Vail Visiting Artist Gabriela Ruiz

Vail Visiting artist Gabriela Ruiz gave a remote artist talk to Professor Julia Fernandez’s class. She spoke to the Art History and Visual Culture class Mexican Art Across Borders.

Ruiz, also known as Leather Papi, is a Mexican-American artist based in Los Angeles, California, who works primarily in sculpture and performance art. Ruiz is a self-taught artist who broke into the art world through a friend, Ignacio “Nacho” Nava Jr., an organizer of “Mustache Mondays”, a queer dance party/performance happenings which Ruiz frequented. Through this connection she began to establish herself, working in multiple disciplines including, fashion design, costuming, performance, sculpture, video, and social media. In her work, she speaks on her Latinx heritage, queer identity, and kink subcultures.

Throughout her work, Ruiz explores the meaning of culture and identity through emotion. Her works include bold colors, casts of her own body, and electronic elements.