Ricardo Santos Hernández
Exhibitions and Events artwork by Ricardo Santos Hernández

Artwork

Exhibitions and Events

ChingARTE: The Poetics of Defiance — Christopher Art Gallery, Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL. March 17 – April 14, 2026. Featuring the Poets of Defiance together for the first time: Salvador Jiménez Flores, Ricardo Santos Hernández, and Gabriel Villa. Curated by Javier Chavira. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
ChingARTE: The Poetics of Defiance — Christopher Art Gallery, Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL. March 17 – April 14, 2026. Featuring the Poets of Defiance together for the first time: Salvador Jiménez Flores, Ricardo Santos Hernández, and Gabriel Villa. Curated by Javier Chavira.
El Arte de la Frontera: Ambos Nogales Border Art Project — Studio One Space for Art and Activism, Tucson, Arizona. Curated by Ricardo Santos Hernández. An exhibition bringing together artists from Ambos Nogales, the Rio Rico corridor, the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, and Tucson. Founded by Ricardo Santos Hernández and Carlos Cabrera in 2017, the Ambos Nogales Border Art Project is composed of artists from the border cities of Nogales, Patagonia, and the Interstate 19 corridor that parallels the Santa Cruz River north to Tucson, Arizona. The vision: to bridge and celebrate the diversity, talent, and innovation of a multi-generational group of artists across a bi-national region of shared heritage, food, language, ideas, family, and history. The rusted steel barrier that lays across the Sonoran Desert — el muro, as it is called by the locals — galvanizes an energy of inspiration in the borderlands, providing artists a distinct voice that echoes with images grounded in the veins and heartbeat of the desert: a new artistic language of universal content with a flare of resistance and passion. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
El Arte de la Frontera: Ambos Nogales Border Art Project — Studio One Space for Art and Activism, Tucson, Arizona. Curated by Ricardo Santos Hernández. An exhibition bringing together artists from Ambos Nogales, the Rio Rico corridor, the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, and Tucson. Founded by Ricardo Santos Hernández and Carlos Cabrera in 2017, the Ambos Nogales Border Art Project is composed of artists from the border cities of Nogales, Patagonia, and the Interstate 19 corridor that parallels the Santa Cruz River north to Tucson, Arizona. The vision: to bridge and celebrate the diversity, talent, and innovation of a multi-generational group of artists across a bi-national region of shared heritage, food, language, ideas, family, and history. The rusted steel barrier that lays across the Sonoran Desert — el muro, as it is called by the locals — galvanizes an energy of inspiration in the borderlands, providing artists a distinct voice that echoes with images grounded in the veins and heartbeat of the desert: a new artistic language of universal content with a flare of resistance and passion.
Carlos Cabrera & Ricardo Santos Hernández — Two-Man Exhibition, Hilltop Gallery, Nogales, Arizona. Carlos Cabrera stands before his large-scale drawing — figures rendered in graphite with raw, visceral power, the urban industrial landscape looming behind them. On the wall to the right, Ricardo's painting: a figure arching over the steel bollard wall, the Sonoran Desert burning orange beneath a wide sky. Two artists from Ambos Nogales, two bodies of work, one shared borderlands vision. Carlos Cabrera is co-founder with Ricardo Santos Hernández of the Ambos Nogales Border Art Project. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Carlos Cabrera & Ricardo Santos Hernández — Two-Man Exhibition, Hilltop Gallery, Nogales, Arizona. Carlos Cabrera stands before his large-scale drawing — figures rendered in graphite with raw, visceral power, the urban industrial landscape looming behind them. On the wall to the right, Ricardo's painting: a figure arching over the steel bollard wall, the Sonoran Desert burning orange beneath a wide sky. Two artists from Ambos Nogales, two bodies of work, one shared borderlands vision. Carlos Cabrera is co-founder with Ricardo Santos Hernández of the Ambos Nogales Border Art Project.
Echo of Resistance — Ricardo Santos Hernández. An exhibition featuring lithography, paintings, and large-scale mixed media installations. About a Woman was printed at Hoof Print Chicago with print master Gabe Hoar. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Echo of Resistance — Ricardo Santos Hernández. An exhibition featuring lithography, paintings, and large-scale mixed media installations. About a Woman was printed at Hoof Print Chicago with print master Gabe Hoar.
