Esteban Cabeza de Baca

Esteban Cabeza de Baca (b. 1985, San Ysidro, CA) received a BFA from Cooper Union, School of the Arts in 2010 and an MFA from Columbia University in 2014. He currently lives and works in Queens, NY.

 

Cabeza de Baca’s childhood hometown of San Ysidro virtually straddled the U.S.–Mexico border, as did his family. His father and Mexican-born mother were active participants in the Brown Berets, as well as the Chicano, American Indian, and Black Panther movements. Of Mexican and Native American heritage himself, Cabeza de Baca was heavily influenced by the border town’s liminal position, and by his parents, whose intersectional political awareness and respect for human dignity led them to shelter undocumented migrants in their basement during his youth.

 

Cabeza de Baca has received numerous grants and awards including, a Robert Gamblin Painting Grant (2013); a Stern Fellowship, Columbia University (2013); a Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Award (2014); a Stokroos Foundation Grant (2017); a Henk en Victoria de Heus Fellowship (2018); a NYFA Painting Fellowship (2021); and a Civitella Ranieri Visual Art Fellowship (2024). His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, such as: Bluer Than a Sky Weeping Bones, Gaa Gallery, (2016, Provincetown, MA); Unlearn, Fons Welters Gallery, (2018, Amsterdam); Verano, with Heidi Howard, Gaa Gallery, (2018, Wellfleet, MA); Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Gaa Projects (2019, Cologne); Worlds without Borders, Boers-Li Gallery (2019, New York); Esteban Cabeza de Baca – Life is one drop in lim-it-less oceans ... , Kunstfort Vijfhuizen, (2019, Amsterdam); Nepantla, Garth Greenan Gallery, (2021, New York); Let Earth Breathe, The Momentary Museum (2022, Bentonville); Alma, Garth Greenan Gallery (2023, New York); West of Federal, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (2023, Denver); and Cesar’s Angels, Parker Gallery (2024, Los Angeles). He has participated in over 20 group exhibitions at venues such as the Leroy Neiman Art Center (2014, 2015, New York), the Yale University School of Sacred Music (2017, New Haven, CT), the Dutch Royal Palace (2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands), the Drawing Center (2019, New York), MoCA Tucson (2023, Tucson), and Newchild Gallery (2024, Antwerp) among others.