José Antonio Hernández-Díez: I will fear no evil

The exhibition “I Will Fear No Evil” presented early works by José Antonio Hernández-Díez from the late late 1980s and early 1990s, many unseen since they were first exhibited, in dialogue with a new project developed especially for the occasion.

Looking back at Hernández-Díez’s early experimental video and iconic screen- and vitrine-based pieces, the exhibition included three three works from his landmark 1991 solo show “San Guinefort y otras devociones” (Saint Guinefort and other devotions), at Sala RG, Caracas. These pieces, including ”San Guinefort” (now in MACBA’s collection), “El resplandor de la Santa Conjunción aleja a los demonios” (The shining of the Holy union wards off demons) and “Sagrado corazón activo” (Active Sacred Heart) (all from 1991) marked what the artist termed as a ‘new Christian iconography’. As described by as fellow artist Meyer Vaisman, these works offered “a techno-pop view of Catholicism’s most beloved symbols”.

These disquieting yet seductive works deal with the application of communications and medical technology and its interlacing with paranormal belief, particularly Christian theology. Neither ironic nor profane, they are macabre meditations on death, consciousness, resurrection, and the uniquely baroque character of Latin American Catholicism, shaped by European Colonial narratives, as well as by forcibly depriving native peoples of their history and beliefs.

Resembling devotional objects or technological apparitions, the works evoke archaeological finds from some electro-spiritual clinic, positivist science-fiction proposals for a future religion, or props from an illusionist theatrical sideshow. Hernández-Díez’s haunting presence of ghosts and bodily organs – videographic spectres, disembodied voices, preserved creatures, hearts and skin – is enhanced by the somewhat necromantic aspect of the fact that several of his works have been reconstructed, as if brought back to life for the present exhibition.

Besides reviving these historical pieces, “I Will Fear No Evil” introduced Hernández-Díez's new series, “Filamentos” (2016), as a conceptual echo. This iconographic study of light bulb filaments expanded upon his earlier works’ consideration of electrical revelation and visibility, while provoking contemplation on the sovereign metaphors of light itself.