Exhibitions
Special Projects
Murals
Other works
(Guilt)
Vinyl paint and clay on canvas, 60” x 42”
(Purity)
Vinyl paint and clay on canvas, 40” x 32”
(Devotion)
Vinyl paint and clay on canvas, 60” x 42”
(Authority)
Vinyl paint and clay on canvas, 40” x 32”
(Everyday Ritual)
Stoneware and pewter charms, 12” x 12” x 10”
(Bridges #1 - #7)
Stoneware, mirrors and pewter charms, dimensions variable
(My sacred symbols)
Embossed aluminum on wood panel, 32.5” x 32.5”
(My Grandmother's sacred symbols)
Embossed aluminum on wood panel, 32.5” x 32.5”
(Becoming the Universe)
Stoneware, 12” x 12” x 10”
(R) Los Siete Escalones (The Seven Steps)
Embossed aluminum on wood panel, 14” x 12”
(R) Las ánimas (The Souls)
Embossed aluminum on wood panel, 14” x 12”
(Reclamation)
Vinyl paint and clay on canvas, 40” x 32”
(Braiding miracles)
Stoneware and pewter charms, 12” x 2”
Acrylic mirrors, 40.5” x 30.5”
November 14 ➽ December 4, 2020
Pt.2 Gallery
Oakland, CA
Three portraits grace the exhibition, one in paint on a clay-covered canvas, the other two in ceramic, awash in medallions. While these self-referential works are not entirely self-portraits, they represent the range of Hernández’s experiences between her belief systems. In the painting Culpa (Guilt), dozens of candles obscure the figure’s forlorn expression. For Hernandez, these burning candles are indicative of the burning guilt she associates with her rigid Catholic upbringing. While the painting acknowledges outside pressure, the busts portray differing forms of inner desire. One bust, representative of Hernández’s Catholic side, is covered in metal milagros. These charms are placed on representations of differing saints in a church as a form of wish making. The other bust, portraying the same visage, is covered in flowers. These flowers denote the relationship between the natural world and the universe, uncontrollable by humans. The spiritists believe that the body is of no importance, as it is a temporary vessel of the soul. These works, among Hernandez’s first to reference the human form, denote the importance of the believer, both in body and in soul, as part of a ritual.
Both in ceramic and on canvas, these latest works by Hernández indicate an aesthetic shift from her brightly colored, super flat acrylic paintings. Her ceramics are cast without glaze in an earthy ochre tone, while she builds up modeling paste on canvas only to sand it away.
The atemporal qualities garnered by such techniques present Hernandez’s works as artifacts, contemporary renditions meant to preserve a treasured history at risk of being lost to the sands of time. As Hernández says: “The idea of creating a way to document this way of seeing life has been crucial to me in these moments where our mortality has become even more fragile. My most significant motivation is to note the way many of the women in my family existed between these two religions.”
Hernandez’s exhibition comes at a time of transition - one in which the desired outcome may not meet reality. In these moments, when the threads of time escape our control, we turn to talismans like milagros to influence either our fate or that of the world at large. Hernandez’s figures, in ceramic and on canvas, are covered in talismans.
To the ancient Greeks, the word talisman meant “I complete a rite.” This definition emphasizes the importance of the believer rather than the physical object itself in a ritual. Whatever form they take, whichever desire or wish they may represent, whichever belief system they may derive from, these talisman’s are but a physical manifestation of the soul.
Exhibition text by Luc Sokolsky