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Hermes Torres

@hermesarts

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My involvement in dance, martial arts, and metaphysics informs my paintings through space, color, texture, movement, and emotive gesture.

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I’ve cared for my mother for ten plus years. Ive asked myself what am I learning about my self…what is she teaching me…what is this all about…to give up much of my time, shift and change my goals to be present for her…sleepless nights…etc
I’ve learned compassion, patience, the ability to be present no matter what else may be going on, to place my desires and dreams in slow motion…but most of all…one night when I was cleaning her, I asked the question…what is this all about? I heard a very clear voice within me say…
“This is one of the many faces of God.” This inner voice changed my perception of all I do.

These are a few quick sketch I did while sitting by her bedside at a hospital or subacute rehab facility…

So I sit beside my mother and draw.

Fluorescent lights. The sounds of medical machines. The smell of medicine mixed with the unavoidable smells of the body. Doctors, nurses, aides and patients move about in what sometimes feels like a choreographed dance.

And I watch my mother. I watch my mother, I watch my mother…I remain vigilant

I draw her sleeping, resting, waiting. I watch as her body becomes more fragile and her life force seems to grow quieter. Yet she continues to fight for this life—for one more day, one more moment, one more breath, one more smile when she looks at me, one more thank you for keeping me alive.

I wouldn’t call these portraits. They are moments of witnessing. A son sitting beside his mother, drawing while there is still time. Time for one more breath, time to hold her hand, time to be present.

#ArtAsWitness, #KeepingVigil, #ArtAndMemory #hermesarts #mother by @hermesarts

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8 days ago

Obatalá — work in progress.

Slowly, stitch by stitch, bead by bead, this work continues to reveal itself to me.

I began with burlap—a material that, for me, speaks of earth, labor and something primordial. The beadwork carries ritual, stories. The embroidered cowries become traces of memory. Silver and reflected light begin to suggest consciousness and spirit.

I am personally interested in what happens when materials carrying different histories are resurrected and allowed to exist together without losing their individual voices.

I don’t completely know where the work is going yet. That uncertainty is part of the process. I am listening to spirit, the materials, adding, removing, questioning, and allowing the work to tell me what it needs.

The burlap is earth.
The beadwork is ritual.
The embroidery is memory.
The light is spirit.

Still becoming.

#hermesarts #AfricanDiasporaArt #SacredArt #FiberArt #ContemporaryArt by @hermesarts

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22 days ago

Recently I’ve step away from what I’ve been working on lately and simply paint.

These new works 18” x 24” began with acrylic, building color, gesture and structure intuitively. Once the acrylic dried, I returned with pigment sticks. This time, I closed my eyes.

I allowed my hand to move across the surface without knowing exactly where the marks would land—following an impulse in the body rather than what my eyes were telling me the painting needed.

Control and surrender.
Seen and unseen.
Conscious decision and bodily intuition.
Structure and disruption.

Interior spaces that emerge somewhere between intention and surrender.

#hermes #abstractpainting #intuitivepainting #mindscape #worksonpaper by @hermesarts

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2 months ago

“Studio Archive | Spanish Harlem”

There are studios that become more than places to work—they become witnesses.

My Spanish Harlem studio was where these figures emerged and where the first vision of the Prayer Wall took shape. Visitors would tie cowrie shells or ribbons into the raffia, each one carrying a prayer, a memory, a wish. I realize that some works begin long before we understand where they are leading us.
Eventually it became less about my hands and more about our shared humanity.

#hermesarts #SpanishHarlem #StudioArchive #PrayerWall #elbarrionyc by @hermesarts

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3 months ago

REFLECTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

These works are acrylic on reflective silver paper. It mirrors the viewer. The face becomes both image and interruption. Each head has the same structure, yet the color shifts its psychological weight. The brushstrokes are unapologetically visible. The gesture resists realism and instead reveals states of consciousness. The reflective surface implicates the viewer. You are not just looking at a face — you are seeing yourself around it, inside it, behind it.
Is identity fixed? …..or is it something constantly painted over?

#hermes #hermesarts #contemporaryartist #GesturePainting #AbstractPortrait by @hermesarts

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4 months ago

These works are transmissions.
Emotion slowed down.
Layered.
Held…

before it could be named.

These three paintings are part of the series …Preface to Her Death
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas paper…9”x12”…2026

#hermes #hermesarts
#transmission
#ProcessWork
#PaintingAsLanguage by @hermesarts

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8 months ago

Series:
Preface to Her Death
Painting 1… They Visit Me at Night
Painting 2… They Whisper in My Ear
Painting 3… The Vigil
Painting 4-8… Notes From The Whispers

Paintings one, two, and three… 42”x 52“… acrylic and charcoal on paper
Paintings 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8… 9“ x 12“… acrylic and charcoal on canvas paper

#hermes #hermesarts #gallery #worksonpaper #trending by @hermesarts

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9 months ago

Osain and Iya Niwura…

The first piece is Osain…Osain is the Orisa of the forest, of leaves, of healing medicines. Each embroidered leaf is stitched with care, carrying the energy of nature’s remedies. While creating, I spoke prayers into the threads, so the work itself could hold the vibration of healing.”

