery. Houston, Texas, USA 2016 "Climas", within the exhibition “Arquitecturas del desarraigo”, Ideobox. Miami, Florida, USA • "Magdalena Fernández", MOCA Pacific Design Center. Los Angeles, USA. 2014 ¨Magdalena Fernández”, within the exhibition “El dibujo fuera de Sí: Tríptico de Venezuela (1970- 2014)”, Instituto de Canarias Cabrera Pinto de La Laguna. Tenerife,Spain 2012 "Grises: un proyecto de Magdalena Fernández", NC-Arte. Bogotá, Colombia • "2iPM009", MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art. Long Beach, CA, USA 2011 "Mobile Geometry", Henrique Faría Fine Art. NY, USA • "2iPM009", Frost Museum. Florida International University, Florida, USA • "Objetos Movientes. Atmósferas - Estructuras - Tierras", Centro Cultural Chacao, Periférico Caracas / Arte Contemporáneo & FARIA+FABREGAS Galería.Caracas, Venezuela 2010 "2iPM009", solo show within the exhibition "Complete Concrete", haus konstruktiv. Zúrich, Switzerland • Site specific "1i010", French Embassy. Caracas, Venezuela 2006 "Superficies", Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. Caracas, Venezuela • "Surfaces", CIFO: Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation. Miami, USA 2000 "Lines", Pedro Cera Gallery. Lisbon, Portugal • "2i000", Galleria Disegno Artecontemporanea. Mantua, Italy • "4i000" Museo Alejandro Otero. Caracas, Venezuela 1998 "Aires", Sala Mendoza. Caracas, Venezuela 1997 "2i997", Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto. Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela 1996 "1i996", Verifica Center 8+1. Venice-Mestre, Italy 1993 "Estructuras", Sala Mendoza. Caracas, Venezuela 1991 "Aspettando la parola". Town Hall of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Italy.
public works
2017 "Rain: Magdalena Fernández at the Houston Cistern"
Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern.
Houston, Texas, USA
2008 "1eu008", First phase of an Urban Structure. Plaza Alfredo Sadel. Caracas, Venezuela
selected group exhibitions
2024 "Decenio". Espacio Monitor. Centro de Arte Los Galpones. Caracas, Venezuela • "Cronotopías". c&fe Collection. Sala Magis, Centro Cultural UCAB. Caracas, Venezuela"Jugar con los ojos cerrados, 100 años de surrealismo". RGR Gallery. CDMX, México 2023 "Una=Todas". Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina CAF. Caracas 2022 "Hacer mundos, un acercamiento para leer la Colección FEMSA". Museo de Arte e historia de Guanajuato. León, México • "Beyond the Sounds of Silence". LOWE Art Museum. Miami, FL. USA. 2021 "An Ethics of Light: An Assembly by Women Artists en (In)visible Processes". Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, London. UK. • "Serendipia > Instalar". Espacio Monitor, Centro de Arte Los Galpones, Caracas. • "Wunderkammer" Sala Mendoza 5621. Sala Mendoza, Caracas. 2020 Virtual exhibition: “Ideas para Monumentos en homenaje a las heroínas y héroes desconocidos”. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. • "Le Jour D'Après (Chantier d’art éphémère et participative)", Hôpital Sainte Anne, Paris, France. 2019 "Islamic Arts Festival" 22nd edition, Government of Sharjah/ Sharjah Art Museum. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates 2018 "El Sueño de La Razón, Obras de la Colección “la Caixa” de Arte Contemporáneo", Banco de la República y Museo de Antioquia. Banco de la República. Bogotá, Colombia 2017 "Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA; Video Art in Latin America", from Getty Research Institute. Laxart, California, USA. • “El pasado y el futuro en el presente”. Trienal BOD, Caracas • “DISIO. Nostalgia del futuro”. Sala TAC del Trasnocho Cultural / La Caja del Centro Cultural Chacao. Caracas 2016 "Armando Reverón" Prize, Conceptual Art mention. "Asociación Venezolana de Artistas Plásticos" AVAP • "De lo espritual en el arte", Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia. • "Arte Paiz 20th. Biennale", Guatemala City Historic Center. Guatemala 2015 "Contingent Beauty. Contemporary Art from Latin America", The Museum of Fine Arts. Houston, USA • "Historias Locales Prácticas Globales" Medellín International Art Encounter, Museo de Antoquia. Medellín, Colombia • "Istambul Light Festival", Zorlu Center. Istambul, Turkey • "Monochrome Undone", SPACE, Irvine, CA.USA • “Electroestética Ambiental.Ve”, Fundación Telefónica / Centro Cultural BOD. Caracas 2014 “Contra/señas de los 90”, Sala Mendoza. Caracas • “Panorámica. Arte emergente en Venezuela 2000/ 2012”, Fundación Telefónica / Sala TAC, Trasnocho Cultural. Caracas • 2014 "Permission To Be Global /Prácticas Globales. Latin American Art from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection", Henry And Lois Foster Gallery. Boston, USA • "Beyond the Supersquare", The Bronx Museum of the Arts. Bronx, NY, USA • "Echos de la Nature", Annex 14. Zurich, Switzerland 2013 "Memorias de la Obsolescencia. Selección de videos de la Colección Ella Fontanals-Cisneros", Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wilfredo Lam. La Habana, Cuba 2012 "Diálogos Contemporáneos desde La Colección", Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. Caracas, Venezuela • "Contaminados", Sala Mendoza. Caracas, Venezuela • "Histórica: Memoria y territorio: Colección Mercantil", Espacio Mercantil. Caracas, Venezuela • "Venezuela en Arts", Bienal de Marcigny. Marcigny, Francia • "GEGO obra Abierta: Testimonios y