Open daily. Always free.
Top Mounter

Top Mounter

On View

Not currently on view

Sam Hernández

Sam Hernández is a wood sculptor and UW-Madison alumnus known for his surrealist sculptures indebted to the Bay Area Funk movement. Born and raised in California, he earned his BA at the California State University in his hometown of Hayward, before receiving his MFA from UW-Madison in 1974. When Top Mounter was made in the late 1980s, Hernández was working with “archetypal shapes and symbols” that formed a personal visual vocabulary, from which he created his pieces, each with a narrative “but not necessarily one that was immediately recognizable.” For example, for Hernández, the shape of Top Mounter resembles two figures joined as a single form: one below, standing and balancing the other, above, doing a handstand. According to the artist, Top Mounter is an homage to artist H. C. Westermann (American, 1922-1981), whose artwork Hernández came to know toward the end of his studies in Madison but came to greatly admire. Westermann was closely affiliated with both the Bay Area funk movement and the Chicago Imagists and created enigmatic and absurdist assemblages, largely from wood, showing expert craftsmanship. Westermann was in fact also a talented gymnast who, as a Merchant Marine during World War II, was hired by the USO to tour Asia as part of an acrobatic performance. According to Hernández, Westermann often served as the “top mounter,” or the person in the upper position in balancing acts. “Although all of this comes into play,” Hernández writes, “the piece is, of course, an entity into itself” and the narrative imparted by the artist during the sculpture’s creation “became secondary to the aesthetics and the formation of the piece.” He has admitted, however, that a lot of his work is humorous: “Making art is serious work, but at its best, it’s a lot of fun.”
Artist
Sam Hernández
(American, b. 1948)
Title
Top Mounter
Date
1987
Medium
Wood with encaustic and oil-based pigments
Dimensions
85 x 30 x 29 in. overall
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession No.
2020.54a-b
Classification
Sculpture
Geography
United States

Related

2020, gifted by the artist, Sam Hernández (Watsonville, CA), to the Chazen Museum of Art

  • Dunham, Judith. "A Faculty for Art." Santa Clara, CA: de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, 1988. n.p.
  • Guenther, Bruce. "Sam Hernández: Abstract Imagist." San Francisco: Michael Dunev Gallery, 1993. p. 14
  • Emanuel, Richard. "Sculptor Finds a Balance." Santa Cruz Sentinel. August 12, 1988, E1-2. p. E1-2
  • Goodwin-Guerrero, Erin. "Sam Hernández at William Siegal Gallery: The Versatility and Lure of Wood." ARTSHIFT. Accessed November 6, 2009. www.artshiftsanjose.com.

  • Sam Hernández: Abstract Imagist: Michael Dunev Gallery, San Francisco, 9/21/1993–4/30/1995
  • Against the Grain: Contemporary Wood Sculpture: Oliver Art Center, 1/24/1990–3/24/1990
  • Five Bay Area Sculptors: Iannetti-Lanzone Gallery, 8/3/1989–9/19/1989
  • First Ten Years, The: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, 11/1/1988–12/23/1988
  • Faculty for Art, A: De Saisset Museum, 4/9/1988–6/12/1988
  • Sam Hernández: New Sculpture: Rena Bransten Gallery, 2/9/1988–3/5/1988

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.