The second piece is Iya Niwura—the Golden Mother. She is both earth and cosmos, marked with spirals of life-force energy. The red threads are lifelines, connecting her body to the unseen. As I created her, I infused prayer into every layer, so she would stand as a portal for energy and renewal.

Osain grounds us in the medicine of the earth. Iya Niwura lifts us into the cosmic embrace of the Mother. Both are prayers, both are portals. And that’s my intention: to make art that doesn’t just decorate, but heals.

#hermes #hermesarts #artist #contemporaryartist #gallery #osain #iyaniwura #goldenmother #textileart #spiritualart #artashealing #sacredart

“My Art Is My Prayer For Humanity” by @hermesarts

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a year ago

“My name is Hermes. I’m an artist, and I’m also a caregiver. Every evening, I go to my mother’s home to care for her, and then I return to my own family—and to this dining table, where I create my art.:
I presently don’t have a studio…“This table has become my studio. At first, I thought of it as a compromise. But then as I did my work I remembered—the dining table was where my paternal grandmother did her healing spiritual work. So really… I’m continuing her tradition. The dining table holds memory, spirit, and legacy.”
“My time is divided between caring for my mother, caring for my family, and answering the call to create. And even though my days are full, the art still flows. Because spirit doesn’t wait—it finds a way.
“So when I work here, I’m not just making art. I’m honoring my grandmother, my mother, my ancestors. This kitchen table is more than a place to eat—it’s where love, responsibility, healing, and creation meet.

#hermes #hermesarts #artist #gallery #contemporaryartist #exhibit #glitter #burlap #caregiver #diningtable #artcollector #beads #obatala by @hermesarts

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a year ago

This work is both a physical structure and a living altar—woven from raffia, grounded in the tactile traditions of the earth, and open to the hands and hearts of all who encounter it.
Participants are invited to approach and offer a cowrie shell or a strip of fabric ribbon, each one carrying a personal intention, prayer, or blessing. These contributions are not merely adornments; they are living words, silent petitions, and whispered hopes made tangible. As each ribbon and shell is added, the piece grows—transforming into a shared vessel of energy, protection, and community memory.
The vertical strands of raffia become rivers of connection, the red and black ribbons threads of life, spirit, and ancestry. The cowries recall ancient currency, divination, and the voice of spirit—symbolizing both abundance and the listening ear of Spirit.
In time, this work will stand as a tapestry of many souls—a collective prayer held together by the belief that art is not only to be seen, but to be touched, built upon, and lived within.

#hermesarts #hermes #artist #ancestrsl #CommunityArt
#ContemporaryArt
#LivingAltar #PrayerWall
#SpiritualArt #AncestralArt
#CowrieShell #RaffiaArt
#TextileArt #SacredArt
#ArtAsPrayer #EnergyWork by @hermesarts

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a year ago

Health Gallery… Hang Night
Artist sharing.. community coming together .

#hangnight #heathgallery #harlem #hermes #hermesarts #gallery #exhibit #community by @hermesarts

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a year ago

This art piece has been in my studio for a few years and is still a work in progress. While working on it, I was struck by thoughts of what Puerto Rican women experienced during the mid-20th century. As I did the work and thought about what happened, a knot formed in my stomach. I recalled women in my family discussing “La Operación.” I decided to pause my work until we could revisit the internal conversation. Since I’ve been thinking about it lately maybe I’ll resume the work and see where it will lead.

During the mid-20th century, Puerto Rico experienced one of the highest rates of sterilization in the world. Between the 1950s and 1970s, an estimated hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican women underwent sterilization procedures—many without full disclosure or under coercive conditions. The sterilization, “La Operacion” was carried out by the U.S. government and local health policies focused on controlling population growth.
The sterilization that took place in Puerto Rico is often said to be one of the most extensive and coercive reproductive health practices in history, serving as an example of reproductive rights violations.

In my artwork, small plastic dolls symbolize unborn children. They are mounted on a banana leaf—the red banana leaf represents menstrual blood, and the white banana leaf symbolize sperm—highlighting the reproductive process and the profound loss experienced during that era.

#hermes #hermesarts #artist #artinthestudio #puertorico #laoperacion #sterilization #populationcontrol #workinprogress #boricua #bananaleaf #babies #red #white #puertoricanwomen #ancestral by @hermesarts

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a year ago