Mario Ybarra, Jr., is a visual and performance artist, an educator and an activist who combines street culture with fine art in order to produce what he calls “contemporary art that is filtered through a Mexican American experience in Los Angeles.”

Mario has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, ICA Boston, LACMA, MOCA Detroit, the Tate and the Whitney Biennial, among others. He was a featured speaker at the Creative Summit in New York, and Art Pace San Antonio and has taught at Williams College, UCLA, Otis, CalArts, Skowhegan and the Alternative School.

His work with Slanguage studio, a project Mario founded with his partner Karla Diaz 20 years ago, has been an influential and oftentimes the sole provider of arts in his community. Slanguage has been based out of an old bakery shop in Wilmington Ca, out of a warehouse in Long beach Ca, out of LAX art in Hollywood, and has seen many changes and iterations. What does not change is a lifetime commitment to their community with contribution to the careers of many young artists, curators and organizers practicing in the artworld and affecting change today.

This conversation is presented by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger, a recurring host who is leading the Spring/Summer sessions of the podcast for 2022. This episode was produced by Ginger Dunnill for Broken Boxes Podcast.

Follow Mario’s work on IG @mario_ybarra_jr and Slanguage Studio @slanguagestudio
Music featured: Young, Gifted and Brown by Joe Bataan