Raúl Guerrero

Interviews by Brainard Carey

Photo: Elon Schoenholz, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery For over four decades, Raúl Guerrero (b. 1945, Brawley, California) has made work informed by his experiences navigating cultures as an American of Mexican ancestry in Southern California. In his paintings, photographs, video, and performance works, Guerrero utilizes language and cultural signifiers to examine notions of place as a way to understand personal concepts of self. An aspect of his work depicts—and critiques—colonial narratives in the Americas such as the settlement of the Great Plains, the history of Latin America, and imposed notions of the American “West.” With compositions fusing Mexican, American, and European visual traditions, he incorporates influences ranging from the readymades of Marcel Duchamp to conceptually-oriented practices associated with a preceding generation of California artists (including John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha) who emerged from Guerrero’s alma mater, the Chouinard Art Institute. A long-time exhibiting artist on the West Coast, Guerrero reflects an intellectually rigorous approach suffused with humor and a deep engagement with legacies of visual art from Southern California and the Southwest. Raúl Guerrero has been the subject of solo exhibitions at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); Ortuzar Projects, New York (2018); Air de Paris (project space), Romainville, France (2014); Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, San Diego, California (2001, 2007, and 2013); CUE Art Foundation, New York (2010); Long Beach Museum of Art, California (1977); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (1989); and San Francisco Art Institute, California (1977). Guerrero was included in the California Biennial 2022: Pacific Gold at the Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California (2022–2023), and was the recipient of an NEA Photography Fellowship (1979) and the San Diego Art Prize (2006). Guerrero lives and works in San Diego. Raul Guerrero, Fernando y Isabela: 1494, 2023 oil on linen 56 1/8 x 76 1/8 x 1 5/8 inches (142.6 x 193.4 x 4.1 cm) Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery Raul Guerrero, Del Taco, 2023 oil on linen 56 x 76 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches (142.2 x 193.7 x 3.8 cm) Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery Raul Guerrero, The Alhambra: 1492, 2024 oil on linen 96 x 76 x 1 1/2 inches (243.8 x 193 x 3.8 cm) Photo: Jeff McLane, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery