The Art Pledge
Portrait of Orestes Hernández

Orestes Hernández

Born in
1981
From
Holguin, Cuba
Lives and works
Havana, Cuba
Represented by
El Apartamento

UN goals

Tags

My work, of course, has been related to Cuba, to the country's poverty, not as a denunciation, but because I am part of it: of the disaster. I am part of the psychology of the isolated man. They are the writings of what is lost, of drought and abandonment.

Biography

The work of Cuban artist Orestes Hernández does not establish a commitment to any trend, for it bears a constant propensity to short circuit and self collapse. His objects and installations dismantle the artistic reality in the search of new ways to face creation. In the case of painting, production that connects with his work in video, Orestes shows the aesthetics of "cut and paste", and contemporary visual saturation – an understated criticism of the rampant cybernetization processes that we are currently experiencing at a global level.


His expressive and cartoonesque representations can be paralleled to the neo expressionist production of Philip Guston. Both artists take advantage of this style to address current social and political affairs of their home countries, effectively placing them as cultural chroniclers of their time. 


In the manner of Francis Picabia's mechanised portraits, Orestes often recycles pop phenomena and consumerist images in unorthodox ways into his work, resulting in metaphorical layers of meaning.

Career highlights

Solo shows

Group shows

Media

Selected artworks

Related artists