My America Is Not Your America
By Hector O. Hernandez
Curated by Aneesa Shami Zizzo
Monument for American Systemic White Supremacy, 2020, ink, gouache and pencil on paper
May 1, 2021–August 1, 2021
By appointment only
We’re pleased to present new works by Los Angeles-based artist Hector O. Hernandez in My America Is Not Your America. This exhibition is a visual timeline that shares Hernandez’s renderings of current events. Through printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and a community-based art project, My America is one artist’s response to the deeply distressing events currently affecting our community.
The first works on paper Hernandez completed in June 2020 are raw depictions of the recent protests against police brutality. Loose pencil marks, brushstrokes and sketched outlines convey his urgent need to capture the essence of social unrest during that time. Each “Protest Drawing” acts as a snapshot of daily events: triumphant BLM protestors silhouetted in a fiery inferno, re-written sardonic mantras for the LAPD, and a powerful image of a shielded face in riot gear.
A second series emerged as Hernandez refined his political motifs. Focusing on the process of artmaking, Hernandez began to use printmaking and drawing as a way to better understand his frustration. This tactile method of making-while-meditating led to detail-oriented and symbolic imagery that Hernandez reimagined into alternative U.S. historical monuments.
Wanting to share this methodology with his community, Hernandez developed a “seed bomb” project to activate positive change through dialogue and introspection. Inspired by religious votive offerings, the seed bomb molds reference American coins (with a Spanglish version of “E Pluribus Unum”) that are buried, watered, and taken care of by volunteers. Participants are encouraged to create and care for the seed bombs, united in a common goal to care for one’s mental health in the midst of a pandemic.
By attempting to capture the ongoing pandemic and social unrest through one artist’s experience, My America is at once a cathartic release for our collective suffering and a call to action for continual self-reflection.
Now available! Purchase My America Merch and directly support Hector O. Hernandez and Studio 203. 40% of all proceeds will be donated to local arts organizations & mutual aid funds.
About Hector O. Hernandez
Hector O. Hernandez was born and raised in South LA by two Mexican-born parents. He grew up gravitating towards art from an early age, admiring and copying his older brother, and being interested in all kinds of visual imagery – especially video games, comics, and animation. Hernandez holds a BA in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009 and a MFA in Drawing & Printmaking from Washington State University, Pullman in 2011. He has organized and taught introductory printmaking workshops under Aguacate Press at the Hawthorne Arts Complex since 2016. Hernandez is currently living and making art in Los Angeles, CA.
www.hectoromarhernandez.com/
@hector.o.h
@aguacate.press
Untitled diptych (extending an olive branch to white supremacy), 2020, gouache and pencil on paper
A-sin-sion or How America Lost its Groove, 2020, ink, gouache and pencil on paper