Sculpture by Nick Hernandez

News Update (Jan.'06): Nick Hernandez Wins Florence Medal

What is it like to go to the Florence Biennale as an artist from Laguna Canyon and return as a medal winner? For Nick Hernandez, it was a magical event that propelled him from having a local reputation to holding a prestigious position in the art world. The reason? Out of 890 artists who exhibited at the Biennale, Hernandez captured a Lorenzo il Magnifico de Medici medal for sculpture.

Hernandez was selected in 2004 as one of three artists for the United States Pavilion for 2005, by an international jury that included the art critic Barbara Rose and Dr. Julian Zugazagoltia, the Director of El Museo del Barrio of New York City. No less important is that Florence is one of the most enchanting and art historical cities in the world. For over a year, Hernandez devoted himself to the preparation of three required pieces of art. In his case, he created three handsome sculptures, in different styles, a rather gutsy thing to do in such an arena. With fabrication and shipping, getting the sculptures to Italy was a major physical and financial task. Then in Florence, Hernandez unpacked his art, set it up in the space he was given, and realized that he was no longer only a Laguna Beach or a California artist, but that his work represented art from the USA.

Once settled in the beautiful Villa Poggio San Felice, the rapture of being in artistic Italy sunk in. Hernandez spent part of his day at the US Pavilion talking with artists and visitors. Then he explored other pavilions, conversing with artists from 72 countries, and swapping artistic talk. Hernandez observed that all the artist -- from far off places, creating all sorts of art -- shared a camaraderie and a common goal. They each had worked alone in the studio, poured their passions into their art for more than a year, as they prepared for this special event, where the dream finally came true.

Of the three pieces Hernandez created, it was “Emergence” that caught the eye of Professor John T. Spike, the Director of the Florence Biennale. After 9/11, Hernandez sculpted the work to symbolize the emergence of a new American attitude, a blend of pathos, hope, and anticipation. It is a chunky figure of a nude male bending in a compact squat position, ready to thrust forward, symbolizing an intimate moment when a paradigm shift occurs. In another gutsy move, the sculptor coated the form with thermal activated paint that changes color with heat and cold. Below 60 degrees it becomes a burgundy; above 88 degrees it becomes a pearlescent white. In the course of the day, the sculpture alters itself reflecting different tones and shades as the temperature changes. No wonder the piece was noticed. His other work is a teak wood carved torso of his son and a female goddess, “The Valkyrie.”

At the Biennale and coming home, success follows him. Hernandez has been courted for shows in Holland, Germany, Austria, Seattle, Sydney, New York City, Sao Paolo, and he was ask to become artist-in-residence at the University of New Delhi. What is he going to do now that he is back in his Laguna Canyon studio? Hernandez is opening a gallery in Laguna, mid-April, at PCH at Diamond and Ruby. It will exhibit only Florence Biennale artist; and he has already lined up two local artists who participated: Ron Burkhardt, who won a model for Mixed Media, and Fitz Maurice, as well as this year’s top prize winner at the event. For those of us who cannot go to Florence, Nick Hernandez is bringing the Florence Biennale to Laguna Beach.

News Update (Sept.'05): Nick Hernandez has been selected to represent the United States at the most prestigious international exposition, the Florence Biennale.

For Nick Hernandez, an artist's dream has become a reality. Without applying or making overtures, Hernandez was invited to exhibit in one of the most prestigious international expositions, the Florence Biennale. Less than 100 world-class artists, from a list of 890 possible artists, from 72 countries exhibit every two years, and Hernandez is one of them.

The exhibition committee of the Biennale, after finding his Web site, called to request that Hernandez be one of approximately nine artists representing the United States in December 2005. Their work will be housed in the United States Pavilion in one of the world's most beautiful art historical cities. Given a 20 by 20 foot space to fill as he wishes, Hernandez is busy preparing. A humble man by nature, he realizes that his art will not only represent the U.S., but spotlight California and Laguna Beach.

Hernandez did not start out as a sculptor. He has been a high school tennis coach and gives private lessons, as well as works in the construction industry. The sculpture of his friend, Thomas Richard Garcia, fascinated him and Hernandez finally got up the nerve to ask Garcia to teach him how to carve, cast, and work three-dimensionally. Acquiring sculptural knowledge is not easy. It requires skill in drawing, study of anatomy and labor-intensive dedication.. Hernandez was ready for the challenge. At first, he worked in clay and carved a variety of woods, integrating the linear patters of grain as if wood is a drawing medium. Then he moved to a technique that is quite unusual, casting wood into bronze. Traditionally, bronze sculpture begins as clay, but Hernandez, a skillful carver, and with contemporary products and techniques, casts bronze from clay or from wood. Recently, he began using hydraulic polyester ice. "Ice" is an industrial medium that, when applied to a surface, appears as if it is made of a hard liquid. The image becomes transparent, glistens, acquires the illusion of greater depth, and shimmers as it maximizes the reflections of ambient light.

Hernandez is a figurative sculptor and has carved several images of celebrities. One is of the champion tennis player Venus Williams, and another is a framed wall sculpture of Chelsea Clinton. The sculpture was ceremoniously presented to former First Lady Hillary Clinton. In the work, Chelsea seem to be running, even leaping, as Hernandez conveys her youthful exuberance. Both pieces, the Williams and Clinton, are relief, made from wood and cast in bronze.

Now, preparations for the Biennale overshadow everything. Hernandez works intensely on three sculptures that will fill the large exhibition space. Although nothing is final, he is working on a pair of high relief brushed and polished aluminum forms. Entitled "Back There", on is of a man who is positions to show his back as he flirts with the other piece, a woman gracefully in a dance position. On the floor will be two pieces, one has not been decided. The second is entitled "Emergence"; it is an enlargement of a sculpture Hernandez made after 9/11. The new form is being created from foam fiberglass, requiring highly skilled engineering and technical industrial processes to bring it to fruition. By enlarging the from to monumental size, well over seven feet, the hefty figure of a nude man bending a compact squat position, ready to thrust forward, symbolizes an intimate moment when an American paradigm shift takes place. The work encompasses the sadness of passing innocence and the vigor of a new era.

For Hernandez, beauty is the bottom line in all his art. Whenever her creates a piece he strives to bring out the most beauty in the work. "Emergence", for example, is being created with extreme care so that the design of the form, it's workmanship, and the artistic presence that it conveys befits being exhibited in the glorious city of Florence.