'Summer Fields,' triptych, 5ft x 12ft, acrylic on canvas, 2023
There are many reasons for someone to cultivate a garden

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whether to grow his own food or simply as a hobby, but for Rick Hernandez, it’s more than that. In his sixth solo exhibition titled “A Patch, A Field, A Garden,” the abstract artist tries to share the wonders and beauty of nature he has witnessed growing his own rooftop garden. “I am a Sunday gardener. I have a small rooftop garden that I tend to every Sunday, well basically every day, but I make more time for it on Sundays. And working in my small garden somehow found its way to my paintings and now most of my works are a reflection of what I work with in my garden,” he says. “My exhibit is a continuation of my abstract rendition of plant arrangements and gardens in general.” His love for nature’s organic form was rooted in Hernandez’ childhood memories. Together, the beautiful moments he had had with nature and special bonding time with his father, who taught him how to draw when he was a child, had influenced him and led him to pursue an artistic career. “The exhibit title refers to the artwork titles in the exhibition Flower Patch, Summer Fields, Afternoon in the Garden, etc.,” he says. “Summer Fields is my favorite, the biggest I’ve done so far. It is based on the memory of my childhood time during summer in Manuyo, Las Piñas where I grew up. That time there were a lot of open fields where we could play. Unfortunately these are gone now, either converted to a subdivision or a commercial complex, so it’s nice to create a visual recollection of it.” Rick Hernandez; 'Flower Patch I,' acrylic on canvas, 2023
Hernandez, with his deliberate style mixed with rough executions, continues to show the beauty of nature even though urbanization has changed the city drastically. “I’ve been into arts since I was a child—my father taught me how to draw. I was into comics and book illustrations. In elementary and high school, I joined various poster making contests, which made me decide to take up Fine Arts in college,” he muses. “To be honest I don’t know how to describe my aesthetic. One of the most common comments I get is that, as an abstract artist, I’m not consistent with my work. I don’t stick to a particular style, although I’m trying to. My abstract process is more deliberate, hard-edged, and more controlled but still open to accidents and rough executions. I am always drawn to organic forms and shapes that interpret the things I see around.” “A Patch, A Field, A Garden” is his sixth solo exhibit, but Hernandez’ last show was back in 2015. It took time for him to mount this one for many reasons. Surprisingly, it only took him a couple of months to create seven colorful pieces for this exhibition. 'Mid Day,' 4ft x 3ft, acrylic on canvas, 2023; 'Mid Night,' 4ft x 3ft, acrylic on canvas, 2023
“I’ve been so busy with commission work and group shows, and I also have a day job. Last year, I pushed myself to have another solo show,” he says. “I started working on my pieces in early February. Since I have a day job, I can only paint after work, but full-time during the weekends so it took me more than three months to complete the paintings for the show. The pieces on the exhibition are more colorful. I used more vibrant colors, which is kind of new, partly influenced by the summer season, I guess. I like working on a limited color palette, but for this exhibit I stretched that palette a little bit and included a lot of oranges, reds, and yellows.” Hernandez is looking forward to creating more artworks and sharing those with the world, which makes him happy. “Art for me is a relationship with the things around us, and the way we can translate and transform them into something we can feel and appreciate in a way. It represents a love affair with both our real world and the surreal or the abstract,” he says. “Creating makes me happy and fulfilled, so I guess that is the goal, to be happy and fulfilled.” *A Fatch, A Field, A Garden by Rick Hernandez, ran from May 16 to May 25 at the Renaissance Gallery, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.*