Vigencia", Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. Caracas, Venezuela • "Medios y ambientes", Chopo University Museum. Mexico City, México 2011 "Moment", Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough. Toronto, Canada 2010 "2pmTG010 (Ortalis ruficauda) La Nuit Blanche 2010", Galerie NMarino. Paris, France • "Neoplastic Room. Open Composition", Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi. Lodz, Poland 2009 "Poéticas del Agua", X Cuenca Biennial, Cuenca, Ecuador• "Mundos en Proceso", 53rd Venice Biennial, Venezuelan Pavilion. Venice, Italy • "Steellife", The Triennial of Milan. Studio Chiesa - Marcegaglia Foundation. Milan, Italy 2008 "Intangible", ArtBo 2008. Bogotá, Colombia • "El lienzo es la pantalla", Caixa Forum Palma. Palma de Mallorca / Caixa Forum. Barcelona, Spain 2007 "I Bienla del Fin del Mundo", Ushuaia, Argentina 2006 "Drawing papers" Analog Animation, The Drawing Center. New York, New York 2005 "Arte Contemporáneo Venezolano/1990-2004 en la Colección Cisneros", Museum of Modern Art. Bogotá, Colombia 2004 "Light and atmosphere", Miami Art Museum. Florida, USA 2001 "Agape Installation - Fuori Salone", ex-acciaieria Riva. Milan, Italy • "Cittá sottili. Luoghi e progetti di cartone", Cluster of Saint Micheletto. Lucca, Italy • "IV Bienal barro de América Roberto Guevara", Memorial of Latin America. São Paulo, Brazil 2000 "Dimensiones variables", Galería de Arte Nacional. Caracas, Venezuela • "L´Art dans le Monde", Pont Alexandre III. Paris, France • "Friendship Park Israel- Spanish- America", Natanya, Israel 1999 "56º Salón Arturo Michelenal", Valencia Ateneum. Valencia, Venezuela • "Amérique Latine, Caraibes: une nouvelle génération d´Artistes", Passege de Retz. Paris, France • "Public Art In Italia", Viafarini. Milan, Italy • "VI Bienal de artes visuales Christian Dior", Fundación Grupo CorpBanca. Caracas, Venezuela1998 "De discretas autorías, Cuba y Venezuela: nuevas poéticas", Mario Abreu Art Museum. Maracay, Venezuela 1997 "La invención de la continuidad", Galería de Arte Nacional. Caracas, Venezuela • "I Bienal do MERCOSUL". Porto Alegre, Brazil 1996 "VIII Premio Mendoza", Sala Mendoza. Caracas, Venezuela. 1995 "11 Artisti a Pépinieres", Openspace. Milán, Italia. • II Salón Pirelli, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas • "Kostruito’94". Arte Struktura, Lonato del Garda, Brescia/ Satura, Asociación Cultural. Génova, Italia. 1994"Kostruito 94", Arte Struktura, Lonato del Garda. Brescia, Italia. 1992 "Contructivismo-concretismo", Arte Struktura. Milán, Italia. • "Contemporanea-mente". Immagini di craetivitá, Scuderie di Palazzo Gonzaga. Volta Mantovana, Mantua, Italia 1989 V Salón Nacional de Fotografía. • "A 150 años de la fotografía", Galería Tito Salas. Caracas • Imágenes, Fundación Insituto de Diseño, sede La Florida. Caracas 1986 "Diseño Gráfico I: En blanco y negro". Fundación Instituto de Diseño, sede La Florida, Caracas.
awards
2024 Gego Prize, mention: Abstract Geometrical Art. Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte (AICA), Asocición Venezolana de Artistas Plásticos (AVAP), Colegio de Arquitectos de Venezuela, Fundación Colegio de Arquitectos de Venezuela, Fundación Gego 2023 "Creadoras" Contemporary Art Contest. First prize, Visual Arts Cathegory, . Caracas, Venezuela 2021 CODA AWARDS Merit Winner, Institutional category; 3i019 Site-specific installation at The Museo Amparo. Puebla, México 2018 AICA (Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte) Prize, category: Consagrated Artist 2017 CODA AWARDS Public Spaces; Rain: Magdalena Fernández at The Houston Cistern. Houston, TX 2016 Armando Reverón Prize, Conceptual Art Mention. Asociación Venezolana de Artistas Plásticos AVAP 2011 AICA (Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte) Prize, Best Exhibition category 2009 1st Prize. X Cuenca Biennial. Cuenca, Ecuador • AICA (Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte) Prize, International Projection category 1999 Best foreign artist, IV Atlantic Forum. Pontevedra, Spain • Sole Award, VI Christian Dior Biennial of Visual Arts. Caracas, Venezuela 1998 Arturo Michelena Award, 56th Edition. Valencia, Venezuela 1996 Sole Award, Eugenio Mendoza Award, 8th edition. Sala Mendoza. Caracas, Venezuela.
selected public collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), USA • Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles, USA • Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain • Blanton Museum of Art, Austin TX - USA • Centre d´Art Contemporain Frank Popper, Marcigny, France • Fundación de Museos Nacionales. Caracas, Venezuela • Galería de Arte Nacional. Caracas, Venezuela • Colección FEMSA. CDMX, México • Galería Associazione Culturale Arte Struktura. Milán, Italia. • Colección Mercantil. Caracas, Venezuela • Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC), Venezuela / USA • Municipio de Natanya, Israel • Museo Soto. Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela • Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO). Miami, USA • Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno de Cuenca. Ecuador • Colección Allegro. Caracas, Venezuela • Colección D.O.P. Caracas, Venezuela • Museum Sztuki w Lodzi. Lodz, Polonia • Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), USA • Colección Isabel y Agustin Coppel (CIAC), Ciudad de México, Mexico • Colección Sayago & Pardon. Los Angeles, USA.