Recuédame (remember me)
- Mixed Media
- 96 x 216 in
- Justin Favela
Justin Favela (b. 1986) is a Las Vegas, Nevada, based artist known for large-scale installations and sculptures that manifest his interactions with American pop culture and the Latinx experience. Justin Favela’s exuberant art is inspired by Latinx culture, art history, and food rendered in layer upon layer of vibrant strips of paper. Favela’s technique recalls piñatas and party decorations — ephemeral forms that signify joy and celebration from the imagery found in Jose Maria Velasco’s expansive 19th-century canvases, to Walt Disney’s 1944 live-action animation film The Three Caballeros and 2017 Pixar animated film Coco; Favela works in a full array of chromatic hues.
As a multidisciplinary artist, he likes to express his identity by exploring the notions of authenticity and place using familiar materials to make large scale installations, sculptures and paintings. His interest in art history, Latinx culture, community, celebration, home and obsession with pop-culture inform his practice with the intention of dismantling institutional hierarchies and making his work accessible and fun. As a queer person of color in the United States he believes that expressing joy, taking up space and simply existing is a political act.
Justin Favela has exhibited his work both internationally and across the United States. His installations have been commissioned by museums including the Denver Art Museum in Colorado and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. He is the recipient of the 2018 Alan Turing LGTBIQ Award for International Artist. Favela hosts two culture-oriented podcasts, Latinos Who Lunch and The Art People Podcast. He holds a BFA in fine art from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.