Jonathan Hernández studied at the National Visual Arts School and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and also studied Architecture at the Canadian State University in Montreal in 1991 and 1992. He completed various work placements and residencies in Bogota, São Paulo, Madrid, Vienna and Tokyo.
For several years now, Jonathan Hernández’s oeuvre has involved a relentless task of cataloguing photographs mainly published in the press. He adds these graphic materials to his image atlas, with a direct reference to the system of ‘writing’ by analogies used by Aby Warburg, the historian and founder of the modern iconology. Like an archivist, Hernández first accumulates then systematically organises these printed images, establishing unexpected links and interpretations through compositions that he tests out in his collages, panels and publications. This archive, which has been described as ‘potentially infinite’ enables questions to be asked, for instance about the construction of the symbols of power and the behaviour of subjects by studying the gestures and the infra-history that runs through any printed narrative.
His work has been exhibited at solo shows in spaces and institutions including the Center for the Image (Mexico City, 2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (United States, 2015); the House of the Lake (Mexico City, 2014); and La Caja Negra (Madrid, 2012). Hernández is represented by the Kurimanzutto Gallery in Mexico City, with which he put on his latest solo show entitled ‘Extinción de dominio’ [‘Expired Ownership’] in 2016. He has made a notable contribution to the publication of artist books, including You Are Under Arrest, Vulnerabilia and Diario japonés.
Jonathan Hernández studied at the National Visual Arts School and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and also studied Architecture at the Canadian State University in Montreal in 1991 and 1992. He completed various work placements and residencies in Bogota, São Paulo, Madrid, Vienna and Tokyo.
For several years now, Jonathan Hernández’s oeuvre has involved a relentless task of cataloguing photographs mainly published in the press. He adds these graphic materials to his image atlas, with a direct reference to the system of ‘writing’ by analogies used by Aby Warburg, the historian and founder of the modern iconology. Like an archivist, Hernández first accumulates then systematically organises these printed images, establishing unexpected links and interpretations through compositions that he tests out in his collages, panels and publications. This archive, which has been described as ‘potentially infinite’ enables questions to be asked, for instance about the construction of the symbols of power and the behaviour of subjects by studying the gestures and the infra-history that runs through any printed narrative.
His work has been exhibited at solo shows in spaces and institutions including the Center for the Image (Mexico City, 2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (United States, 2015); the House of the Lake (Mexico City, 2014); and La Caja Negra (Madrid, 2012). Hernández is represented by the Kurimanzutto Gallery in Mexico City, with which he put on his latest solo show entitled ‘Extinción de dominio’ [‘Expired Ownership’] in 2016. He has made a notable contribution to the publication of artist books, including You Are Under Arrest, Vulnerabilia and Diario japonés.