Ruben Ochoa

Associate Professor of Practice, Art

Born in Oceanside, CA, in 1974, Ruben Ochoa’s practice engages space as both a concept and a material.  Often produced with material forms associated with construction, Ochoa’s works expose the ideological and broader sociopolitical and economic relationships that facilitate the way spaces we inhabit and move through are assembled.

His work has been the subject of various solo exhibitions, including, Watching, Waiting, Commiserating, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA (2016); MATRIX 169: Cloudless Day, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (2014); Cores and Cutouts, Locust Projects, Miami, FL (2011); Building on the Fringes of Tomorrow, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA (2010); and Crooked Under the Weight, Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (2009) amongst others. Ochoa’s work has also been included in a host of group exhibitions, most notably, Down These Mean Streets, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. (2017); 99 cents or Less, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI (2017); Mi Tierra, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (2017); Routes of Influence, Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL (2016); Apparition: Frottages and Rubbings from 1860 to Now, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA and Menil Collection, Houston, TX (2015); X-Change, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX (2013); The Future Generation Art Prize Exhibition, Venice, Italy (2011); The Artist’s Museum: Los Angeles Artists 1980-2010, Museum of Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA (2010); Phantom Sighting, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA (2008); and the 2008 Whitney Biennial, New York, NY amongst others.

In addition to his exhibitions, Ochoa has completed various public art projects including, most notably, Fwy Wall Extraction (2006-2007) and CLASS: C (2001-2005). Ochoa’s work is included in the collections of the Perez Art Museum, the Hammer Museum, LACMA, the MCA San Diego; MOCA; the Phoenix Art Museum; the Smithsonian Museum of Art; the Orange County Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

He is the recipient of numerous awards including a California Community Foundation Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He received his BFA from Otis College of Art and Design and his MFA from UC Irvine. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Ruben Ochoa is represented by Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.