Ismael de Anda III received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2000. Using mutant practices including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and site-specific projects involving viewer participation, de Anda’s work focuses on re-interpretation of memory, inhabitation, and cultural history inspired by the pluralistic existence he experienced growing up on the U.S./Mexico border.

De Anda was awarded the 2010 Japan-United States Arts Program Fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council to observe and compare/contrast Japanese Obon with Mexican Dia de los Muertos rituals, and participate in contemporary art activities throughout Japan.

His selected exhibitions include solo exhibitions and projects at La Estacion de Arte Contemporáneo, Chihuahua, Mexico; Outpost for Contemporary Art, Highland Park, CA; Avenue 50 Studio Annex, Highland Park, CA; Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan; Las Cienegas Projects, CulverCity, CA; The Marfa Book Company, Marfa,Texas; and has participated in various group shows held at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA; Shoshona Wayne, Santa Monica, CA; Sumida Riverside Hall Gallery, Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan; Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; Side Street Projects, Pasadena, CA; Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA; and Wintergarten, Vienna, Austria.

Rita Gonzalez Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at LACMA, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art speaks with Ismael de Anda about his upbringing in Texas near the Mexican border, bi-lingualism, and aspects of memory found in his most recent work.