THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH – INTERVIEW WITH ANDRES HERNANDEZ
Andres Hernandez is a creative first and foremost!
A curator and art researcher born in Cuba, he has lived and worked in Brazil for many, many years.
He started his career in art from a necessity: that of finding a new job and found it in the Havana Biennial as coordinator of some exhibitions (1994-1998), in those years the biennial was focused on Third World countries, a fundamental point for art itself. The art of emerging countries, until those years was very marginalized, to focus a biennial on that kind of art was totally innovative. From this experience, which was extremely educational, grew in Andres the desire to delve deeper into the world of art, since before then the field in which he was acting was chemistry, a profession totally opposite to the creative one.
In an effort to learn as much as possible, he understands that the 1989 edition of the Havana Biennial (the third edition) was the most controversial, because it was linked to another event that took place in the same year, namely the exhibition "Le Magicien de la Terre," curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This is the most cited and controversial exhibition of contemporary art in recent years, and is the starting point of contemporary African art, and what established the meeting point between art from the global north and south.
The works selected for these two pivotal events, how certain artists are viewed, how architectural space fits within the art project, and how it is curated, become, for Andres, the pillars of his works.
From these studies he graduated in Visual Arts and Art Criticism, landed at MAM (Museum of Modern Art) in São Paulo, as assistant curator in the museum's curatorial department, later becoming executive curator until 2010.
He has published many books, some of great relevance as they bring to light a little contemplated piece of Brazilian contemporary art, such as ceramics.
In 2018 he opened SUBSOLO a space in Campinas (SP), where he makes and exhibits contemporary art.
Art education:
It is not trivial and perhaps not even taken for granted that research and education are two fundamental points of his work. In fact, a curator who wants to relate to true contemporary art must first have thorough research behind him or her, and then must know that art education is the first of the points to be put into his or her work.
Andres believes in this very much, so much so that he initiates a lot of work within university and school environments, making sure that artists/students become the protagonists of the projects, creating, in this way, a fundamental path for a young artist, that of the possibility of getting in touch with all that it means to make and design art.
A phrase he said that has stuck with me and that I will carry as a teaching, precisely, was, "artists in academies and universities learn the tools to be artists, it is up to us curators to teach them to become artists through these tools."
Together with his students he created many projects, such as "esposicao dos jardins da academia," where students were asked to discuss together what they were going to exhibit and to confront each other by overcoming the barrier of different artistic fields.
The artist's book
Andrès' research connects the work to the space in which it is then exhibited.
Nothing is left to chance, either in the choice of works or in the layout.
"Geometria Fragmentada" exhibition at contempo gallery (manca un pezzo in italiano)
The mediums in art, however, are countless, just as countless are the ways of exhibiting them. Andres loves to challenge himself, taking all limits off his projects. The artist's book is a great challenge in itself, they are niche works, with a medium many times difficult to handle.
Andres brings the artist's book to the exhibition for the first time with the exhibition "narrativas em trasgressao," where this particular artistic medium is highlighted, also making the public participate in everything around it. It was possible to find, in fact, the book made with chocolate by Lucimar Bello Frange, and what was even more engaging were those works where even the visually impaired could touch and feel.
Art is made for everyone, and I find the integration of an audience that does not always have access to this kind of experience extremely interesting and essential.
Subsolo:
In 2018 Andres opened the SUBSOLO space in Campinas. An art space/laboratory, dedicated to art classes, workshops, art residencies, curating and art education.
A place open to all, where it is possible to get in touch with contemporary art and where emerging artists, those who come perhaps from small towns and do not have access to large art entities can be guided in their creative journey, putting in place the tools acquired during their training, and succeeding in this way to find a proper place in the art scene.
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How they see us and how we see ourselves:
I would like to end this text on Andres Hernandez with a reflection on what we said to each other during our chat, just as I had asked Heldilene Reale how she sees Brazilian contemporary art now and where it is at, Andrès also answered this question of ours. His conclusion is how they see Brazilian art outside and how the artists themselves see themselves: if we talk about Brazil and Latin America many people still remain with the idea that it is a very poor place in the Third World, where there is no space for art.
But the reality is totally different, we are talking about countries rich in culture and art, but as long as the artists themselves when they show up make it clear that they come from a "poor place of culture," art will not move forward. We need to educate the artist and the viewers to understand that art does not belong to one place and always remains confined there, art is art and must be seen and judged as such, it must be taken elsewhere in order to send a definite message. The artist's craft is a job and should be valued and respected in the right way.
I don't have words to thank Andrès' lesson in curating and art for his passion and drive to move forward:
Take care guys make a difference!
It will always remain as fuel to be able to move our work forward.
That was great!!! Thank you so much Andrès!!!
