Anaida Hernández is a multimedia artist, rings over three decades of experience as interdisciplinary artist. Her work is influenced by her experience of life in Puerto Rico, México and USA. She is widely known for her politically conscious use of prints, paintings, sculpture, mosaic work, film/media, and site-specific installations to address domestic violence and other human rights issues. Hernandez frequently employs games, riddles or puzzles as a strategy for involving viewers in her work. Anaida Hernández has been selected by Mara Film Production (commisión from Puerto Rico Film Commission), as one of the ten emerging director in Puerto Rico for director and producer (a segment) Ten in the Music documentary . Hernández has received nacional and International recognition among others Artist-in-Residence of Caribbean University where she has been hire to conceptualize a art project PROMETEO Lab.
Anaida Hernández has experience as art educator. She taught art courses, lectures and workshops, since 1979 at University of PR, Rio Piedras and Mayagüez Campus; Hostos Community College, CUNY; Rudtgers University; Brodky Center; Liga de Arte de San Juan; Escuela de Artes Plásticas de PR; Harvad University. Hernández has a strong background in installation art, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, painting, mosaic, film/media and art history. She is currently working on art and academic PROMETEO, a project about the connection between art, science, tecnology and education. Hernandez explores groundbreaking adaptive neuroeducation research with art. She design Art Integration Certification Program / Brain and a drawing course, where study how arts training can enhance academic performance.
Anaida Hernandez has exhibited since 1977 in more than one hundred shows at biennales, film festivals and art competitions in Cuba, Italy, Germany, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Israel, Costa Rica, México, Caiman Island, Curazao, USA (Chicago, New York, Boston, Connecticut, Washington, D. C., Los Angeles). Recently, april 7, 2011, Hernández presented Target Shooting, a LED ART TEC INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coXyR5A-nBo
Her piece, Till Death Do Us Part (1992), is a 32 feet-long in floor, 23 feet-long in wall, one tonne weigh, that represent a memorial wall dedicated to victims of domestic violence. Each of the one hundred nichos-wooden painting is a tribute to one of the one hundred Puerto Rican women killed by their spouses between 1990 and 1993. Mementos were placed in each niche, adding personal content to an urgent social crisis. In this somber installation, the vastness of the trauma was poignantly underscored by the serial repetition of boxes, names, and dates. Till Death Do Us Part is a traveling exhibition that was presented in seven city arround the Word and five contries in Europe, Center America, USA and the Caribbean. This piece is part of the permanent collection of the Museo de arte de Puerto Rico. http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/gallery/Hernandez/intervff.htm
Anaida Hernández is the first puertorican artist to have been commissioned to produce a solo show at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY in 1999. Throughout her artistic career, Hernandez's work has bridged boundaries of geography, class, ethnicity gender by always inviting the public's participation. Her installation, Juegos Ilegales / Illegal Games (1999) is emblematic of Anaida Hernandez's commitment to the cause of human rights. This interactive installation represents borders, the experience of immigrants. Hernandez invites visitors to enter a disorienting maze of corridors and rooms to try their luck at games of fortune and thereby experience life as it is lived by the undocumented immigrant. This metaphorical rite of passage mirrors the difficult conditions endured by immigrants seeking refuge in other country. http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/322/anaida_hernandez_juegos_ilegalesillegal_games
Hernández’s project arts, films/video and research have received support and founded (grants, commissions, fellowships and residencies) from Puerto Rico Film Commission; Canal 6 TV-Puerto Rico Television; The New Museum of Contemporary Art; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico; Public Art of Puerto Rico; El Senado de PR; Procuradora de las Mujeres de Puerto Rico; ; Hostos Community College, CUNY; Lillys Foundation, Santander, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Ludwig Forum; David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Habana Biennal; Lehman College Art Gallery; John Jay Criminal College Art Gallery, Montes de Oca Foundation; Artist Residence Program at Brodsky Center, Grant Center Art, Robert Blackburn and Caribbean University; and others.
She is an award-winning director and producer of a film video/ documentary presented at tv programs, festivals, universities and culturals centers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKmenYG-ehI
Anaida’s artwork have been published in numerous newspaper, art magazines, featured in art among them
The New York Times: ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 1999: ART IMITATES LIFE; (Real) Games (Real) People Play - New York Times, ART REVIEW - ART REVIEW - Eastern Europeans Envision the Future - Review - NYTimes.com , ART; One Show Ponders a Cause and the Other Reviews a Heritage - New York Times,
Mrs. Hernandez artwork is included in many public and private collections around the word, among them The World Bank; Library of Congress, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica; Ludwig Forum, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; Organization of American State Museum, Jerusalem City Hall, Israel.
She received her BFA, from uprm.edu, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez’s campus, Puerto Rico, in 1974, MFA in Printmaking from Escuela de San Carlos, index Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México and a mosaics training at Orsoni Factory, Venice, Italy in 2002 . Lives/works between San Juan and New York.
Links:
Cortometraje La verdad y nada más que la verdad, 2010. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico http://docmac-docmac.blogspot.com/2010/08/cortometraje-la-verdad-y-nada-mas-que.html
