rafa esparza is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, working across live performance, sculpture, installation, drawing, and painting. Known for his work with adobe brick, a skill he inherited from his father, Ramón Esparza, his process connects the artist to community and centers inclusivity within contexts of historical exclusion.rafa’s current work uses adobe as a platform to "probe a history of institutionalized racism in traditional art spaces".
Central to the work is collaboration, often involving other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and Queer artists. By bringing this process into historically exclusive institutions, he explains, the work is designed to "ground conversations that are about inclusivity".
In his 2025 installation, Casi Casa: De Borrado, at MACLA in San Jose, rafa is creating a large adobe slab meant to prompt visitors to imagine what it would mean to “pause” the relentless drive to build and instead imagine the Earth swallowing up life as we know it.
Follow rafa on Instagram at elrafaesparzaFollow MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana on Instagram at macla_sanjose and on the web at maclaarte.org
Follow Montalvo Arts Center on Instagram at montalvoarts and on the web at montalvoarts.org
Follow the Lucas Artists Residency Program on Instagram at lucasartres
