By Natalie Taylor
While visiting Fabrica La Aurora, I walked into Galeria Manuk and was impressed by several landscapes. The water colors were simple, direct, and navigated beautifully that realm between realistic depiction of nature, and the sleight of hand that indicates the presence of an artist behind it. The landscapes of Mexico, and particularly the Bajio region, were as recognizable as a photograph, but something about the colors, the softness of the tones, and the composition itself spoke of the daft hand of a skilled artist. I was intrigued, and soon had a chance to speak to Jorge Hernandez, the man behind the artworks.
Jorge was born in Guanajuato into a family for whom artistic expression was natural. His mother was trained as an architect, and his father was an engineer who had a great interest in architecture and ceramics. Since childhood, Jorge and his siblings drew and painted with as much ease as other children run through fields. He recalls the beauty of the landscapes visible from his family home, the sunsets that tinted the sky in myriad colors, and his instinctive desire to reproduce those scenes on paper and canvas. His eventual evolution into painting was not a conscious decision, it was the product of his family environment.
Jorge began his university studies in architecture at the University of Guanajuato. He became fascinated with the works of the Italian architect Renzo Piano, after watching a documentary about Piano’s buildings. The great admiration he felt for Piano, changed his own perspective about himself. He felt that unless you could achieve the greatness of someone like Piano, you could remained doomed to designing everyday houses to please clients, and lose the ability to excel. He says that with his present perspective, he is not certain that he was correct in his assessment of an architectural career, but at the time, his conclusion led him to go into a different direction. Perhaps still influenced by his admiration of Piano, Jorge decided to study art in Italy, at the University of Bologna, as a philosophy major. He was happy with his decision because the studies in Italy involved many disciplines, and he was impressed with the greatness that had come from the University of Bologna—the world’s oldest university, dating back to 1088. Jorge felt honored, and energized and motivated by the knowledge that famous people like Copernicus, Mozart, and even Renzo Piano, had studied there. After three years in Bologna, Jorge went to Rome and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where his interest became cemented in creating art, and he saw the possibility of living life as a painter.
Jorge experimented with abstract paintings, but found that this was not for him. Bit by bit, he saw himself as a landscape painter, inspired by the works of 19th century English “traveling” painters like Thomas Egerton, and even the naturalist Alexander Humboldt. These men were hired by the English crown to paint landscapes as a means of recording the holdings of the British Empire. They produced realistic views of the world around them, something that one could imagine a photographer doing. These were the artists who inspired Jorge, and motivated him to emulate their works. Back in Mexico, Jorge decided to move near Cieneguita four years ago, just outside San Miguel de Allende. Here, he found himself once again surrounded by the familiar scenes he had watched from his family home window, as he was growing up.
His watercolors are delicate, but are quite complex in their production. Following the techniques of early painters, he uses tempera to create the unique effects of his watercolors. Egg tempera is a painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with egg yolk, which creates a fast-drying, permanent binder for the artwork. It also adds a certain patina, just as that used in the 19th century paintings Jorge admires.
The resulting landscapes are an “idealized” representation of reality; a world as it ought to be, rather than as it is. Viewing his eponymous painting, “Imminent Storm,” shows the unquestionable approach of a thunderstorm. What the viewer does not see, however, is the enormous amount of work behind it—the egg tempera technique, and the fine brushstrokes sometimes with a single-bristle brush. Jorge’s work is meticulous and slow, and the result is truly beautiful. His aim is to make his future work better than today’s, always searching for improvement. You can contact Jorge Hernandez on WhatsApp: 442 592 5050 or through Instagram at: @jorgeh_lmNatalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com
