Manuel Hernandez Sanchez: The Singing Wall

Manuel Hernandez Sanchez standing next to his installation The Singing Wall

Braiding Nahuatl stories together with familial scenes and a gleaming imagination, Manuel Hernandez Sanchez wastes no space on the three walls of his booth. I was immediately drawn to small grommet-lined paintings cut out of canvas and affixed to a painted backdrop of bricks, but the artist pointed to the distant landscape beyond the wall when I asked about whether the fair’s theme influenced his display. “I made these Hudson River School-type paintings to play with that idea of land being advertised,” he said. “I wanted to put a mural over those paintings.” His revision makes way for a portrait of his niece playing at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Dolores Huerta giving a speech, and a resplendent vision of his community. —LA