noé olivas (b. 1987, San Diego, California—occupied Kumeyaay land) lives and works in South Central Los Angeles. He received his MFA from the University of Southern California in 2019, and his BFA from the University of San Diego, California in 2013. His work has been exhibited at the Candlewood Festival, Borrego Springs, California (2022); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California (2022); The Front Arte Y Cultura Gallery, San Ysidro, California (2021); Napa Hall Gallery at the California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo (2020); Open Mind Art Space, Los Angeles (2019); Residency Art Gallery, Inglewood (2019); Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); La Jolla Historical Society, San Diego, California (2018 San Diego Art Institute, California (2017); The New Children’s Museum, San Diego, California (2017);); and the San Diego Museum of Art. (2017).

As part of the 2018 Mexicali Biennial, his work was also included in the traveling exhibition Calafia: Manifesting the Terrestrial Paradise at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Art Museum at the California State University, San Bernardino (2018), and Armory Center of the Arts, Pasadena, California (2019- 2020). olivas has also performed in Open Mind Art Space, Los Angeles (2019); The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles (2020), Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (2018), and the NADA and Prizm Art Fair, Miami (2018) with collaborator Patrisse Cullors; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018). With Patrisse Cullors and alexandre ali reza dorriz, olivas is co-founder of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, an art hub in Inglewood, CA. noé is represented by Charlie James Gallery.

STATEMENT:

Growing up in a first-generation Mexican American, working-class family, I inherited a particular relationship to what it means to perform hard labor. The grueling toughness of labor—physically, mentally, and spiritually—is an integral part of my artmaking process. I seek to confront the invisibility of labor by facing it with people from the community through collaboration and discussion. I often use my family’s personal archive and other found objects and materials to construct sculptures, drawings, prints, and live performances. By investigating the poetics of labor, I reflect on labor's relationship to leisure as well as its access to liberation.

Parable of the onion

Performance documentation
Backspace + Pen Mind Art Space, Los Angeles, CA 
December 7, 2019

Photo courtesy of Elon Schoenholz

CV available upon request.