Anthony Hernandez

Since the early 1970s, when he began photographing on the streets of his native Los Angeles, Anthony Hernandez has consistently pushed his practice into uncharted territory, challenging himself by adopting new formats and subject matter. Moving from black and white to color, from 35mm to large-format cameras, and from the human figure to landscapes to abstracted detail, he has produced an unusually varied body of work united by its arresting beauty and subtle engagement with social issues. At first largely unaware of the formal traditions of the medium, Hernandez developed his own style of street photography, one uniquely attuned to the desolate allure and sprawling expanses of LA.

Published to accompany the photographer's first retrospective, Anthony Hernandez offers a comprehensive introduction to his career of more than 40 years, tracing his evolution as well as highlighting continuities across his practice. The catalogue represents the full range and breadth of Hernandez's work, with an extensive plate section that includes many photographs that have never before been exhibited or published.

"This book is published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in association with D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers on the occasion of the exhibition Anthony Hernandez, organized by Erin O'Toole for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, September 24, 2016-January 1, 2017"--Colophon.
Hernandez catalogues the avenues and intersections that make Los Angeles a city, and not only a web of connections between the area's freeways and suburban sprawl.--Jennifer Piejko "Frieze "
Anthony Hernandez captured the essence of many cities . . . but his hometown, Los Angeles and the areas inhabited by the working class, the homeless, and the poor have been the most captivating subject for his craft.--Blouin Art Info
Anthony Hernandez might be to Los Angeles what Eug�ne Atget is to Paris.--Michael Ned Holte "Artforum "
...a native Angeleno who records his native city (and a few other places along the way) with an unsparing but transcendent eye...Hernandez is a major artist who belatedly just had his first retrospective, and its accompanying monograph...provides a gripping narrative.--Luc Sante "The New York Times "
An empathetic, original view of what life is like on the streets.--Jonathan Blaustein "The New York Times "
Anthony Hernandez's time has finally come.--Stephen Heller "Time Out San Francisco "
As a native of Los Angeles, Anthony Hernandez's rigorous and tough photographs have examined the social and political landscape of the city for over forty years, teasing apart assumptions and forcing us to look at places we'd rather drive past and ignore...From his early street photography to his current work on the aftermath of the housing crisis in California, his eponymous monograph is an incredible collection that allows us to measure the full breadth of his remarkable achievement.--Adam Bell "Photo-Eye Blog "
Hernandez can be as effectively succinct with words as he can with visual language. It's a book to savor.--Anne Wilkes Tucker "Photo-Eye Blog, Best of 2016 "
Hernandez is constantly exploring new forms and subject matters... Such a wide-spanning body of work is what makes Hernandez's new show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and its accompanying monograph, so exciting.--Emily Manning "i-D Magazine "
In the photographs of Anthony Hernandez, there are no swaying palm trees or cinematic sunsets. Instead, for half a century, this born-and-bred Angeleno has trained his unblinking lens on another L.A. - a city of the aged, of the working class, of the destitute.--Carolina A. Miranda "LA Times "
Instead of focusing on the effect of development on the natural world, [Hernandez] portrays the human toll... His compositional style can make a cinder-block squat seem as monumental as a marble mausoleum.--Arthur Lubow "The New York Times "
The hefty catalog traces the artist's journey over five decades--evocative street photography, desolate Los Angeles cityscapes, color candids, still lifes featuring artifacts of indigents--all joined by Hernandez's social conscience and compositional grace.--Jack Crager "American Photo "
The unidealized Los Angeles. The real L.A..... That incredible quality of light.--Erin O'Toole "San Franciso Museum of Modern Art "
Whether you think of California as a promised land or a dead end, it's always been a reliable source of inspiration for photographers, and some of my favorite new books explore the terrain from unexpected angles. The most substantial of these is Anthony Hernandez.--Vince Aletti "Photograph Magazine "