Artist Antonio Pelayo, born in Glendale, California and yet raised for most of his childhood in the Mexican countryside, has never had his own country. Moving from an American suburb to a tiny village has kept his world unstable; yet that very instability has made him an artist.

Antonio was born in 1973 in a comfortable, quintessentially American suburb: close neighbors, picket fences, movie theatres, malls, and English all around. At nine, his family sent him back to his father’s village in Mexico, where the environment radically changed: old broken down adobe churches replaced gallerias and the trappings of suburbia. Some adjustments were difficult, like dealing with outdoor plumbing and the transition to a Spanish speaking environment. Teased and ostracized by other kids, and unable to communicate with the adults, Antonio looked elsewhere for, if not companionship, at least solace. He found it with a pencil and in the pews. He snuck into the village church and stared up at the murals of martyrdom. He hid in the dark corners and sketched the artwork that covered the walls and altars.

Antonio sought out the work of other Mexican artists, making them his mentors; his friends. Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Orozco, all revealed to Antonio the depth of Mexican art and its own movement from the shadows of the Catholic Church into the modern world. He learned Spanish. He strove to master it, hoping to communicate with the folks of the village. Still, there was a gap; the language barrier between poor farmers and the middle class kept him from meeting people on an intimate level. Nevertheless, he now had three languages: English, Spanish, and his drawings.

Years later his family brought him back to Glendale, which he now saw through the lens of Mexico. It looked unreal; it did not look like home. Nothing looked like home anymore; not Mexico, not Southern California. The one home he had was his art. Though his mastery of pencil and paper began in the nave of an old country church in Mexico, in America his skill developed even further. Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, the surreal work of H.R. Giger, all mixed and blended with his Mexican childhood to make Antonio into a true American artist.

In 1994, Pelayo joined Disney Studio’s illustrious Ink & Paint Department, where he learned traditional celluloid animation techniques. Once big enough to occupy the majority of the Disney Studio lot, the department had survived the advent of digital animation as a tiny one room holdover from the ‘Golden Era’ of American animation. In this room, amidst some 4,000 different types of paints and inks, Pelayo found shelter – working for a company that had always valued creativity, raw talent and imagination. Through exhibitions organized by the studio to showcase the work of its employees, Pelayo had his first brush with the notion that his works could be framed, hung on a wall and exhibited in such a way that they could have a direct and powerful impact on an audience.

In 2005, with his first art-show, a new chapter in Pelayo’s career had begun.

“I’ve tried landscapes and fantasy scenes,” he says, “but it’s the portrait that fascinates me. That intimacy between the subject and the artist, the vulnerability that the subject must have to my interpretation—that is trust at its most divine."

Antonio Pelayo moved inward to find an intimacy that we all crave. With his own hand he drew himself into darkness and solitude – into a place where he could discover his art. Now, that art goes public, and find a home in the world beyond

SHOWS

LA Art Fair, Bruce Lurie Booth, Los Angeles 2020

The American Dream, Bruce Lurie Gallery, Los Angeles 2020

Brand 47, Brand Library, Los Angeles 2019

On Their Backs, Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 2019

Remember Me, Ontario Museum of History & Art, Ontario CA 2018

Voces, Disney Animation Studios, Los Angeles 2018

Retrospective Solo Show, Plaza de la Raza, Los Angeles, 2017

LA Story, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach CA 2017

Tatuaje, Museo Casa Leon Trotksy, Ciudad de Mexico 2017

Art for the Hearts, Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamont Station 2016

Contemporary Nostaligia, LAUNCH LA Gallery, Los Angeles, 2016

Face & People, Lucas Gallery, Paris 2016

Fotos Y Recuerdos, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach CA 2015

LAMAG Group Show, Barnsdall Gallery, Los angeles, 2015

Untitled, Disney Animation Studios, Los Angeles, 2014

Los Angeles is Eclectic, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach CA 2014

Crossing the Border, University Art Gallery, CSUDH, Los Angeles 2014

Monochromart, LAUNCH Gallery, Los Angels, 2014

La Art Fair, LAUNCH LA Booth, Los Angeles, 2013

Y Ahora Que, Latino Art Museum, Pomona CA, 2013

Open Show, Ontario Museum of History & Art, Ontario CA 2013

Group Show, Riverside Art Museum, 2013

De Colores, Santa Paula Museum, Santa Paula CA, 2012

LA Art Fair, LAUNCH LA Booth, Los Angeles, 2012

Mi Famila Solo Show, LAUNCH LA, Los Angeles, 2012

El Buen Pastor Project, UDG, Guanajuato Mexico, 2011

Adelante, Forest Lawn Museum, Los Angeles 2011

Group Show, Gene Autry Museum, Los Angeles 2010

Summer Group Show, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, 2009

International Art Festival, Asto Museum, Los Angeles, 2008

Nuestra Historia, Riverside Metropolitan Museum, Riverside CA 2008

FADA Art Fair, Mendenhall Sobieski Booth, Los Angeles 2007

Figures, Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery, Pasadena CA, 2007

International Art Festival, Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan Armenia 2007

Iron Eye, Scion Installation, Los Angeles, 2006

Tarfest Juried Show, Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, 2006

COLLECTIONS

Bodies of work and showcase projects by Antonio Pelayo.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

ICONS

DAY OF THE DEAD

MI FAMILIA

LUCHA LIBRE

INSTAGRAM

BOOKING & CONTACT

antonio@antoniopelayo.com