Reincarnation of
Farmer Bradly

Title: Reincarnation of Farmer Bradly
Date Creation: 1999
Location: Entry lake – Exterior Texas Sculpture Garden

“If I had to create a scenario to describe my work, it would look like this – Giolorenzo Bernini rising from the grave to redesign Pee Wee’s playhouse under the direction of Zora Neale Hurston.

Most of my figurative works are appropriated from concrete yard art statuary. I investigate the way we think in hierarchical terms as we rank in order of importance the different levels of life forms. Then I debunk this way of thinking and rearrange the order. As in the case of Reincarnation… we have a mule (animal of labor) turning around and licking (healing) the heart of Farmer Bradly. In healing the open wound of the farmer, the mule has elevated his level of importance to someone equal or higher than its companion. They both are now dependent on one another for their survival and have become equal. Other references include southern Louisiana, as I am a native of this region, as well as agricultural societies. I was born on an experimental sweet potato research plantation, and that probably explains a lot.” - T. Paul Hernandez, Artist

About the Artist

T. Paul Hernandez lives and works in Austin, Texas. He has a B.F.A. from Lousiana State University at Baton Rouge and a M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a tenured professor at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

He works mostly in concrete and steel; is well known for creating fanciful and allegorical images, and has been featured in many group and solo exhibitions. He has been awarded commissions and has served as juror for numerous public art projects. Hernandez has also been a recipient of the prestigious sculpture fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a travel grant to the British Isles to study environmental sculpture. He has served on the state advisory visual arts panel for the Texas Commission on the Arts; the Louisiana Division of the Arts; the Cultural Arts Council of Houston, and New Orleans, LA’s Green Project.