Spotlight Artist

Marcel Alcala

Pacific Coast
Artist profile photo

Gallery Affiliations:

Night Gallery

Admiration, a Gift

Interior with bust

oil on canvas

The Encounter

Landscape with skeleton

oil on canvas

An Inquiry into the Femme

Cock fight

oil on canvas

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

My multimedia practice weaves together Los Angeles landmarks, Spanish art history, and the lived experiences of my Mexican-American heritage and queer community. Through photography, I document the people who shape my world—capturing intimate moments at Pride festivals, quiet gatherings, and celebrations that become spaces of refuge and connection. My poetry chronicles travels and friendships across Southern California, mapping the emotional geography of belonging.

These modes converge in my painting practice, where the act of creation becomes performance itself. Spiritual ephemera and figures pulse across my canvases in a diaristic approach that transforms personal narrative into visual language. As both an American and Mexican citizen born and raised in California, I navigate the complex legacy of Spanish colonialism—the language that shapes my thoughts, the church that informs my spirituality, and the rituals that mark time. Through this intersection of mediums, I create work that honors both the weight of history and the vitality of present-day queer Chicano experience in Los Angeles.

Artist's Additional works

Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections

Interior

Resume

Education

  • Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Madison, ME, US
  • BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US

Residencies

  • Fire Island Artist Residency, Cherry Grove, NY, US
  • Tom of Finland Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, US

Solo Exhibitions

  • Gallo Gallina, Marlborough, New York, NY, US
  • The Performance of Being, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
  • Solita, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • The Orange Curtain, Various Small Fires, Tustin, CA, US
  • Devotions, Lyles & King, New York, NY, US
  • Lovescene, En.Zo Metalworks, New York, NY, US
  • Notes on Masculinity, Lyles & King, New York, NY, US

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