The Donna Beam Gallery presents the MFA Thesis Exhibition of Dan45 Hernandez, My Culture’s Disease Has Got the Best of Me.

Hernandez is an interdisciplinary artist from Las Vegas, Nevada who holds a BFA in Sculpture from UNLV and is currently pursuing his MFA.

By blending sculpture, installation, light, and found materials, Hernandez transforms the gallery into a layered environment that feels both playful and deeply reflective. Brightly colored objects, childlike figures, glowing text panels, and densely packed shelving structures create a visual language drawn from pop culture, memory, and personal history. At first glance, the work seems energetic and nostalgic, but beneath the surface, it explores identity shaped by consumer culture, assimilation, and displacement. 

Raised in a low-income military family, Hernandez draws from a life of constant movement. He found stability not in place but in portable cultural artifacts like toys, media, and everyday objects. These influences appear throughout the exhibition, from illuminated wall pieces that remind viewers of advertisements to intimate, constructed spaces that invite them to slow down, reflect, and physically engage with the work. 

A central installation encourages visitor participation. It invites guests to remove their shoes and enter a softer, enclosed environment, shifting the experience from spectacle to personal reflection. Throughout the exhibition, Hernandez balances humor, vulnerability, and critique, offering a nuanced take on how identity is formed through both inherited culture and mass-produced images. Hernandez’s work ultimately encourages viewers to think about their own relationships to culture, memory, and belonging. It reveals how even the most ordinary objects can hold emotional and psychological significance.

A closing reception will be held on April 3 from 6–9 p.m., with a musical performance at 8:30 p.m.. An artist talk will follow on April 22 from 5:30–8:30 p.m. in the Barrick Museum auditorium.

My Culture’s Disease Has Got the Best of Me, on view at the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery from March 23 through April 3, 2026.