Justin Favela

Justin Favela is an American mixed-media artist who is known for making large-scale installations and sculptures in the piñata style or medium. His work references pop culture, art history, society, cultural commentary, and his own Guatemala-Mexican-American heritage that is rooted in growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. His works often celebrate his identity as a queer person of color raised in the Southwest United States while challenging the ideas of Latinidad and cultural appropriation.

Early life

Justin was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he received his BFA in Fine Arts with an emphasis on sculpture.

Career

Favela's work has been featured in museums and galleries across the United States and the United Kingdom. Justin is the recipient of the 2018 Alan Turing LGTBIQ Award in the category of International Artist. His podcast, Latinos Who Lunch, won the Best of Vegas 2018 award for Best Local Podcast and was ranked number 3 on Remezcla's list of Latinx Podcasts. The podcast is co-hosted with art historian and curator Dr. Emmanuel Ortega; the duo talk about pop culture, politics, and various topics around their intersecting identities of being queer Latinx men working in art and academia. Favela has had lectures at a number of universities to discuss what influences his art. He also hosts the Art People Podcast where he has conversations with artists in a variety of mediums and practices.
In 2021, Favela was awarded the Joan Mitchell Fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
In 2024, Justin Favela's work was included in Xican-a.o.x. Body an expansive group exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida. The show is informed by scholarly on the experiences and contribution of Chicano artists to contemporary culture, exhibiting artworks from the 1960s to the present.

Works

¡Provecho! presented by at The Prudential Center, Boston MA.
Piñatasthetic: Justin Favela, Josué Ramírez, and Giovanni Valderas at the , Houston TX.
Together/Juntos at , Ashland OR.
Saludos Amigos a at Carson City Courthouse Gallery, Carson City, NV.
Puente Nuevo at .
Regeneración at Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
Justin Favela: All You Can Eat at
Sorry for the Mess at Sugar Hill Children's Museum
Re/Presenting México: José María Velasco and the Politics of Paper at the Berman Museum in Pennsylvania features piñata versions of Velasco's nationalist pastoral paintings of Mexico.
Pólvora at the Space538 gallery in Portland, Maine features fireworks scenes from various animated movies.
Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness is a Hayward Touring Exhibition curated by Dr. John Walter going across the UK. It features giant nachos.
Pachucos y Serenas at the Museo de las Americas in Denver, Colorado featured a full-size lowrider piñata.
The High Art of Riding Low at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California featured a full-size lowrider piñata based on Gypsy Rose.
Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place at the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado featured Fridalandia which consisted of a massive piñata mural of a Jose Maria Valasco painting surrounding a piñata recreation of Frida Kahlo's patio garden from the Casa Azul.
Piñatatopia at the P3Studio in the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada asked visitors to draw what they thought of when they thought of Mexico while Justin recreated their drawings into piñatas.
Gracias, Gracias, Thank You, Thank You at the Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.
Car Show at the Clark County Government Center featured La Sangre Nunca Muere which consisted of a piñata version of the red GMC truck filled with purple, pink, and silver flowers.
County Center at the Clark County Government Center was a solo show where Justin recreated works from Las Vegas City Center's art collection including Silver River by Maya Lin, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, and phrasisms by Jenny Holzer.