Bio

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Alberto spent his days in a world created by his imagination. Drawing and goofing off with his friends, creativity was his escape. Summers were spent playing with cousins on the ranch in Jalisco, Mexico where his mother was from. By junior high, Alberto had turned his focus to skateboarding around San Francisco and listening to punk music. Skate culture had a big influence in the way he took in the world and later would affect how he approached his artwork. Throughout these years he continued to create art. And by the time he was in his early twenties, he knew that art would be his life, and enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute.

Alberto’s artwork is both imaginative and unapologetic in depicting the story of our world.  He strives to depict how he sees the world changing with unrelenting honesty, no matter how uncomfortable or controversial the view, as he believes these moments offer the greatest opportunities for personal and community growth.  He uses the medium of oil painting to create narrative pieces of personal and political struggle in both serious and satirical ways. His work ranges from the topical issues about which he feels most passionate, to deeply personal pieces, to scenes from his family and childhood, such as the mural he created at 21st and Mission Streets of that ranch on which he spent his summers.

Alberto Ybarra

EDUCATION

1999-2001 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA Painting

EXPERIENCE

2013-2021 One Hat One Hand, San Francisco, CA Lead Fabricator

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2022 Group Exhibition: “Skate”, Curated by WonderlandSF, Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2021-2022 Group Exhibition: “The de Young Open”, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2020 Solo Exhibition: “New Mission Old Mission”, Dolores Park Cafe, San Francisco, CA
2020 Group Exhibition: “Return”, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019-2020 Group Exhibition: “Resolution”, Palette SF Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Group Exhibition: WonderlandSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 Group Exhibition: “Simply Frida”, WonderlandSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 Group Exhibition: “Lucha Libre”, WonderlandSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Group Exhibition: “Day of the Dead”, WonderlandSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA

MURAL

2018 “Corazon del Campesino”, 21st Street and Mission st, San Francisco, CA

Statement

My art is about life experiences, difficult moments, powerful emotions and thought provoking taboo ideas. Most of my paintings are figurative narratives, which explore sexuality, spirituality and human interaction.

Art is a language. Painting is my primary language and it’s the best way I am able to communicate a story. It matters little if what is portrayed is “true”, only that the final piece is an extension of myself, my experience and unique outlook.

Some of the artists I have found inspiration from are Francisco Goya, Paul Cezanne, Otto Dix, and Balthazar Klossowski de Rola (known as Balthus).

 

Alberto Ybarra
San Francisco
March, 2004