KATES-FERRI PROJECTS is proud to present Gonzalo Hernandez’s first solo exhibition in New York City. WE WILL HAVE TO TEAR DOWN ALL THESE WALLS is on view between April 20 - May 20, 2023, and the reception is on Friday, April 21, 6-8 pm. The Peruvian-born multimedia artist consistently investigates labor and the capitalist’s impact on individuals in his work. In his newest series, AB (short for Art Basel), the artist interrogates the relationship between the art market and the artists by analyzing the art included in the prestigious art fair.

Happening upon a Craigslist ad selling Art Basel catalogs the year the fair turned twenty, Hernandez felt it an appropriate tool to reflect on the art, the artists, the market, and the role of the fair. For many, showing at Art Basel suggests that they have made it to the top of the art market. Hernandez selects, at random, images of works from the catalogs to feature in his work, proposing that “making it” is perhaps by chance. Using the Craigslist circular radius that shows the range of the pick-up as a recurring motif, Hernandez cuts out circles from various artworks in the catalogs. He creates paper collages with these circles or uses the pages with the missing circles as the first sketch. Based on these collages, he makes textile work and oil on canvas in black and white and in color with handmade frames. He connects these literal dots of art almost haphazardly, next to and on top of one another, as he acknowledges the impreciseness and the overabundance of the market. To underline the effect of market forces, Hernandez keeps his frames incomplete to connote how artists and their work are presented in certain ways to ensure marketability. As some of the artists in the catalogs are now forgotten, one could argue that Art Basel might not a great indicator of market longevity and wonder what becomes of an artist after arriving at this supposed pinnacle, or other markers of success. 

Ultimately, artists must negotiate their place between not only museums and galleries, but also between collectors and curators. AB_Agglomeration (2023) foregrounds this complex interplay. 

Taking up much of the floor of the gallery, it is the centerpiece of the exhibition. The textile transfer is propped up by actual Art Basel catalogs to create a landscape of incomplete artworks. Forming an illusion of the art landscape, Hernandez pieces together knowledge of the unstable terrain that all contemporary artists must navigate. 
The title of the exhibition comes from Szántós’s conversation with Koyo Kouoh. The Executive Director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, argues that it is time to rethink the white cube, synonymous with today’s commercial art galleries and big museum exhibitions. Kouoh shares Afriart Gallery’s founder Daudi Karungi’s multifaceted approach to building an ecosystem for artists and communities to find creative platforms along with sustainable growth and security. Hernandez joins Kouoh’s call to break the frame of how art and artists are viewed, discussed, received, and operate in the art world.

Gonzalo Hernandez received his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA in Fibers; and an MA in Painting. His work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA; Vigil Gonzales, Cuzco, PE; Laundromat Art Complex, Miami, FL and Alianza Francesa, Lima, Peru. Hernandez has shown in several group show at LVL3, Chicago, IL; Kates-Ferri Projects, New York, NY; Icpna, Lima, Peru; Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, MO; MCC Art Gallery, Arizona, AZ; Galeria Rebelde, Guatemala; MOCA in Georgia, Atlanta, GA; among others.

Artist Statement: Gonzalo Hernandez’s multi-faceted art practice addresses personal narratives related to contemporary dilemmas like labor, success and failure, the art world, and identity. Culling from autobiographical circumstances, his installation, sculpture, painting, photography, and film are highly particular to his perspective as an immigrant, while also addressing broader cultural associations. Eliminating the distinction between art and life, the artist considers many situations and materials as viable for inclusion in his work, no matter how banal or quotidian. From the mounds of cardboard found on the factory floors of past employment which become relief sculptures, to the shopping lists quickly scribbled onto his hand and photographed on his iPhone, the artist finds truth and meaning in the overlooked. Daily encounters with text, language and material become fodder for symbolic interpretations.

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