Thierry Goldberg Gallery is pleased to present Pondering Pasture, an online exhibition of works by Mark Hernandez. The exhibition will be on view from June 27th to July 6h, 2024.
Pondering Pasture is an exhibition borne of Hernandez’s rumination on the quotidian routines of his own Filipino upbringing. His paintings weigh modern sensibilities against traditional rituals, individual expression against collective culture, ultimately finding an equilibrium between them. With rich imagery, vivid color, and distinct style, he endears viewers with intimate moments of family, labor, and identity.
When a Sea Nomad Comes to Land, 2024 epitomizes this exploration of modernity and tradition in this concentrated depiction of a Badjao woman’s arms as she holds a letter in one hand and a drum cradled to her chest in the other. Draped in red, blue, and brown fabric, she represents resilience in the face of transition as well as confrontation between cramped urban bustle and a culture tied to open seas. It is through this work that Hernandez asks his audience what assimilation and heritage truly mean within the ever-evolving landscape of industry and metropolis.
Hernandez captures a moment of solitude and introspection in He Who Weaves His Own Sanctuary, 2024, in which a boy sits naked and weaves. The string he tugs at leads to a colorful blanket wrapped around his body, matching the bright youthful objects in the room around him. Out the window is a view of a church. The artist points to the constant tension between self expression and social expectation within the Filipino context. Hernandez, through his shrewdly orchestrated composition, hones in on a universal moment of contemplation through a visual lexicon of his own upbringing.
With Pondering Pasture, Hernandez collects a series of vignettes that allow each of his subjects to express a truth about their daily experiences. His reverent use of simplified forms crystallizes into beautifully modest moments of identity exploration and cultural reconciliation. This exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in Hernandez’s reflective journey, offering a poignant and visually compelling dialogue on the balance between modernity and tradition in Filipino life.
Mark Hernandez (b. 2001, Laguna, Philippines) lives and works in Laguna, Philippines. Hernandez's work was previously included in Collective Body, at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY; as well as in exhibitions at Metro Gallery, Manila, Philippines; Kampo Artes Gallery, Makati City, Philippines; and Luna Galleria, Manila, Philippines, among others.
For more information, please call or email the gallery at info@thierrygoldberg.com
or +1 212-228-7569