Nelson Hernández is a Chilean visual artist born in Patagonia. He studied Fine Arts at the Faculty of Arts of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and later obtained a Master’s degree in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London.
His pictorial practice is articulated as a critical reflection on the effects of globalization on the construction of contemporary identity. Being born in a remote territory has shaped his perspective, allowing him to observe how the specific and local are progressively diluted in favor of a globalized, standardized culture. Within this context, his painting incorporates images drawn from both art history and popular culture, appropriated and reinterpreted through a wide range of painterly styles.
By altering the original meanings of these references, Hernández places notions of identity, belonging, and memory under tension. This shift manifests formally in an eclectic use of style and imagery, aligned with the critical tradition of pastiche and decontextualization associated with figures such as Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. The juxtaposition of the ancient and the contemporary, the revered and the banal, constitutes the central axis of his artistic research.
Through this strategy, painting becomes a space for dialogue with its own history, where technique operates not only as a formal resource but also as a conceptual tool to interrogate representation, memory, and identity within the contemporary global context. His work has been exhibited in North and South America, as well as in London and other European contexts. In 2024, he undertook an artist residency at GlogauAIR in Berlin, and in 2025, he was selected for the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London. His work is held in private and institutional collections in Chile, the United States, the United Kingdom, and India.
He lives and works in London.