Anche di notte
2022
Hand-hammered brass panels
Anche di notte translates as ‘even at night’. These radiant brass panels, hand-hammered in Lisbon, depict a physically impossible scenario where a bat and a group of human figures are suspended in outer space, floating amongst the stars and planets. The work evokes the magic of twilight, a time in between, and a kinship between human and non-human present in so many Pre-Columbian cosmologies. The luminous material quality of the brass reinforces a devotional atmosphere while the delicate tracing of the subjects adds to the poetic intangibility spoken from the surface of things which is familiar across Hernández’s practice.
Courtesy of: Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon; ChertLüdde, Berlin; P420, Bologna.
Gourd
2018
Crystal-clear polyurethane.
Gourd represents an anthropomorphic figure sharing physical and spiritual qualities with a gourd, a container made from the shell of a fruit. This work is inspired by Catching a Catfish with a Gourd (Hyōnen-zu, ca.1415), a Zen Buddhist ink painting attributed to the priest and painter Taikō Josetsu. In the centre of its composition, we can see a figure standing on a riverbank holding a gourd in both hands, attempting to capture a catfish swimming in the stream below. The image of this impossible task serves the purpose of a Zen kōan; an exemplary story or dialogue seemingly illogical used as a tool for meditation, often grappling with existential questions.
Courtesy of: Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon; ChertLüdde, Berlin; P420, Bologna.
BIOGRAPHY
Rodrigo Hernández is interested in the constitutive process of image making, from Meso-American iconography to design and contemporary visual culture. His projects vary from object-making within a devoted studio practice to site-specific and research-oriented installations. He draws on multiple aesthetic, philosophical and literary references to develop a very personal formal vocabulary.
Hernández has recently exhibited at: Wattis Institute; Kestner Gesellschaft; Museo Jumex; Swiss Institute; Museo de Arte Moderno Medellin; SCAD Museum of Art; Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros; Midway Contemporary; SALTS, Pivo, Sao Paulo; Kunsthalle Basel and Kurimanzutto, Mexico City
VENUE
Röda Sten Konsthall