Juan. D. Estrada

Welcome to the second part of my Art Chronology, where I explore my artistic journey through different styles.  From 2002-2010, I focused on discovering my identity and how spirituality plays a significant role in my life.  From 2010-2017, I delved into the world of Urban Chicano culture and how each person has a unique story. Tattoos serve as open books of those stories, and I represented the fusion of their auras through abstract backgrounds.  From 2017 until now, I have been exploring Triunity, Body, Soul, and Spirit, which express the unknown and the unseen while highlighting how humanity interacts with each other.

  Chicano Art and a Spiritual Quest in Self-Discovery 1992-1995  Juan D. Estrada (John Zender) During the 1990s, I created many murals in ethnically diverse communities, including Asian, African-American, Central American, and others.  Through these experiences, I learned how symbolism can be used to tell a story and how a group can unite behind a shared experience.  It also caused me to question my own identity, as I had previously been more connected to the hip-hop movement.  This led me to study the work of Chicano Artists, who explored their personal experiences with culture, displacement, and family life through bold, brightly-colored images of religion, cars, masks, and ancient relics.  Since 1992, I have incorporated some of these techniques into my work.   I started painting images of myself while gazing at an ancient Aztec mask and questioning my identity with the question, "who am I?".  Despite being born Mexican American, I grew up...

 

 Prison Art (1988-1991) In 1988 I was given a 5-year sentence in the state of California, I would complete my sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. This was the first time I had ever been in prison; I had no idea what this experience would be like. I was in my senior year at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles when this occurred, so my outlook was still mainly focused on art, I had painted a couple of murals in the county jail during my arraignment so maybe I could do the same in prison. Donovan was a new California prison during this time, and everything was grey concrete inside and out, even in the cells so the idea of color was absent. The first couple of months I worked in landscaping and later found out I could take a vocational course. The only art-related course was the UCLA Extension Program which focused on printing and publishing. I was in Level 4 when I arrived at Donavon so to be a part of a college program was perfect. The course consisted of learning...