Adrian Aguirre

Bio

Adrian Aguirre (b. 1980, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico) is a Mexican-American artist whose work focuses on the politics of immigration and the people caught in the middle. Adrian grew up on both sides of the El Paso/Juarez border, crossing the bridge daily to attend school. This experience influenced his perspective on borders and immigration. Adrian’s work consists of portraiture and representations of life as an immigrant or refugee. He has traveled to refugee camps, day labor sites and volunteered with immigrant organizations.

Artist Statement

There’s a political agenda in my work. It’s sometimes subtle and other times expressed more overtly. While I’m advocating for a more compassionate immigration system, fundamentally, the work is about connecting the viewer emotionally to the people in a painting or drawing. I take care to capture facial expressions, gestures, and personalities. I often rely on the additive reductive process in painting and drawing to find the portrait and the figure. While I fully render some parts of the figure, I also like to use loose marks to emphasize movement, activate the space, but also as a vehicle for expressing myself and connecting to the person in the portrait.

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