Retrospective of Sergio Hernández exhibited in San Ildefonso

The exhibition Sergio Hernandez es a semblance of what I amexpressed the painter and engraver born in 1957, in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca, referring to the set of 143 works, representing 25 years of work, which starting this Friday will be exhibited to the public at the Colegio de San Ildefonso. My work is timeless; I go and returnsays the artist. Some of the works are presented for the first time.

The four curatorial sections into which the exhibition is divided are representative of the themes and concerns handled by Hernández: History (omens and codices, Benito Juárez, Pinocchio and the axolotl, violence and pandemic); Universes (nightscapes and gold-leafed woods); Mythology (wild, nymphs, shadow, axiotes, burning and others), and Nature (jungles, botany, whales and territories).

Hernandez is no stranger to violence unusual who lives in the country: It is a drama what we live. Humans have always been wild. In the frame wall of ignominythe presenter refers to the first victims of the 2006 conflict, in Oaxaca, for example, the American photojournalist Brad Will.

There are also many works around the figure of Benito Juárez. In this regard, he recalls that Luis Echeverría, when he was president, flooded the country with figures from the Benemérito de las Américas. He is a Juárez, however, who is in the ideology of politicians. There’s a character that is real and another that is a fantasy of politicians. The Juárez de Hernández is more real and personal. . . . From there, the works stand out Juarez does not exist y Juárez to the right and backwardsboth from 2022.

The artist is pleased to exhibit in the Historic Center, since I lived in these neighborhoods. In addition, when the Templo Mayor was discovered, a friend invited him to see it and it had a great impact on him.

The first part of the exhibition has to do precisely with his series worked around different codices, such as the one on the Popol Vuh (2011), a folder made in Fernando Sandoval’s workshop in Oaxaca, which contains a text by Miguel León-Portilla. . Also the Yanhuitlán codex, as well as the oil diptych Purépecha myths. This same section includes the monumental oil The navel of the moon (2017), 4 by 4 meters.

Collaboration with Toledo

Hernández was always very close to Francisco Toledo (1940-2019), whom he met in Paris and received guidance from him in his first approaches to great European art. Later, they agreed on the defense of artistic and cultural heritage in Oaxaca. Throughout 30 years they collaborated on different projects, work that the speaker continues: Now I’m working on a dance project.

The one dedicated to the figure of Pinocchio is the last work in engraving by Hernández and is made up of fifty pieces. Explore the universe of contemporary lies and disbelief.

In the Universes section you can see, among other things, the use that Hernández makes of wood. Marisol Espinosa, head of the artist’s studio and co-curator of the exhibition, explains that Hernández’s father was a cabinetmaker and made all the sculptures of Christ in the town of Huajuapan de León. Hence his taste for wood, which in the exhibition he has covered with gold leaf.

The exhibition is the result of a dialogue between the Estudio Sergio Hernández team and the Colegio de San Ildefonso team. According to Eduardo Vázquez Martín, director of the museum, his speech comes from reading the artist’s work.

The collected work, he adds, brings together diverse techniques, different formats and multiple stories: frescoes, oils, graphics, mixed techniques, gold and lead. Its themes allude from the ancient omens that announced the arrival of strangers to Tenochtitlan and the codices of the Conquest to tables that show the chaotic, tragic and grotesque form, as well as fantasies, dreams, delusions and nightmares.

For Vázquez Martín, the exhibition ends on a happy note, that is, with a great song of nature.

The official related Hernández to muralism, a discipline that the campus has addressed on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of this movement, since the artist will inaugurate his first mural tomorrow at the Faculty of Higher Studies Aragon. In suspense It is a work done in black and white, measuring 31 by 1.80 meters, and it refers to the difficult situation that the planet is experiencing.

The Sergio Hernández exhibition will remain until January 28, 2024 at the Colegio de San Ildefonso (Justo Sierra 16, Historic Center of Mexico City).