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Rafa Esparza
Rafa Esparza (born in 1981, age 41) is a multidisciplinary queer Chicano artist from Los Angeles. The majority of his creations feature adobe bricks, which allude to a technique that Esparza learned from seeing his father work with adobe.

Website: https://commonwealthandcouncil.com/us/rafa-esparza

Instagram: @Elrafaesparz

Life and Education
Rafa Esparza was born in Pasadena, California. His parents are both immigrants from the Mexican state of Durango. His father works in construction and specializes in making adobe bricks in Mexico. He attended East Los Angeles College and graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's in fine arts.

Work and Career
Esparza’s work examines and exposes certain ideologies and power systems. He draws inspiration for his performances from the continuous trauma brought on by colonialism, displacement, and systemic racism. The narratives in conventional art spaces, where marginalized brown bodies are underrepresented, are also addressed by Esparza's work. Esparza's theme in his work is “browning the experiment”, he takes a traditional underrepresenting space and uses his art to embody laboring immigrant bodies and expose socioeconomic and racial concerns within popular art and society. The ongoing anguish brought on by colonialism, displacement, and systematic racism serves as the motivation for his performances. In Esparza's work, the underrepresentation of underprivileged brown bodies in traditional art spaces is also addressed.

Exhibitions

 * Rafa Esparza: I have never been here before at LACE, June 9-September 13, 2015
 * Rafa Esparza, mas caras y mas gestos, 2016
 * “Tierra. Sangre. Oro.” at Ballroom Marfa August 25 2017- March 18
 * “For you and the sky” at ATKINSON GALLERY AT SBCC October 6-December 1, 2017
 * “Pasado Mañana” Beatriz Cortez and rafa Esparza, January 20th–March 3rd, 2018
 * ”With Land” Artpace San Antonio Mar 22 – May 13, 2018
 * "Staring at the Sun”, MASS MoCA, January 19, 2019 - January 2, 2020
 * “Keeping” at Commonwealth and Council press release on March 11th–April 10th, 2021

Awards

 * 2022 - Perez Prize
 * 2021 - U.S. Artists US Latinx Artist Fellowship
 * 2020 - Lucas Artist Fellowship
 * 2017 - Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
 * 2014 - Art Matters Foundation grant