Héctor Herrera

Biography

Born in Mexico City, Hector Herrera earned a Bachelors Degree in Visual Arts from the National School of Fine Arts, Autonomous National University of Mexico (1998) and received a scholarship to participate in an abroad studies program in the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. He has been the recipient of several awards, distinctions, and grants including an Honorable Mention and Grant, 14th Annual MexAm/VSC Artist Fellowship Award, Vermont, USA; Finalist, Interessa't pel Botànic, Valencia, Spain; National Art Award, 22nd National Youth Art Meet, Aguascalientes, Mexico; and was a Formiguer’s Cultural Center Grantee, Artistic Exchange Grants, Castelló, Spain. He has received twelve invitations from prestigious Mexican and international art centers and galleries to exhibit solo, among them A.M.S. Marlborough Gallery and San Martin Soria Academy (Chile), Jose Clemente Orozco Gallery (Mexico), and Formiguer Gallery (Spain), as well as fifteen collective exhibitions including one at Madrid’s Conference Palace in 1998.

Artist Statement

First exhibited in the A.M.S. Marlborough Gallery in Santiago de Chile (August, 2007) the paintings in De punta a punta do not need much explanation. It could be said that each one of them is self-sufficient, to the point that their grouping is a frank invitation to unfold, from canvas to canvas, various reflections. Just as with Kafka’s The Castle and Hitchcock’s Rear Window —models of artistic self-sufficiency– everything seems to rise from the fog, from a mixed density through which the figure emerges as if guided by light. However, it is not a figure discovered or revealed: a nervous figure, desperately seeking to be felt; to be distinguished from the rest of the objects. Rather, it is an affirmation of a unique way of appearing in the midst of a myriad of expressions that keep —in relation to the figure– a balance that can almost be called organic, but with a strong dreamlike tendency. It could be said that these are portraits, but to the extent that the gaze portrayed travels and disappears in the distance, we are sure that the only gaze portrayed is that of the artist. The others have only been caressed. If anything of them has been captured, it is their aura. Being that a trip is the vital foundation of this body of work, and that this trip is a Latin-American voyage —literally from “point to point”– we can grant this series an important place among the patriotic and commemorative activities that the celebration of two centuries of political independence in Latin America commands. More so, the paintings do not allude to these activities, busy as they are, in the stubborn persistence of their own self. Therefore Herrera has presented, as I see it, an example of how to celebrate the freedom proclaimed by demagogues, where such freedom exists. It is commendable because to achieve it, he did resort to painting flags, signs or rifles. Perhaps what is most clearly revealed in this series —among many other things– is a process of recollection. It entails reclaiming experimentation, techniques and procedures that have characterized the most significant moments of the formative years of this Mexican painter. So it is no coincidence that, for example, figure and abstraction complement each other so well and so efficiently. In these paintings, behind figure and abstraction —present in every series– exists an echo of interests broadly explored in the past, sometimes obsessively, by this Mexican painter. These interests are a doubly fortunate attribute in this series. On the one hand, they provide character and solidity to the paintings. On the other hand, they serve as a peephole through which we can see with a clarity similar to the clarity that wraps the figures in these paintings. They represent a technical coherence in the evolution, not only of the paintings in this series, but of every piece created by Herrera. Therefore, seen from a technical perspective, this series travels from point to point, or punta a punta, the trajectory of this outstanding artist.

Art Education

2000-2001 Study Abroad, Academia de Arte Martín Soria. Santiago, Chile 1998-1999 Study Abroad, Universidad Politécnica de Valéncia. Valencia, Spain. 1997 Study Abroad, UNAM, Taxco, Chapter. Taxco, Mexico 1995-1997 Honors Program, Antigua Academia de San Carlos -Programa de Alta Exigencia Académica (PAEA). Mexico City. 1994-1998 B.F.A., National School of Fine Arts, UNAM. Mexico, City.

Awards

2009 La Jolla Festival of the Arts, Best of Show for Mixed Media 2009 2000-2001 Study Abroad, Academia de Arte Martín Soria. Santiago, Chile 1998-1999 Study Abroad, Universidad Politécnica de Valéncia. Valencia, Spain. 1997 Study Abroad, UNAM, Taxco, Chapter. Taxco, Mexico 1995-1997 Honors Program, Antigua Academia de San Carlos -Programa de Alta Exigencia Académica (PAEA). Mexico City. 1994-1998 B.F.A., National School of Fine Arts, UNAM. Mexico, City.