Ruben Ochoa is a multi-disciplinary artist whose sculptures, installations, paintings and photographs explore the domineering forms and manufactured contours of the urban landscape. He lives and works in Los Angeles, where the boundaries of urban life are forged from industrial materials such as concrete, rebar, and excavated earth. In works that defy expectation, Ochoa liberates these materials from their usual incarnation – the lead-footed foundations and impenetrable barriers that dictate access and movement within our cities. He breeches the perimeter of the built environment to give us a glimpse of life beyond the walls. He exposes our urban constructs and their role in controlling, isolating and marginalizing nature and people. Through the newly-punctured holes in our urban cocoon, we see the natural environment without, a resilient, organic presence pushing back against the tread of humanity. And we see the potential for poetry and beauty in the raw materials of our metropolis.
*Directions to Rosser Hall from the Art building:
Leave the main entrance, walk past the gym, turn left at the Billie Jean King tennis statue and proceed south along the main walkway. You’ll pass the health building on your left, the science building on your right, and then Rosser Hall will be on the left after that. There’s a big sign saying “ROSSER HALL” on the side of the building. The room that the lecture is in is on the first floor, on the left. There are big sliding doors that open right into a lecture hall. It’s about a 5-7 minute walk from the art building.