NELSON HERNANDEZ

Nelson Hernandez is a Chilean painter born in Patagonia and based in London. Growing up in one of the world’s most remote geographies and now working within one of the capitals of global art, this transition forms the foundation of his practice.

His work examines how local identities and cultural specificities dissolve within a globalised visual culture, exploring the erosion of memory, belonging, and identity. Working with oil and acrylic on canvas and wooden panel, Hernandez combines photogrammetry and 3D modelling to capture cultural fragments ranging from museum sculptures and historical artefacts to toys and contemporary pop culture objects, assembling them into fractured compositions that are ultimately resolved through painting.

The Purchase of Jemmy Button or the Civilization of the Noble Savage

Acrylic on linen, 90 x 120 cm

2024

Ozymandias

Oil on linen, 100 x 80 cm

2025

Fever dream (astronaut)

Oil on wooden panel , 61 x 46 cm

2025

The death of Memory Boat and the sorrow of FitzRoy

Oil on linen, 170 x 190 cm

2025

Fever dream (queeen)

Oil on wooden panel , 61 x 46 cm

2025

Nelson Hernández works in traditional media (oil and acrylic), moving freely across pictorial styles according to what each painting demands. His canvases are assembled into fractured scenes and resolved through painting: the eye finds nowhere to settle, yet every fragment answers to a precise decision. Having grown up in one of the most isolated territories in the world and painting today from the centre of the global art circuit defines the question that sustains his practice: how globalised culture erodes the specific and the local.

He holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London, and a BA in Visual Arts from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery (Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award, 2025) and the Saatchi Gallery, London; his solo exhibition Fever Dreams was presented at Isabel Croxatto Gallery, Santiago (2026). His work is held in the Ca.Sa. Collection (Santiago) and the WARI Collection (New Delhi).

EDUCATION

2024–25 Master in Painting. Royal College of Art, London.
2005 Minor in Eastern Thought. Faculty of Philosophy and Institute of Aesthetics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2002–06 Arts. Faculty of Arts, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

EXHIBITIONS
2026 ‘Narrativas’, Pavilion Club Knightsbridge, London.
2026 ‘Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award‘, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.
2026 ‘Loop State‘, D-Contemporary Gallery, London.
2026 ‘What we take‘, Pipeline Gallery with CM Art Advisory and Art in Latinamerica, London.
2026 ‘Fever Dreams’. Solo Show, Isabel Croxatto Gallery. Santiago, Chili.
2025 ‘ArtEvol 2025: Voices from the Undefined’. Saatchi Gallery, London.
2025 ‘Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2025’. National Portrait Gallery, London.
2025 ‘Terraforming: Mapping Space Through Pigment’. Museum Street, London.
2025 ‘Donde Comenzamos (Where We Begin)‘. The Bomb Factory Holborn, London.
2025 ‘RCA2025: Postgraduate Show’. Royal College of Art, London.
2025 ‘Parrhesia’. Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art, London.
2025 ‘Rejection: When No Said Yes’. Hangar Gallery, Royal College of Art, London.
2024 ‘The Persistence of Memory’. Ca.Sa. Collection, Santiago, Chili.
2024 ‘Open Studio GlogauAIR’. Residency Program Berlin, Germany.
2022 ‘Nuevas Generaciones’. CV Gallery, Santiago, Chili.
2022 ‘PLAYGROUND’. Factoría Santa Rosa Gallery, Santiago, Chili.
2022 ‘B&N / Oscuro y Germinal’. Factoría Santa Rosa Gallery, Santiago, Chili.
2021 ‘Tiempos fragmentados’. Galería Artespacio, Santiago, Chili.
2018 ‘Galería Artespacio Joven BBVA’, Artespacio Gallery, Santiago, Chili.

ARTFAIRS

2026 CAN Contemporary Art Now. Represented by Isabel Croxatto Gallery, Madrid.
2024 FAST. Contemporary Art Fair. Santiago, Chili.
2023 Pinta PArC. Represented by Factoría Santa Rosa, Lima, Peru.
2022 Art Miami. Represented by Factoría Santa Rosa, Miami.
2021FAXXI. Online Art Fair, Santiago, Chili.
2021 CHILARTe. Contemporary Art Fair, Santiago, Chili.
2020 ArtStgo. Contemporary Art Fair, Online. Santiago, Chili.
2018 Ch.ACO. Represented by Artespacio Gallery. Santiago, Chili.
2018 ArtStgo. Contemporary Art Fair. Santiago, Chili.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

WARI Art. New Delhi, India.
Ca.Sa. Collection. Santiago, Chili.

RESIDENCIES
2024 GlogauAIR. Residency Program Berlin, Germany.

PUBLICATIONS
2025 National Portrait Gallery. (2025). Herbert Smith Freehills & Kramer Portrait Award 2025: Catalogue. London: National Portrait Gallery.
2025 Spence, R. (Ed.). (2023). Soft witness: 50 artists 50 stories. London: Lund Humphries.
2024 GlogauAIR. (2024). GlogauAIR Catalogue Q2 2024. Berlin: GlogauAIR.
2021 30x30x30. Hernandez Nelson (2021). Self-published, Santiago.
2016 50 Buenos días. Hernandez Nelson (2016). Santiago: EUONIA.

AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
2025 Wari x CM The Selects Program, London, UK.
2025 Travers Smith CSR Art Programme, London, UK.
2020 Cover and participation in the special edition of Pléyade magazine, humanities and social sciences magazine, Universidad de Chile.
2018 1st place Artespacio Joven BBVA Gallery competition, Artespacio Gallery, Santiago, Chile.

Guangyu Zhang is jointly represented by Cream Athens and is part of the COLLECTOR ACCESS program

NELSON HERNANDEZ

The Purchase of Jemmy Button or the Civilization of the Noble Savage

Ozymandias

Fever dream (astronaut)

The death of Memory Boat and the sorrow of FitzRoy

Fever dream (queeen)

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