Adrian Aguirre was born and raised in Ciudad Juarez. After obtaining a BFA at New Mexico State and an MFA at the University of North Texas, he and his wife moved briefly to Philadelphia and then returned to Las Cruces to work at the NMSU learning games lab.

Early on Adrian was influenced by the political art from the Mexican muralists, the American realist painters such as George Bellows, and contemporary artists like the South African, William Kentridge. Similarly, Adrian sees art as a powerful medium for addressing social justice. For the past 10 years,  Adrian has sought to counteract the dehumanization of immigrants and refugees that has been propagated in the media.

His portraits of immigrants combine traditional realism and expressive mark-making to create an emotional experience. Often their gaze is directed toward the viewer. In the Jornaleros series, the day laborers are drawn holding a paper that is purposefully left blank so that the viewer can be confronted with the void. The emptiness can then serve as a metaphor for their lack of legal documentation. Nevertheless, the viewer is able to lock eyes with the rendered figure and be reminded that this lack of documentation does not negate their humanity.

www.adrianaguirre.com