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BIOGRAPHY

The Young Ruben Esparza

Born 1962, El Paso, Texas
1982, The Art Institute, Houston, Texas
Lives in Los Angeles, California

"Ruben Esparza is the outsider using the visual language of the marketing/advertising aesthetic. The corporate insider who makes incisive, subversive and witty comments about our 'consumerist world gone amok!' His work is pointedly subversive, using prepackaged text and highly stylized and simplified images to create 'readable stop signs'. In the juxtapositions of seemingly very simple elements, Esparza creates highly complex ideas that undermine each other. He customizes his modular images to satisfy our ever-changing psychic demographics. In Esparza's world, where the institutions of consumerism exist to fulfill all our desires, his work exists, custom-fit, to swing on the pendulum between joy and terror. Consumers no longer need to fritter their time away with the process of trauma when they can acquire Esparza's prepackaged angst." -- Richard Alexander Lou

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2002-03 "In Residence", Damron Residence, Beverly Hills, California.

1999-00 "New Paintings, Mostly Diptychs," Beyond Baroque, Venice, California.

1998 "Blue LA/NY," The Doyle/Logan Gallery, West Hollywood, California.

1997 "Mascots, Logos and Trademarks," Beyond Baroque, Venice, California.

1996 "Small Baby Logos," Infinity Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts.

1996 "ED ED E," Beyond Baroque, Venice, California.

1996 "Ruben Esparza Installation," Poodle Lounge at Zen, Los Angeles, California.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2001 "The T-shirt Show" Spiral Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

2001 "Hecho en Califas: The Last Decade," Plaza de la Raza, Los Angeles, California. (traveled to: Mexican Heritage Plaza - San Jose, Richmond Art Center - Richmond, La Raza Galeria - Sacramento, Arte Americas - Fresno, Centro Cultural - San Diego)

2000 "East of the River: Chicano Art Collectors" Santa Monica Museum of Art, SM, California.

2000 "I.Q. Pop" Soolip Gallery, West Hollywood, California.

2000 "Iconoclash" Circle Elephant Art Gallery, Hollywood, California.

2000 "L.A. National Juried Art Exhibition 4," Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, California.

2000 "Show 2000," Patricia Correia Gallery, Santa Monica, California.

1998 "Erotica," The Advocate Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

1998 "Salon du Petit," Gallery 825, Los Angeles, California.

1997 "New Identities LA," Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, California. (traveled to: Korean Cultural Center - Los Angeles, La Casa de La Raza - Santa Barbara, Beyond Baroque - Venice, Watts Towers Art Center - Los Angeles)

1995 "Rust," The Onyx Gallery, Hollywood, California.

1995 "Sex is," Allen Raz Studio, Hollywood, California.

1994 "Salad Daze 2," The Onyx Gallery, Hollywood, California.


SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gilbert, Rick "Conceptual Pop", Artweek, September, 2000.

Lou, Richard "Ruben Esparza" Hecho en Califas Exhibition Catalog, January, 2000

Chavez, Luiz "Ruben Esparza" Tentaciones, July 1. 2000, p.14

Frank, Peter "Hecho en Califas, Pick of the Week" LA Weekly, March 24-30, 2000, p. 154.

Muchnic, Suzanne "LA's Boathouse Resurfaces" Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2000 , p. F37.

Barron, Rachel "H.E.C. ...a new Chicano Landscape" El Andar, Winter 1999, Vol. 10, no. 3 p.17

Lemons, Stephen "Art Attack, Salon du Petit" Entertainment Today, September 5-8, 1998 p. 26

Woodard, Josef "Visions of L.A., Exhibit Gives Form..." Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1997, p. AS57


PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Galeria del Gallo, Madrid, Spain

Galeria Sin Fronteras, Austin, Texas

Huntington Museum, UT Austin, Texas

Instituto Cultural de Baja California, Baja California, Mexico

Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, California

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, Illinois

Orange County Museum of Art, Laguna, California

Santa Barbara Caridad Archive, Santa Barbara, California

Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, California

Installation, Poodle Lounge at Zen


THANKS TO: Mariana Esparza, Russell David Liebert, Jeff Miller, Victorio M. Esparza, Paul Sweeney, Evan Klein, Carey Hendricks, Robert Sanchez, Dean Larkin, Jaymes Trief, Dwight Douthit, John Ellis, Luiz Sampeaio, Miguel Angel Reyes, Monica Trasandes, Frank Sanders, Benjamin Ruiz Marshall, Edgie, Mary and Armando Duron, Antonio Rael, Greg Langlois, David Schmutz, Mat Gleason, Larry Levi, Richard Alexander Lou, Clay Doyle, Konrad Kemper, Fred Dewey, Michael Logan, Rebecca Nevarez, Self Help Graphics, Tomas Benitez, Ruth Bachofner, Patricia Correia, Steven Damron, Bert Green.