Michael Alexander Fernandez

Lives and works in Miami, FL, USA

Artist statement

In discussing my work, my vocabulary shifts back and forth between spiritual, religious ideology, and formal, aesthetic, and conceptual terminology. My practice is essentially a blend of intuitive and spiritual practice with formal aesthetic decisions, evoking the phenomenological blurring of subject and object while the viewer acts as voyeur over the specific rite. Using Neo-pagan, Catholic, and Santero sensibilities, I create altar-like installations to work through personal narratives that deal with love, loss, mental illness, and emotional turmoil. My installations use spiritual, religious, and ceremonial formats in a form of “curative performance,” building sacred spaces to repair, recuperate, and reconstruct towards a hopeful outcome. In using the altar as the format of my work, I build my narratives using an eclectic visual vocabulary to guide the viewer’s experience, often using subtle cues to stand in for literal storytelling. This action towards an outcome is what I consider “curative performance,” an action or series of actions and choices meant to lead to relief and catharsis.

Artwork