Biography

Sam Hernández is a sculptor primarily known for his innovative work in wood. He created poetic yet vigorous free-standing abstractions through the use of such widely-varying tools as African adzes, Japanese saws, Native American crook knives, and high-powered sandblasters. From early work referencing the totemic, his later sculpture moved toward a looser, more lyrical direction as it simultaneously moved toward a powerful asymmetry and a more intuitively based manner of working. Although the work remained characteristically based in abstraction, his later direction was nourished by a more expressionist tone; works in steel and bronze, found objects, as well as inks and acrylics on paper, and oils on canvas and board, rounded out his explorations.

Recipient of numerous honors including a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship, a Senior Fulbright Scholar Award, and Silicon Valley’s Artist Laureate, Hernandez’s work has been featured in numerous books, exhibition catalogues, and articles, and has been shown in museum and gallery exhibitions internationally. It is included in numerous public collections including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Macedonia, the Cantor Center at Stanford University, the Oakland Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Chazen Museum of Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Professor of Art at Santa Clara University 1977-2013, Hernandez passed away suddenly in the fall of 2022.

Photo: r.r. jones

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