Notes
19 MAY - 29 JUNE 2022
Vigil Gonzales, Cuzco, Peru
In language, the cognate is the historical descendant of another word. Words, sometimes spelled the same, are spoken in different languages producing similar meanings. As language continues to change, words, and their intended meaning, also transforms actions. Comparatively, Gonzalo Hernandez initiates his process through text and textile and transforms phrases into actions that derive new meanings.
The etymology of text and textile is from the Latin words textus. In the origin of its definition, the word refers to tissue. Textile is a woven tissue as text is the connective tissue to action. Hernandez, as an artist, continues to explore the interconnectedness of the artistic world. His textile works are wrapped onto wood frames, drawing from the classic structure of the canvas: one of the primary methods by which artists are visually imagined. However, his phrases “Buen Futuro” or “Pie Derecho” refer to statements that intend for desired actions to materialize. The artist aspires to the material nature of a good future, only possible through the professional right steps. For Hernandez, the stretched textiles are his visual maps between the education of artists, art historical references, actions and situations that permit artists to succeed in their careers. Consider Notes, in this sculpture phrases are cast as small incantations: How does my work reach the museum? Reminiscent of the numbers seen on Wall Street stock exchange tickers, his phrases are ongoing questions that connect the artistic structure of canvas wrapped on a frame to the fragile architecture of art worlds: galleries, museums, academies, and schools. At any moment these structures can fall and collapse for any artist. In another work Untitled (kneel) we see a self-portrait of the artist: kneeled on the floor, hands on head. The portrait is an image of the artist perhaps performing a question, or perhaps in despair of waiting for a future yet to come. The sincerity in this piece goes beyond the material form of fabric on wood, and into the visualized action, the desire for the artist to materialize a Buen Futuro.
These works culminate in two modest paintings. Ironically, they are depictions of two museums. One is MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima) and the other is New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. These museums house not only the origins, but also the future fate of many artists. Gonzalo turns to the origin of material nature, and envelops his future in the strands of fabric yet to be woven.
J. Gibran Villalobos
