Get to know the artists behind Bright Golden Haze

Teresita Fernández
b. Miami, 1968
Work on view: Golden (Odyssey), 2014

Golden (Odyssey), 2014. Gold chroming and India ink on wood panel. (Photo: Alex Marks)

Our complex relationship with light involves everything from the science of how we see to the mood within a space. Oklahoma Contemporary's temporarily delayed Bright Golden Haze exhibition explores light as medium, metaphor and environment, prompting closer examination into how we define and experience “place.”

Teresita Fernández focuses on characteristics of landscape as they relate to layered histories and materials. She uses gold and other minerals often tied to history, land, power and colonialism. Beneath the shiny surface, her work unravels complex meanings intended to spark reflection on our own landscapes and associations with power.

A conceptual artist best known for monumental public projects that expand on notions of landscape and place, Fernández's work is often inspired by natural phenomena — meteor showers, the aurora borealis, cloud formations, fire and the night sky. The artist places particular importance on her choice of medium, playing with the limitations of materials and employing minerals with loaded histories, such as gold and graphite. The result is a quiet unraveling of place, visibility and erasure.

“Much like when you’re in the real landscape, half of what you see is in fact what you bring to it.”

— Teresita Fernández

In Teresita Fernández’s Golden (Odyssey), light is created and reflected by gold chroming. As you stand or walk in front of the panel, your reflection becomes part of the landscape. In this way, Fernandez suggests the landscape is always changing, depending on the viewer. As the artist told Art21 Magazine: "Much like when you’re in the real landscape, half of what you see is in fact what you bring to it."

So what are we bringing to this work? Below are a couple questions to help you get started.

For Reflection:

Fernández thinks about land and the origin of materials in her work. Name three materials found in your clothing or accessories that come from the earth.
What do you imagine the landscape surrounding the new Oklahoma Contemporary looked like before 1907, when Oklahoma became a state?

Image: Golden (Odyssey), 2014. Gold chroming and India ink on wood panel. Collection of Allison and Larry Berg. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong and Seoul. (Photo: Alex Marks)

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Teresita Fernández art landscape colonialism Bright Golden Haze gallery Artist Spotlight Exhibitions