Tony Hernandez was born in Atlanta in 1964 and has been painting professionally since 1988. His works range from the whimsical to the controversial. Each painting is a poem – every element has meaning. While he is a Southern artist, his works are far from the region. His subject matter delves into the lives of children of the Holocaust, as well as those who struggled through the Great Depression, especially in the ghettos of the Bronx where his grandparents lived. Hernandez conveys the worlds that children create for themselves when they feel powerless by the fallacies of adults. With effervescence and symbolism, his paintings of preadolescent children wrestle with two themes: powerlessness and imagination. This tango creates a realm where the mind of wonder is tangible.
Working exclusively on handmade birch wood panels, Hernandez uses the ancient, technically-demanding process of encaustic painting. With a deceptively simple visual vocabulary, depicting children adrift in a featureless landscape, he creates vignettes of a subtle psychological power. His poignant compositions are distilled down to their emotional essence, granting viewers entry into a world of transcendence.
Hernandez exhibits internationally and his works are in numerous public collections throughout the U.S., notably the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and The Bronx Museum of the Arts. He recently relocated his Atlanta home and studio to Charlotte, NC.
