Manuel
Hernandez
Manuel Hernandez is a painter born in Mexico City, currently based in New York City. He has held solo exhibitions at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and at Mama Projects in New York City. His work has also been showcased at NADA Miami, ASU Art Museum, and 21c Museum. Hernandez shifts away from traditional square canvases to create shaped artworks. The unique forms of his pieces are inspired by the organic designs found in animal hide paintings, while their dimensions and textures echo the fresco murals of Teotihuacan. His artwork draws upon Mexica mythology and family oral history, presenting dreamlike memories that resonate with his personal experiences. As an immigrant in the U.S., he often felt compelled to suppress his Mexican and Indigenous heritage. Through his painting, he expresses his identity and creates discussions about displacement and erasure within his family and community.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 “Singing Wall” Brewer Harris Projects, Syracuse, New York, USA
2025 “Eternal Voices Raices Resistentes” MAMA Projects, New York, New York, USA
2024 “Feathered Serpent and the Eagle” Poulsen, Copenhagen, Øresund, Denmark
2023 “A closer look” FRIEDA, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 “ Body Memory” Luis de Jesus, Los Angeles, California, USA
2026 “las manos que sostienen” Mad54, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MX
2025 “Colors of Identity” Loisaida Center, New York, NY, USA
2025 “Tierras Reimaginadas Migration” ASU Art Museum, Pheonix, Arizona, USA
2025 “As it Unfolds” NADA Curated, Online Exhibition
2024 “Con Altura” NADA, Miami, Florida, USA
2024 “Revival: Digging Into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow” 21c Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
2024 “summer group show” Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen, Øresund, Denmark
2023 “Afloramos” Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
2023 “Nomadic Treasures” AHA gallery, New York City, New York, USA
2023 “New Horizons” Mary Anderson Center, Mt. St. Francis, Indiana, USA
2023 “Tribeca ball 2023” New York Academy of Art, New York, New York, USA
2022-2023 “Our Kentucky Home” Kentucky Arts Council, Louisville KY
2021 “Inside out” New York Academy of Art, New York NY
Collections
Gochman Family Collection, New York, NY
21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, KY
Education
2023 MFA, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2021 BFA, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN
Awards/Grants/Fellowships
2024 National Partnership for New Americans, New York, NY
2023 Gamblin Award, Portland, OR
Most Dressed, New York Times, New York, NY
Academy Merit Award, New York, NY
2022 Artist Residency, Elsz & O Storytelling Gallery, Southern Indiana, IN
Gucci America Patron Scholarship, New York, NY