Sam Hernández is a sculptor primarily known for his innovative work in wood. Hernández achieves poetic yet vigorous free-standing abstractions through such widely-varying tools as African adzes, Japanese saws, Native American crook knives, and high-powered sandblasters. From early work referencing the totemic, his more recent sculpture has moved in a looser, more lyrical direction as it simultaneously moves towards a powerful asymmetry and a more intuitively based manner of working. Although the work remains characteristically based in abstraction, the direction is being nourished by a more expressionist tone; works in steel and bronze, as well as inks and acrylics on paper, and oils on canvas and board, round out his current explorations.
Recipient of numerous honors including a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship and a Senior Fulbright Scholar Award, Hernández’ work has been featured in numerous books, exhibition catalogues, articles, and reviews, and has been shown in museum and gallery exhibitions internationally. His work is included in numerous public collections including the Yale University Art Gallery, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Macedonia, the Cantor Center at Stanford University, the Oakland Museum of California, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Professor of Art at Santa Clara University since 1977, Hernandez divides his time between California and Spanish Catalunya.
Credit: Photo by R.R. Jones.