At Least We’re Damned Together — Joel Hernandez Solo Exhibition Opening

On Saturday, June 6, 2026, Moth Belly Gallery presents At Least We’re Damned Together, a solo exhibition of new sculptural work by San Francisco-based artist Joel Hernandez. The show marks Hernandez’s most personal body of work to date, an exploration of emotional kinship in a turbulent time defined by societal strife.

The exhibition gathers a new collection of paper-mâché sculptures and masks made over the past year, a period in which Hernandez found himself, like many, navigating waves of grief, anger, joy, and disbelief all in quick succession. The title is both revelation and acceptance: when finding yourself in the worst case scenario, seeing that you’re not alone in those feelings provides space for stronger emotional kinship. A refusal to be crushed by the weight of it all, and an insistence that the only way through is together.

Hernandez has spent more than a decade building a visual language around the mask, not as concealment but as revelation. His handcrafted figures, created one piece of paper at a time, draw on the iconography of Mexican folk art while addressing the specific weight of being a gay Mexican-American during this time in America.

The work doesn’t promise resolution. What it offers instead is company, a room full of figures in the midst of those feelings, and the relief that comes from finding strength in that collective experience.

Hernandez’s work has been exhibited at the National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago), Museo de las Américas (Denver), and La Luz de Jesús Gallery (Los Angeles). He has been featured twice in The New York Times Style Magazine, as well as in California Home and Design and international publications in Japan and France.

“Masks that do not conceal but reveal, creatures that carry the innocence of play and the melancholy of memory.”

— The New York Times Style Magazine, Mexico Edition

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 6, 2026, 6–9 PM

Moth Belly Gallery — 912 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

Free and open to the public. RSVP to reserve your spot.

http://www.JoelHernandezArt.com

http://www.mothbelly.org

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