Opening Reception this Saturday at Jose Vera Gallery

Please join us for an opening reception for our current exhibition, The Photography of Ricardo Barrera, January 4-31, 2011.

Ricardo Barrera was born in 1953 in Mexico City. He is the son of Mexican Muralist Armando Campero. He began painting seriously at the age of 14. Barrera traveled to Mexico City to work on the "March of Humanity" mural of David Alfaro Siqueiros when he was 15. At 18, he traveled to Europe and visited Salvador Dali and Henry Moore at their respective homes. During this trip he began shooting with his first camera, a Minolta 35mm. He returned to Mexico three years later to study for a year with muralist Jorge Gonzalez Camarena. He spent his evenings in classes at the Academy of San Carlos.

In 1979, he began experimenting with computers. This would lead to him working in Computer Graphics for several game companies in Los Angeles. He then became obsessed with programming, and moved between programming, computer art, and, his first love, painting.

In 2005, he took a class at Los Angeles Valley College in Photography. He became hooked, taking every available class. He was forced to expand his studies to Santa Monica College, where an epiphany occurred - the camera was a brush that painted with light.