Tierra Mojada — A Monsoon Exhibition. Raíces Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop, 218 E 6th Street, Tucson, AZ 85705. June 24 – August 5, 2023. Opening Celebration: Saturday, June 24, 2023, 6:00–8:00 pm. Featured work: El Hombre Cósmico by Ricardo Santos Hernández — now in the permanent collection at Raíces Taller 222. A celebration of the monsoon season and the living landscape of the Sonoran Desert, rooted in the cultural and spiritual traditions of the borderlands. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Tierra Mojada — A Monsoon Exhibition. Raíces Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop, 218 E 6th Street, Tucson, AZ 85705. June 24 – August 5, 2023. Opening Celebration: Saturday, June 24, 2023, 6:00–8:00 pm. Featured work: El Hombre Cósmico by Ricardo Santos Hernández — now in the permanent collection at Raíces Taller 222. A celebration of the monsoon season and the living landscape of the Sonoran Desert, rooted in the cultural and spiritual traditions of the borderlands.
Veredas Seeing Encuentro — Solo exhibition by Ricardo Santos Hernández at The Hilltop Gallery, Nogales, Arizona. September 13 – October 29, 2020. Works on paper executed during the Quarantine Session in Kino Springs, Arizona. A solo exhibition voicing local issues of migration, the Trump wall, and the disruption of the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert along the construction of the border wall. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Veredas Seeing Encuentro — Solo exhibition by Ricardo Santos Hernández at The Hilltop Gallery, Nogales, Arizona. September 13 – October 29, 2020. Works on paper executed during the Quarantine Session in Kino Springs, Arizona. A solo exhibition voicing local issues of migration, the Trump wall, and the disruption of the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert along the construction of the border wall.
Cruzando Líneas / Cruzando Fronteras — Crossing Lines / Crossing Borders. Group exhibition at Raíces Taller, Tucson, Arizona. September 8 – October 20, 2018. Ricardo's painting Cruzando Líneas was featured in the exhibition's publicity. A celebration of migration highly praised by the Tucson community. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Cruzando Líneas / Cruzando Fronteras — Crossing Lines / Crossing Borders. Group exhibition at Raíces Taller, Tucson, Arizona. September 8 – October 20, 2018. Ricardo's painting Cruzando Líneas was featured in the exhibition's publicity. A celebration of migration highly praised by the Tucson community.
Urban Flashback — Ricardo Santos Hernández & Alfonso Piloto Nieves Ruiz. A two-man exhibition featuring the mixed media sculptures of Piloto Nieves and Ricardo Santos Hernández. Prospectus Art Gallery, 1210 West 18th Street, Pilsen, Chicago, IL. Opening Reception: Friday, January 9, 2015, 5:00–10:00 p.m. Through March 1, 2015. Photography by William Bangston. Design by Robert Feie. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Urban Flashback — Ricardo Santos Hernández & Alfonso Piloto Nieves Ruiz. A two-man exhibition featuring the mixed media sculptures of Piloto Nieves and Ricardo Santos Hernández. Prospectus Art Gallery, 1210 West 18th Street, Pilsen, Chicago, IL. Opening Reception: Friday, January 9, 2015, 5:00–10:00 p.m. Through March 1, 2015. Photography by William Bangston. Design by Robert Feie.
Razkuache — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Group exhibition at the Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 280 S. Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL. July 19 – October 3, 2008. Artists' Reception: Friday, September 5, 5–7 p.m. Participating artists: Ricardo Santos Hernández, Patricia Acosta, Noelle Mason, Kenneth Morrison, Gilbert Rocha (SAIC alumni, Laredo, Texas), Marcos Raya, and Gabriel Villa. Curated by Marcos Raya. Supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Rasquachismo is the marriage and contradictive fusion of high and low art inspired by urban and small town aesthetics — artists who use society's scraps and recyclables to make personal statements. Rasquache is a form of Chicano folk art: a bricolage of Mexican and Chicago American sources and styles that include fine art practices, folk, funk, pop, imagist, mass media, political, and techno. The slightly subversive spelling reflects a post-modern appropriation of the sensibility as it applies to inventive, often-defiant Pilsen/Chicago spin. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Razkuache — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Group exhibition at the Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 280 S. Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL. July 19 – October 3, 2008. Artists' Reception: Friday, September 5, 5–7 p.m. Participating artists: Ricardo Santos Hernández, Patricia Acosta, Noelle Mason, Kenneth Morrison, Gilbert Rocha (SAIC alumni, Laredo, Texas), Marcos Raya, and Gabriel Villa. Curated by Marcos Raya. Supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Rasquachismo is the marriage and contradictive fusion of high and low art inspired by urban and small town aesthetics — artists who use society's scraps and recyclables to make personal statements. Rasquache is a form of Chicano folk art: a bricolage of Mexican and Chicago American sources and styles that include fine art practices, folk, funk, pop, imagist, mass media, political, and techno. The slightly subversive spelling reflects a post-modern appropriation of the sensibility as it applies to inventive, often-defiant Pilsen/Chicago spin.
La Barda en el Corazón — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Solo exhibition at Hilltop Gallery, 730 Hilltop Dr., Nogales, AZ 85621. April 2 to April 29, 2017. Free and open to the public. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 1:00–4:00 p.m. Featured work: La Barda en el Corazón, 2017 — gouache, mixed media on Arches. Ricardo Santos Hernández is a native of Nogales, Arizona, born near the chain-link fence that once allowed a free flow of people and commerce between the sister cities — Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, widely known as Ambos Nogales. The exhibition featured new work produced in Chicago. Many of the themes centered on the barrier — the steel wall that today divides the sister cities and cuts through the heart of a community that was once one. The face in the painting looks outward with quiet gravity; a deer stands at the figure's shoulder, a hawk rises above — the desert's living witnesses to what the wall has done. La barda is not only in the desert. It is in the corazón. Ricardo earned a Master's Degree in Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
La Barda en el Corazón — Ricardo Santos Hernández. Solo exhibition at Hilltop Gallery, 730 Hilltop Dr., Nogales, AZ 85621. April 2 to April 29, 2017. Free and open to the public. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 1:00–4:00 p.m. Featured work: La Barda en el Corazón, 2017 — gouache, mixed media on Arches. Ricardo Santos Hernández is a native of Nogales, Arizona, born near the chain-link fence that once allowed a free flow of people and commerce between the sister cities — Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, widely known as Ambos Nogales. The exhibition featured new work produced in Chicago. Many of the themes centered on the barrier — the steel wall that today divides the sister cities and cuts through the heart of a community that was once one. The face in the painting looks outward with quiet gravity; a deer stands at the figure's shoulder, a hawk rises above — the desert's living witnesses to what the wall has done. La barda is not only in the desert. It is in the corazón. Ricardo earned a Master's Degree in Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Urban Echo — La Frontera en el Corazón. Solo exhibition by Ricardo Santos Hernández. Museo de Arte de Nogales, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Viernes, Junio 17, 2016, a las 7 p.m. Ricardo was invited to present his Chicago work at the Museo de Arte de Nogales — a recognition of his standing as one of the leading artists from Ambos Nogales, with deep roots in the sister cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. by Ricardo Santos Hernández
Urban Echo — La Frontera en el Corazón. Solo exhibition by Ricardo Santos Hernández. Museo de Arte de Nogales, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Viernes, Junio 17, 2016, a las 7 p.m. Ricardo was invited to present his Chicago work at the Museo de Arte de Nogales — a recognition of his standing as one of the leading artists from Ambos Nogales, with deep roots in the sister cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora.

Urban Echo — Exhibition Catalogue

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Urban Echo: Solo exhibition by Ricardo Santos Hernández. Museo de Arte de Nogales, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, 2016. Ricardo was invited to present his Chicago work at the Museo de Arte de Nogales — a recognition of his standing as one of the leading artists from Ambos Nogales, with deep roots in the sister cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora.

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