BRENDAN FERNANDES

BRENDAN FERNANDES (b. 1979) is an internationally recognized artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Based in Chicago, the artist’s projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest and other forms of collective movement. Committed to creating new spaces and new forms of agency, Fernandes’ projects take on hybrid forms: part ballet, part queer dance party, part protest as a means to foster collaboration and solidarity through actions of generosity and kindness. Fernandes is a recipient of a Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship. In 2010, he was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award and is the recipient of a prestigious Canada Council New Chapters grant (2017), the Artadia Award (2019), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (2019), and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020). Fernandes’ projects have been shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); the Museum of Modern Art (New York); The Getty Museum (Los Angeles); the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), among many others. In his home city of Chicago, he has exhibited solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Graham Foundation, and DePaul Art Museum. He is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University in the Department of Art Theory and Practice and is co-represented by Chicago’s Monique Meloche Gallery and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC. Recent projects include a featured installation for Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moments, and contributions of sculptures, performances, and presentations to exhibitions at MCA Denver, CO; The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO; ART on THE MART, Chicago, IL; the Munch Museum, Oslo; The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia; The Philip Johnson Glass House, New Canaan, and a commission by The DR Vocal Ensemble, Copenhagen.