Research Guides: Artist-in-Residence at Pasadena City College: Mario Ybarra, Jr. (2015)

PCC Artist-in-Residence 2015: Mario Ybarra Jr.

Samples of the artist's work

A sampling of works by Mario Ybarra Jr.

(Click on an image to view in detail)

Fresh. Silkscreen, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48", 2014.

Chop Til' You Drop. Silkscreen, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 72", 2014.

Books in the PCC Library

These books are located at the Circulation Desk under Artists in Residence (Instructor Reserves). Three-day checkout available.

Capp Street Project: Mario Ybarra JR by Jens Hoffmann; Mario Ybarra; Claire Fitzsimmons
Call Number: N6537.Y39 A4 2007
Publication Date: 2008
When referred to as a Chicano artist in the Los Angeles Times, Mario Ybarra Jr. once protested, I make contemporary art that is filtered through a Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles. Filled with graffiti, restaurant signage and stills from music videos, with sweeping graphic lines and lyric abstractions, his outrageous, multicolored murals speak about his particular experience as an artist and a Mexican-American, both politically and aesthetically. Compactly designed by Jon Suede/Stripe, this slim, dynamic catalogue with paper changes features an essay on the artist's entire oeuvre by Jens Hoffmann, along with an engaging text by Claire Fitzsimmons. Produced to accompany Ybarra's installation at San Francisco's Capp Street Project, this volume is the artist's first monograph, as well as a thorough document of the mural he produced over the course of his residency there.
Phantom Sightings by Rita Gonzalez; Howard N. Fox; Chon A. Noriega
Call Number: NX512.3.M4 G66 2008
Publication Date: 2008
Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement is the first comprehensive consideration of Chicano art in almost two decades and the largest exhibition of cutting-edge Chicano art ever presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Traditionally described as work created by Americans of Mexican descent, Chicano art first emerged during the vibrant Chicano rights movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This catalog and exhibition explore the experimental tendencies within today's Chicano art, which is oriented less toward painting and polemical assertion and more toward conceptual art, performance, film, photography, and media-based art, as well as "stealthy" artistic interventions in urban spaces. Three essays by Rita Gonzalez, Howard N. Fox, and Chon A. Noriega explore the topic in depth. With more than two hundred color illustrations, twenty-five individual artist portfolios, and a wryly subversive chronology of significant moments in Chicano cultural history, Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement charts new territory and provides a conceptual sampling of Chicano art today.
Whitney Museum of Art Biennial Exhibition 2008 by Henriette Huldisch; Shamim M. Momin; Rebecca Solnit (Contribution by)
Call Number: 709.73 W 1-5
Publication Date: 2008
This book accompanies the 2008 Biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Inaugurated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932, the Whitney's biennial exhibitions have received acclaim, stirred controversy, and unfailingly fostered artistic innovation and diversity. The 2008 Biennial features some 85 artists and collectives working in many media and employing a variety of methods and practices. The book is abundantly illustrated, with the vast majority of its 300 images presented in color. Whitney curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin provide insightful essays, as does a specially commissioned essay by Rebecca Solnit. In one section of the book, a short text accompanies reproductions of each artist's work; other sections present documentation of the artists' diverse methods and practices as represented in the Biennial exhibition.

About Mario Ybarra Jr.

Mario Ybarra Jr.

Mario Ybarra Jr.'s art practice inhabits the intersection of the globalized "art work" and the specific cultural experiences of Mexican-Americans living in Southern California. His work has adopted many forms -- including sculptural installation, painting, photography and performance -- extending to the socially-engaged activities of the collective Slanguage, which he co-founded with Karla Diaz in 2002. Based in Wilmington, California, Slanguage embraces what the group calls "a three-pronged approach to art-making," including education, community-building and interactive exhibitions.

In keeping with his expansive attitude toward his role as an artist, Mario Ybarra Jr.'s residency at PCC will include two gallery exhibitions and the premier performance of a new work by Karla Diaz.

At the Boone Family Art Gallery, "Like a Cow Visiting a Butcher Shop..." features a new series of paintings by Ybarra Jr.; these emerged from a 2013 project of the same name that he presented at the ARCOmadrid contemporary art fair in Spain. When finding himself in the role of an artist at a large international art fair, Ybarra Jr. has remarked, he felt something like the cow in his title.

In gallery V-108, seven collaborators in Slanguage -- Yadira Agredano, Armando Cortes, Carmen Maria Hernandez, Antonio De Jesus Lopez, Monica A. Martinez, Gloria Elisa Margarita Sanchez and Emilio Venegas Jr. - present their recent work in an exhibition titled "Noise/Light."

In the Center for the Arts Theatre (one night only, February 26), Karla Diaz presents "Fearless (Except when Riding a Roller Coaster)," a series of vignettes about fear based on dreams, newspaper clippings and Karla's memoirs.

The Pasadena City College School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts thanks the artists and those whose generosity has made these exhibitions and residency events possible, including the Pasadena Art Alliance, the PCC Student Service Fund, the Boone/Fetter family, and the PCC Foundation Board of Directions.

Brian Tucker
Director, the art galleries at Pasadena City College

Recommended Web Sites, Articles and Videos

Web sites:

Honor Fraser Gallery
Art gallery in Los Angeles featuring the work of Mario Ybarra Jr.
Slanguage
Art collective founded and directed by Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz.

Articles:

Buckley, Annie. "Mario Ybarra Jr." Art in America, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Exhibition review from Art in America magazine, April 2013 issue; print copy is located in PCC Library print periodicals collection.
Kun, Josh. "The New Chicano Movement." Los Angeles Times Magazine. Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2005. Web. 2 March 2015.
Discussion of Chicano art in the Los Angeles area in the early 2000s; includes discussion of the work of Mario Ybarra Jr.
Myers, Holly. "Review: Mario Ybarra Jr. deftly mixes reality and fiction." Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Review of "Double Feature," Ybarra Jr.'s first exhibition with the Honor Fraser gallery.
Ritchie, Abraham. "Interview With Mario Ybarra Jr." ArtSlant. ArtSlant Inc., May 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.

Videos/audio recordings:

Art Institute Chicago. "Audio Lecture: Mario Ybarra, Jr." Art Institute Chicago. 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Audio recording of Mario Ybarra, Jr., discussing his 2008 exhibition at the Art Institute Chicago, "Take Me Out...No Man Is an Island."
Claremont Graduate University. "Mario Ybarra Jr.: Slangstas." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Mario Ybarra Jr. of Slanguage Studios speaks at the ReMODEL 2 Sculpture Symposium at Claremont Graduate University on Oct. 19, 2013.
Creative Time. "Creative Time Summit | Mario Ybarra Jr." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Mario Ybarra Jr. talks about his local ad hoc art studio, Slanguage, at the 2013 Creative Time Summit: Art, Place, and Dislocation in the 21st Century City.
LACMA. "Director's Series: Mario Ybarra, Jr., and Edgar Arceneaux." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 4 Feb. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
LACMA has commissioned artist Mario Ybarra, Jr. to participate in an artistic intervention at one of the homes across from the Watts Towers. In addition to discussing the project, Michael Govan and the artists talk about the relevance of community-based projects for an institution like LACMA and the importance of the Towers as an historic landmark.
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. "An Interview With Mario Ybarra Jr." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Artist Mario Ybarra Jr. talks about his upbringing and tours his hometown.