Manuel Hernandez

Untitled, 1982

Signo Nights, 1989

Painter who went through styles such as figurative and abstract art. His style is set in the middle of geometrism and expressionism: in balance between intellect and emotion. Hernández belongs to the world of pure abstraction; deliberately installed in a formal field alien to any naturalistic reference.

He was born in Bogotá in 1928 and died in the same city in 2014. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Universidad Nacional in Bogotá and at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Santiago de Chile. He was a professor at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Bogotá and director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Ibagué.

Faced with the vast and very diverse non-figurative panorama, his inclination is precise: neither geometrism nor expressionism. His style will be established in the middle ground: that in which the intellect does not totally dominate emotion and in which forms and compositions are free, but never uncontrolled. In 1967 Hernández obtained a mention in the XIX Salón de Artistas Colombianos, with the acrylic painting Formas superpuestas; in 1968 he obtained another honorable mention in the Bienal Iberoamericana de Pintura, held in Medellín; and in 1969 he was declared out of competition in the XX Salón Nacional, with the acrylic paintings Pintura I – Insignia and Pintura II – Elementos para un símbolo.

Hernández’s work belongs to the world of pure abstraction; that is to say, it is deliberately installed in a formal field alien to any naturalistic reference. The background of his paintings is neutral and only alludes to a more or less deep space. The signs that appear in it lack references and only by naturalistic prejudice can anyone associate them to known forms; the colors are the product of innumerable mixtures and avoid the most frequent tones in the material world. When confronting Hernández’s first abstract paintings with the ones he makes now, the differences are obvious.

Sculpture in Colombia and its representatives

In Colombia’s artistic panorama, sculpture is consolidating its position as a singular means of expression, capable of transmitting the richness of

18 September, 2023

Manuel Hernandez

Untitled, 1982

Signo Nights, 1989

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