He grew up fascinated by the radio towers and power lines that dot the landscape of Northern New Mexico. In high school, he was drawn to welding. And today, as an artist, he continues to work in metal, creating sculptures that are intricate and delicate, but also imposing and mysterious. Hernan Gomez Chavez is showing his new work this month at the Santa Fe gallery, OTA Contemporary, on Canyon Road.
Hernan uses human-made structures such as oil wells as references for the work he's making. "This new series is based on scaling down these structures into hand-held trophies," says Hernan. "Being very intentional about the finish of the pieces so that they look golden trophies, and putting them on stands as representations of symbols of power on brittle foundations."
While he was an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, Hernan spent a semester in Prague at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design. In this longer version of the interview, he talks about why that experience was transformative for him as an artist.
