Edgar Arceneaux (born 1972 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He is a drawing artist. He is the co-founder of the Watts House Project, a non-profit neighborhood redevelopment organization in

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), a list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Albie Watts, a fictional character in the British soap opera ''EastEnders'' *Angie ...

Career

Arceneaux received his BFA from

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

in 1996 and his MFA from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

in 2001 after attending the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

in 1999 and the

Fachhochschule Aachen The FH Aachen – Aachen University of Applied Sciences is one of the biggest Fachhochschulen in Germany with roughly 15,000 students, 250 professors, 470 contract lecturers, and 340 assistants. It is specialized in certain topical areas (e.g. t ...

, Germany, in 2000 and 2001. He was the director of the Watts House Project from 1999 to 2012, and officially re-launched the organization in 2007 with Sue Bell Yank through the support of the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

's Artist Residency program, as well as a team of

residents, artists, community organizers, and scholars. The Watts House Project focuses on renovating residential properties and providing programs and venues for community involvement in the neighborhood around the historic

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the arti ...

. The organization undertook its first remodeling projects in 2008 and was granted nonprofit status in 2009. In November 2003, the UCLA

exhibited Arceneaux's ''Drawings of Removal'', an installation that combined layered wall drawings, sculptural ephemera, and a makeshift studio in "an ongoing exploration of memory through the medium of drawing". In 2025, Arceneaux's work ''Skinning the Mirror (Summer 1),'' was acquired as a part of a new initiative spearheaded by Jarl Mohn. He was named a

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

Fellow in 2007, and was included the 2008

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

. In 2015 Arceneaux created ''Until, Until, Until...'', a performance piece recreating and commenting on

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received ...

's controversial

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

performance at the 1981 inauguration of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. Originally commissioned for Performa 15, he has since toured with the piece. Arceneaux is also an associate professor of Art for Roski School of Art and Design at USC; he lives and works in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

Exhibitions

Arceneaux's work has been exhibited at galleries and museums both nationally and internationally, including the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

, the

Orange County Museum of Art The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

, The Kitchen, New York, the

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends ba ...

, Switzerland, the

Lentos Art Museum The Lentos Art Museum (German: Kunstmuseum Lentos) is a museum of modern art in Linz, Austria, which opened in May 2003 as the successor to the (New Gallery of the City of Linz). The museum was designed by Zurich-based architectural firm Webe ...

, Austria, th
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

and the

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lic ...

in Germany. He is represented by

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects Vielmetter Los Angeles (formerly Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects) is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2000 by Susanne Vielmetter. The gallery is located in downtown Los Angeles. History Susanne Vielmetter launched her first gallery ...

in Los Angeles and

Nathalie Obadia Nathalie Obadia (born 14 March 1962) is a French art gallery owner. She specialises in contemporary art. Early life She was born in Toulouse, France. As a teenager, Nathalie Obadia completed an internship at Daniel Varenne, in Genova, and Adri ...

in Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arceneaux, Edgar 1972 births Living people Artists from Los Angeles California Institute of the Arts alumni American contemporary artists African-American contemporary artists Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American artists American draughtsmen