Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Fernández.
Marina, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in a small rural town in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. My family arrived in the beginning of the century from Spain and Italy. They brought with them a baggage of European culture and a passion for the arts in all of its forms. They instilled in me my love for art and a desire to learn everything that I could. I started taking drawing and painting lessons at the age of six and have been painting since then. I went off to university to pursue a degree in Industrial Engineering and began my career in that area. But I continued taking courses at the Fine Arts University of Rosario and dedicating all my free time to enrich my creativity. My life took me to live in different countries and cultures. My time in Asia, living in Indonesia, Singapore and China for over fourteen years, opened my mind to new experiences and creative expressions. I continued painting and experimenting with different mediums and materials.
I have been in Houston for the past five years and a proud student of the Glassell School of Art from The Museum of Fine Arts. My most recent exhibition was “Convergencia/Convergence” with the group of LAWAH (Latin American Women Artists of Houston) at Glassell.
Has it been a smooth road?
So far, I have enjoyed and am thankful for my path as an artist. However, given the changes we are seeing worldwide, the next challenge, as artists, will be to adapt to this situation and find new ways to grow creatively. This is a challenge but most importantly an opportunity to be more introspective, reflective, and conscious of the ways we interact with those around us and with nature.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
My style is geometric abstraction. I work primarily in acrylic and mixed media on linen and canvas. Over the past year I have been working on a series called “Boundaries”. I was inspired by Contemporary Cartographers who use maps to represent a physical, mental or emotional territory. Throughout my moves around the world there has always been a constant boundary holding me in place. This is a space that brings me peace and a sense of belonging. My boundary is my home, my place on Earth. In all my works I balance structural lines, planes and the ambiguity of transparencies to create a distorted view of my boundary. Just like my life and my maps, these boundaries are constantly changing. They flow and shift on different planes and dimensions. I work with textured background and interlock pure geometric shapes with the organic. It becomes like a dance between the painting and the viewer, who is invited to enter and leave the canvas through the many angles and their boundaries.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I have found a strong and passionate community of artists and teachers at The Glassell School of Art and as a member of LAWAH (Latin American Women Artists of Houston).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marinafernandezarte.com
- Phone: 832 591 0912
- Email: marinafernandez.arte@gmail.com
- Instagram: @marinafernandezarte
Image Credit:
Victoria Ranieri
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