CURTIS GUTIERREZ

Curtis Gutierrez is a self-taught painter and muralist who worked for many years in Los Angeles and is now based in Joshua Tree, CA. He grew up in the Bay area, and credits his father, a sign painter, for introducing him to the world of paint, and bestowing him with the confidence and legacy to make painting his life’s passion.

In a profession full of fine art MFA’s, Gutierrez has always been considered something of an outsider. Even the Los Angeles Times called him “a maverick”. He paints large canvases, either figurative or abstract, and is known for his expressive, instinctual approach and his aggressive brushwork. He has shown widely, in the Los Angeles area, on the East Coast, and in France and China, and his canvases have appeared in many major motion pictures.

His murals have been commissioned by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, the LA Theatre Group, The City of Richmond, Art180, L’Auberge des Migrants, Downtown Muse/WeAreDTLA and many others.

Gutierrez came out of the Chicano Mural movement of 1980’s Los Angeles, which has deeply informed the epic scale and narrative in his work. He painted the first mural in what is now called the Arts District, on the Binford Building in 1986. He has continued to paint murals on both coasts, with his most recent one painted in a refugee camp in Calais, France while serving there as a volunteer builder. 

His paintings deal with the overarching themes of migrations, generations, legacies, and our connections to one another, with a style he has developed that is uniquely his own.