Today we’d like to introduce you to Albert Lopez, Jr.
Albert, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Being the eldest of four, the son of Mexican immigrant parents, raised in a lower-working class household, and struggling to articulate my ideas through language, has empowered me. As the first in my family to attend college, I dealt with what it meant to be an “example,” leading me to always desire more. Utilized as a powerful form of communication, art has always been a means of expressing my need to delve further into conceptual realms. This discovery process has allowed for true self-expression as these types of conversations could not be expressed to my elders. Growing up in Santa Ana, California has created my identity and provided an environment to discover the poignancy that can be found in harsh realities. Santa Ana has been my inspiration and it pushed me to receive a higher education, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cal State Long Beach and a Master of Fine Arts from University of California, Irvine. Throughout my career, I have been proud to create work that has social relevance and continues the dialogue regarding how we coexist. Concurrently I also deal with the challenges to create work that is current and relevant.
Now, as a father of four hungry-for-life daughters, and as a professional in a non-profit, I find myself at a crossroad because of my financial obligations as a father and husband. Economically, my family has never demanded anything from me, but I believe art can be an opportunity to create without the monetary sacrifices associated with exercising one’s right for expression—something that is truly invaluable.
Society, academia, and institutions have steered me to create a type of art that has felt inorganic or conforming, often asking me to drop the paintbrush and create sculpture, installations or performance-based works. While I have ventured in a variety of artistic mediums, painting has always given me an outlet that I have felt most sincere and true to who I am as an artist.
I have been lucky to have experienced many proud moments in my life, but as an artist, it is the moments where many years of hard work have paid off in surprising ways. In 2005 I was exhibiting several pieces from my series of paintings that I refer to as the ‘Donkey Series’. One work, entitled Half Ass Donkey, caught the eye of actor and art collector Cheech Marin. Cheech acquired the piece from the gallery and it is now in his personal collection. Half Ass Donkey has since toured around the world as part of Cheech’s “Chicano Dreams” exhibition. In 2014, the piece traveled to Bordeaux, France and was featured in The New York Times in anticipation of the show. I am proud to say that Half Ass Donkey will be part of the Cheech Marin’s Chicano Art Museum scheduled to open in Riverside, California in 2020.
Has it been a smooth road?
My journey to where I am today has certainly had its uphill struggles. But my issues go beyond what one would think qualify as a “starving artist” archetype. My obstacles spawn from a lot of insecurity in feeling that I have not been up to par with academia or even seeing relatable figures in art or education. Growing up in a Mexican household, translating my daily life from one language to another, I had no example of the caliber of student or practitioner I needed to be in order to be ‘successful’. It has always been a deep struggle to find acceptance within the art world and to be revered by my peers as an artist who creates work that is characteristic of who I am—first as a son, then as a scholar, and now as a husband and father.
Another major barrier in my development as an artist has been my geographic distance from notable art scenes like Los Angeles. Being from the uber-conservative Orange County has urged me to explore other venues for my work. I have had to navigate spaces that were often foreign to me, pushing my boundaries so that I could stand out and have a place at the table with some of the art world’s heavy hitters.
Finally, one of the largest obstacles I have faced in the last twenty years is trying to find balance within my professional, artistic, and personal lives. I am first and foremost a father and husband, but to be an example to my family of someone who continues to persue his passion is something I carry with me every day.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Aside from my art practice, I work as an arts administrator as the Director of Operations for the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA). For the last fourteen years, I have been fortunate to be able to work with artists and curators in realizing compelling exhibitions that set the backdrop for the arts in Orange County. Through my work with OCMA, I remain active in the art world by assessing artwork through a different lens. OCMA’s repertoire includes global contributors who have built the institution up for decades. Recently, OCMA has been temporarily relocated to my hometown of Santa Ana and I look forward to the museum’s evolution and changing mission of exhibiting diverse and culturally relevant art.
For more information on the Orange County Museum of Art, visit: ocmaexpand.org
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Santa Ana is a great place for the arts and for artists to hone their craft. To start off, it is not over saturated with artists like it is in other big cities. Additionally, Santa Ana has historically been a hub for the arts drawing in big names during the golden age of cinema and being a home for some of the most vibrant murals in Southern California. Currently, Santa Ana provides grants to support artists and art organizations and the city is working on the development of affordable housing for artists.
Contact Info:
- Website: albertlopezjr.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/Tacosalamicroonda
Image Credit:
Headshot by Cecilia Lopez
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