Austin, TX
7/11/09 3:02 PM
Angel Hernandez makes art out of the stuff of everyday life, presumably his own everyday life. This critical attention to his surroundings warrants another kind of attention. Hernandez takes a pictorial tack, rendering the zombies and jokers of contemporary Hollywood as if they were the icons of today—icons of violence and trickery, but icons nonetheless. Once upon a time, icons were great politicians, religious figures, even great artists. But icons need to serve a purpose, and if the ones of yesterday mean little today, then new ones, however problematic, will step in to take their place—like the ones Hernandez depicts here.
[Discussion and illustration of Jory Drew's work removed by request of the artist on August 25, 2015.]
—Lori Waxman