rubén garcía marrufo, 2021 Hallie Ford Fellow

rubén garcía marrufo describes themself simply as “a border artist.” They were born in Los Angeles on a Thursday and returned to Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico on a Sunday. Marrufo has a poet’s interest in language and translation. Translation enters their imagination as one might expect of a bilingual creative, but also as a tactic in artmaking, as they explain, “smuggling concepts through different mediums.” Film, video and sound are often central to this process, as collaborative jumping-off points, as the building blocks of installations, as pure moving image.
Marrufo received a Master of Fine Arts from Pacific Northwest College of Arts. Their work has been exhibited by Mexicali Rose Centro de Arte/Medios, Mexicali, Mexico; Kunstverein, Munich, Germany; MexiCali Biennial, San Bernardino, California; LACE, Los Angeles, California; MoMA and artist space, New York, New York, and in Oregon at the Portland2019 Biennial, Oregon Contemporary (formerly Disjecta Contemporary Art Center), Portland; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and UNA Gallery, Portland. They are a 2020 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship recipient.
rubén garcía marrufo se describe a si mismx como artista de la frontera. Nace en Los Ángeles el Jueves y regreso a Mexicali, Baja California México el Domingo. Marrufo tiene interés poético con la traducción y el lenguaje. La traducción fomenta su imaginación como uno esperaría de un creativo bilingüe pero también como táctica de producción de arte, y rubén lo explica como un “contrabando conceptual a través de diferentes medios.” Film, video y sonido son a menudo centrales a este proceso, como puntos de inicio para colaboraciones que informan la construcción de la instalación que se presenta como imagen en movimiento.
Marrufo recibió la Maestría en Bellas Artes de Pacific Northwest College of Art. Su trabajo a sido exhibido por Mexicali Rose Centro de Arte/Medios, Mexicali, Mexico; Kunstverein, Munich, Germany; MexiCali Biennial, San Bernardino, California; LACE, Los Angeles, California; MoMA and artist space, New York, New York, and in Oregon at the Portland2019 Biennial, Oregon Contemporary (formerly Disjecta Contemporary Art Center), Portland; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and UNA Gallery, Portland. Obtiene el Individual Artist Fellowship en 2020 de la Oregon Arts Commission.
Learn more about rubén garcía marrufo, their work and The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program at tfff.org.
Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts honor the legacy of the late Hallie E. Ford, co-founder of The Ford Family Foundation, who had a lifelong interest in supporting the visual arts. The Foundation awards up to three $35,000 unrestricted fellowships to Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated a depth of sophisticated practice and potential for significant future accomplishment.