Abel Alejandre

Early life and education

Abel Alejandre was born in Apatzingán, Michoacán, Mexico. As a young child he worked in the cotton fields to earn money for his family. In 1975, when he was 7, the family immigrated to the United States via Tijuana where he encountered running water, electricity, and television for the first time. Alejandre grew up in the Long Beach area of Southern California and attended Long Beach City College, graduating with an Associate of Arts degree.

Work

After painting in color for 25 years, Alejandre began working in black and white, becoming completely focused on creating monochromatic works. His trademark crosshatching is created by gessoing and sanding the surface of the canvas or panels and then beginning work with pencil. A single piece of art can take over 5 months to complete, with the artist working 10 to 12 hours a day, and can use over 700 pencils. In 2013, Alejandre was announced as one of eight grantee artists whose art would be installed at one of the Los Angeles Metro stations along the new Expo line that runs from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica beach. His twelve panels, “Panoramas,” are displayed at the Rancho Park/Westwood station. Panels “depict the legs of travelers headed to their destinations: a business professional with her rolling briefcase, a parent with a stroller, and a hummingbird in flight,” creating “story of place through the act of commuting.” His gallery work focuses around issues of machismo and masculinity and he uses art “as a means to acknowledge and process what he confesses to be ‘past insecurities, insults, and painful memories.’”

Alejandre created murals for the 1984 Olympic Games and in 2005 curated and staged an exhibition of Mexican and American artists on the border fence in Mexicali/Calexico border. In 2011, he worked with the gallery, Avenue 50 Studio, a recipient of Southern California Council for the Humanities grant on "Resurrected Histories: Voices from the Chicano Arts Collectives of Highland Park." His art is featured in the book Drawing from the Inside Out: Projects for Beginning through Advanced Drawing, and he is featured in two films by Eric Minh Swenson.

Alejandre's artworks have been exhibited at venues that include Coagula Curatorial Gallery, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Tropico de Nopal and the Mexican Cultural Institute. His monumental wood block print, My Fathers, is part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of Mexican Art, in Chicago, IL.

Public Collections

National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL

Metro Art Collection, Los Angeles, CA

2016

Public Secrets, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA

2015

Abandoned Superhero, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA, USA

self) portraits #2, Curated by Adelinda Allegretti, Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA, USA

The Drawing Show, The Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Frank|LA, No Place Like Home, Imperial Art Studios, Los Angeles, CA, USA

ARTillery: Contemporary Art Influenced by Weaponry, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Mesa, AZ, USA

Aqui Estamos / We Are Here California Chican@ Art, Cabrillo Gallery, Aptos, CA, USA

Funny Face: Group Show of New Portraiture, Red Pipe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Beverly Hills Art Fair, Coagula Curatorial booth, Beverly Hills, CA, USA

Palm Springs Fine Art Fair: post-war and contemporary art, Coagula Curatorial booth, Palm Springs, CA, USA

LA Art Show: Historic | Modern | Contemporary, special exhibition booth, "Dark Progressivism: Metropolis Rising," Los Angeles, CA, USA

LA Art Show: Historic | Modern | Contemporary, Coagula Curatorial booth, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2014

Los Angeles Contraventions, Galerie Merkel, Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany

ANEKANTAVADA Diverse Perspectives in Art, Norco College Art Gallery, Norco, CA, USA

2013

Size Really Does Matter, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

La Xilografía: Mexican Woodcut Prints, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA, USA

100 Años De Posada Y Su Catrina, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL, USA

Summer Group Show, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Encore: bringing one back for another experience, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA, USA

Latino Heritage, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

SHG Print Fair and Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Chicano y Que, Plaza De La Raza Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Salon Style Saturday, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Signature Works: 25th Anniversary Gifts to the Permanent Collection, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL, USA

2012

La Junta/ The Gathering, Centro Estatal de las Artes, Mexicali, BC, Mexico

La Junta/ The Gathering, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Miami Project Art Fair, Cuagula Curatorial, Miami, FL, USA *8From Bukowski to St. John the Evangelist, Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Open Your Eyes/Abre Los Ojos, The Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA, USA

Latino Heritage, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Resurrected Histories, Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2011

Top 10 Now, Avant-LA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

The 45 Show, Twenty Miles East Art Gallery, Pomona, CA, USA

Pasteles, Fremont Gallery, Pasadena CA, USA

2010

Words of Paz, Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, CA, USA

12×12, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

El Arte de Los Angeles, Xico Gallery, Arizona, USA

8va. EXPO ARTE EROTICO, Mexicali, Baja CA, Mexico

Big Print Show, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA, USA

TEPEYAC APPARITIONS: La Virgen Revealed, Mexican Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2009

Dia de los Muertos, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

16×20, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Dibujos: Emergency Landing, Tropico de Nopal, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Nuestra Madre, ChimMaya Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Drawn to You: Intimate Portraits, Project 210, Pasadena, CA, USA

Self-Portraits in the Age of MyFaceSpaceBook, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2008

Ebbs & Flows – Sea Change and the Family Gathering, Center of the Arts, Eagle Rock, CA, USA

25th Annual Day of the Dead Altars and Ephemera, The Folk Tree, Pasadena, CA, USA

1 + 1, Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA, USA

¡Presente! Homenaje a la Mujer, Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA

2007

Please, Please, Please Don’t Go, Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA, USA

Continuing the Latino Tradition, Channing Peake Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

A Short and Sweet Epiphany II, Tropico de Nopal, Los Angeles, CA

2006

Holy Nuptials A Survey of Artwork Based on the Theme of Marriage, Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, CA, USA

A Short and Sweet Epiphany, Tropico de Nopal, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2005

Off the Map, Temporary alternative space, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Red Means Go, Artshare, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2004

Pieles y Carne, Casa de mi Tia Alternative Art Space, Mexicali Baja CA,Mexico

Terciopelo Tijuana Velvet, Constituto de Cultura de Baja CA, Mexico

2003

Shelter: coming home, Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA, USA

Metamorphosis, Gallery Figueroa, Highland Park, CA, USA

Convergence: Portable Labor and Convening, Los Angeles, CA, USA/Mexicali, BC, Mexico

2002

What Price Freedom?, Gallery Figueroa, Highland Park, CA, USA (curated)

Find Your Way Home, Hollywood, CA, USA

Rhythm of Life, Brodlin Hotel, Long Beach, CA, USA

2001

Peace by Piece, Gallery Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Eye-Speak Project, Glendale, CA, USA

2000

Recent Works, East of Getty Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, USA

1999

Selected Works, MOLAA (Museum Store), Long Beach, CA, USA Recent Works, Whittier Art Walk, Whittier, CA, USA

1989

Fiesta en la Playa I, Long Beach, CA, USA Sponsored by KVEA CH 52

1987

Long Beach Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA, USA