Born 1991 in Los Angeles, California, Mario Ayala lives and works in Los Angeles. MARIO AYALA (b. 1991, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles. Ayala graduated from The San Francisco Art Institute in 2014 and participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture residency in 2014. Solo exhibitions include CAC Málaga, Spain, David Kordansky Gallery (Los Angeles), Jeffrey Deitch (New York), LOYAL (Stockholm). Group exhibitions include Xican-a.o.x. Body, Pérez Art Museum (Miami), The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture at the Riverside Art Museum, Prospect 2024, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Sitting on Chrome: Mario Ayala, rafa esparza, and Guadalupe Rosales, SFMOMA (San Francisco), Together in Time: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Art Collection, Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Hot Concrete: LA to HK, K11 Musea (Hong Kong), Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Shattered Glass, Jeffrey Deitch (Los Angeles). Ayala’s work is included in permanent collections of the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Aïshti Foundation (Beirut).

Mario Ayala’s paintings and sculptural installations forge a distinctive visual language rooted in California’s cultural vernacular. This communal language reinterprets cultural references connected to ritual, tradition, design, and craftsmanship drawing from a deep well of references the artist is intimately familiar with—from commercial sign painting, tire-shop paintings, auto customization, the codified language of tattoos, and elements of lowrider aesthetics. Paying tribute to a rich lineage of airbrushing in LA, Ayala’s meticulous, intricate technique and layers of electric colors weave together a codified and non-hierarchical language of references. His influences also extend to postwar art movements, including the Cool School of Los Angeles and Bay Area Funk art. Ayala pays particular attention to the material culture of Latinx identity—for example, commemorative T-shirts as outlets for public grieving.

Education

2014 BFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2025
Seven Vans, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX

2024
Milagro, CAC Málaga, Málaga, Spain

2023
Rubber Biscuit, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2022
Truck Stop, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY

2021
Easy to Be Hard, with Henry Gunderson, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA

2019
Shooby Doo Lang Doo Lang Dong, Stems Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Give a Dog a Bad Name and Hang Him, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA

2018
AUT Of Body, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Sun Sprawl, with Greg Ito, Club Pro, Los Angeles, CA

2017
Pen Pal, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA
Seasoned and Embarrassed Like a Wet Dog, SADE, Los Angeles, CA

2015
Up Your Alley ‘87, with Sahar Khoury, LAST Projects, Los Angeles, CA

Group Exhibitions

2025
Walking on Air, DACRA, Miami, FL
Handle With Care, Dale Zine, Miami, FL
Against a Bright Blue Sky, TLALOC Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Too Fast To Sing, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
We Salute You, These Days Project Room, Los Angeles, CA
Last Art School, Hunter College Art Galleries, New York, NY
People Make This Place: SFAI Stories, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
21 Years, South Willard, Los Angeles, CA
Small Format Painting, 56 Henry, New York, NY
Portraits, John Doe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
America Unframed, American Art Projects, Berlin, Germany
Carnival, curated by Joe Coleman, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY
resonance, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
Loyal at El Royale III, El Royale, Los Angeles, CA

2024
The Sleep of Reason, Dacra, Craig Robins Collection, Miami, FL
American Vignettes: Symbols, Society, and Satire, Rubell Museum, Washington, D.C.
4 x 4, Karma, New York, NY
Unity through Skateboarding, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Spirit Sink, Ruttkowski;68, New York, NY
Crosstown Traffic, HVW8 Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Prospect 2024, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
Eighteen With A Bullet, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Paris, France
Cruising, Alabaster Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Striking (Lightning) Blue, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Xican–a.o.x. Body, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL
OVERSERVED, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York
Come One, Come All, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
At the Edge of the Sun, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA
Angelitos De Plata, curated by Ozzie Juarez, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2023
Sitting on Chrome, SFMOMA, San Fransisco, CA
Singular Views: Los Angeles, Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
A Train of Thoughts: Figuration & Conceptualism in Craig Robins Collection, Dacra, Miami Beach, FL
Under Pressure, Control Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Piano sale going on somewhere, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA
Stumbling Home, Fucking Awesome, Los Angeles, CA
Hard Drive, Good Mother Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
20, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Xican–a.o.x. Body, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
American Portraiture: Selling the Self, Morgan Presents, New York, NY
Heaven is a Basement, Soho Warehouse, West Hollywood, CA
Sitting on Chrome: Mario Ayala, rafa esparza, and Guadalupe Rosales, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
A Walk, Omni Gallery, London, England
Together in Time: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Dirty Realism: Otra noche en L.A., VETA by Fer Francés, Madrid, Spain
Loyal @ El Royale, El Royale, Los Angeles, CA
Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice, Italy

2022
Group Exhibition, curated by Chris Johanson, Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA
Come As You Are, Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago, IL
Hot Concrete: LA to HK, curated by Sow & Tailor, K11 Musea, Hong Kong
Loveline, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA

2021
Shattered Glass, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA
Anxiety 2, HVW8 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Lxs Angelinxs, Galeria Javier Lopez & Fer Frances, Madrid, Spain
Forget Me Not, Stems Gallery, Paris, France

2020
Made in L.A. 2020: a version, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
100! A group exhibition commemorating Loyal’s Hundredth show, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Junque, Massimo De Carlo, London, England

2019
Gold Standard: Ten Year Anniversary Exhibition, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA

2018
The Private Collection of Water McBeer, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY

2017
Here’s Looking at You, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Grinding, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA

2016
Welcome To The Left Coast, The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Summer Group Show, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
The House Of Special Purpose, 99¢ Plus Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2015
Tomorrow, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco CA

2014
Something Completely Different, City Limits, Oakland, CA
5 Year Anniversary, Ever Gold, San Francisco, CA
Locals Only, RVSF, San Francisco, CA

2013
Give + Take, Adobe Books, San Francisco, CA

Residencies and Awards

2014 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME
2012 The Yale Norfolk School of Art, New Haven, CT