Marc Trujillo (born 1966) is an American painter known for his detailed depictions of everyday urban and suburban environments in North America. His work focuses on commonplace sites of consumer culture and contemporary life, including big-box and chain stores, gas stations, shopping malls, fast-food restaurants, and other built environments that he describes as "non-destinations" or "North American kinds of nowhere."[1]
Trujillo was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has cited the "big sky country" landscape of New Mexico as an influence on his worldview and his tendency to scale figures as small elements within vast landscapes.[4] He earned his BA in 1991 from the University of Texas at Austin and his MFA in 1994 from the Yale University School of Art, where he received the Ely Harwood Schless Memorial Fund Prize and the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust Fellowship.[5] At Yale, he studied with painters Andrew Forge and William Bailey (painter)|William Bailey, both of whom he has cited as formative influences.[4]
Artistic style
Trujillo's paintings are fundamentally synthetic, combining direct observation with an appreciation of the history of painting. His compositions are neither photorealistic nor purely documentary, but synthesized from both direct observation and the study of painting traditions. His process begins with preparatory sketches and drawings, followed by a grisaille underpainting to establish the composition before the final oil painting.[6]
Trujillo cites 17th-century Dutch and Spanish masters such as Vermeer, Velázquez, and Rembrandt as inspiration for his approach to light and formal composition.[1] Writing in Smithsonian magazine, Joshua Korenblat observed that while Trujillo's paintings appear photo-realistic, he mediates them by changing spaces, lighting, surfaces, and gestures in service to his vision. Trujillo has said of his subject matter: "I like to paint purgatories rather than destination points like the Grand Canyon. I draw from the middle ground of experience."[7] Art historian Andrew Forge wrote that in Trujillo's paintings, "time is rescued, transformed from loss to duration [and] absence is given presence."[3]
Career
Trujillo currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he teaches at Santa Monica College.[8] His work was featured on KCET's Artbound series, first as an article and then as a short documentary after audiences voted it the most popular feature.[9] His paintings are held in both private and public collections, including the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut.[9]
Selected solo exhibitions
2023 – 8810 Tampa Avenue, West, former American Embassy, West Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands[10]
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