About
ABOUT: Ed Fuentes is an art writer focused on the public art sphere of murals and street art in the west, with additional biased interest in Contemporary Latinx Art. He teaches art online for PLNU, and taught at UNLV where he earned a late career MFA in Studio Art in 2018. He is preparing for a solo exhibition at the Riverside Art Museum that opens in Feb. 2019.
He was raised in Riverside, then briefly lived and worked in New York, and ended up in Downtown Los Angeles where he started covering the arts. He then landed in Las Vegas where he now lives and works as a writer/artist who takes a lot of photos.
Paint This Desert was made possible by a 2013 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Instagram: @paintthisdesert
Twitter: @paintthisdesert
Email: edfuentes[at]paintthisdesert.com
MEDIA
SELECTED WRITINGS
Cheech Marin Receives $9.7 Million Grant for His Chicano Art Center I Hyperallergic
The abstraction of content and intent between murals and street art I Visual Inquiry 7.1
Judith Baca legacy at Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is still not enough I LA Observed
Justin Favela Gypsy Rose Piñata I LAObserved + KCET
A public art tour of Las Vegas I CURBEDLA
Go ahead. Build that wall. Artists are Waiting to Paint on it I KCET
Dark Sweetness I Downtown Zen / Paint This Desert
Whitewashed Portrait Mural of Ed Ruscha Will Be Reborn, Older and Wiser I Hyperallergic
Reading Art at The Barrick I Inside the Barrick
A Las Vegas Symbol With Flare I Paint This Desert
Justin Favela's 'Low Rider' Travels to the South I Paint This Desert
Luis Jiménez' 'Vaquero' Rides Tall I Paint This Desert
Public Art for the Evening I Paint This Desert
Man One With One Man's Goal: Make Graffiti Legit I KCET
LA Story I X Index
From Lincoln Heights to Los Feliz: Woody Guthrie's Time in Los Angeles I KCET
Cheech and Chong: Alice Bowie and the First Chicano Punk Song I KCET
10 Monumental Murals of Los Angeles I KCET
How One Flag Went From Representing Farmworkers to Flying for the Entire Latino Community I TakePart
WRITING/MENTION (HYBRID )
Images that 'Bookmark' a Neighborhood I KCET
MEDIA MENTIONS
Vegas-made conceptual art needs all the friends it can get I Las Vegas Weekly (cited)
Muralist Brings Art To Skatepark I Review Journal (cited)
Ed Fuentes: Episode 56 I Latinos Who Lunch
Artists and Administrators Come Together in Las Vegas I KNPR (cited)
Local artists cheer — and boo — UNLV’s redesigned Rebels mascot I Review Journal I By Carol Cling (cited)
'Arts community blossoms off the Vegas Strip' I TheGuardian (cited/video)
Public art projects transform public spaces in Las Vegas I Review Journal I By Carol Cling (cited)
'Writer, photographer, designer, “conceptual storyteller' I Desert Companion I By Scott Dickensheets (subject)
'Ed Fuentes And The Artist Known As 'Bunko' ' I KNPR (subject)
Verse-Case Scenerio I Desert Companion (cited)I By Scott Dickensheets
How Shepard Fairey's arrest provides a new look at an old question: Is it art or is it vandalism? I LAT July 14, 2015 I Deborah Vankin and David Ng (cited)
"Art in Public View" I Desert Companion July 2015 I By Scott Dickensheets (cited)
"Urban Walls: Writer Ed Fuentes Talks Las Vegas Street Art" I Las Vegas Weekly April 2015 I By Kristen Peterson (P/U by LA Observed)
"'Benchghazi': Bench Designs Planned for Main Street Stir Public Art Debate" I Las Vegas Weekly I April, 2015 I By Kristen Peterson (cited)
"Brian Williams' tall tale of Iraq war becomes art meme" February 2015 I LATimes I David Ng / Also AP via Las Vegas Review Journal + UPI + CBS
"Life is Beautiful and Art is Subjective" I KNPR State of Nevada I October 2014 (cited)
"Mural Sparks Public Art Controversy" I KNPR State of Nevada I December 2013 (cited)
"Mural controversy" LATimes I July 2013 I Deborah Vankin (cited)
"Photographer sees Parallels Between Downtown Las Vegas and LA" I Las Vegas Weekly (Joe Downtown) I June 2013 I By Joe Schoemann
Around the Counties: Ed Fuentes Shares His View on L.A. County Arts I KCET
"A vibrant voice chronicles the renaissance of downtown L.A." I LA Times I March 2012 I By Larry Harnisch
“Downtown Dwellers" Forgotten Neighbors I NBCLA Los Angeles I Dec 29, 2007 Television. (NBC4 awarded Regional Emmy)
He was raised in Riverside, then briefly lived and worked in New York, and ended up in Downtown Los Angeles where he started covering the arts. He then landed in Las Vegas where he now lives and works as a writer/artist who takes a lot of photos.
Paint This Desert was made possible by a 2013 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Instagram: @paintthisdesert
Twitter: @paintthisdesert
Email: edfuentes[at]paintthisdesert.com
MEDIA
SELECTED WRITINGS
Cheech Marin Receives $9.7 Million Grant for His Chicano Art Center I Hyperallergic
The abstraction of content and intent between murals and street art I Visual Inquiry 7.1
Judith Baca legacy at Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is still not enough I LA Observed
Justin Favela Gypsy Rose Piñata I LAObserved + KCET
A public art tour of Las Vegas I CURBEDLA
Go ahead. Build that wall. Artists are Waiting to Paint on it I KCET
Dark Sweetness I Downtown Zen / Paint This Desert
Whitewashed Portrait Mural of Ed Ruscha Will Be Reborn, Older and Wiser I Hyperallergic
Reading Art at The Barrick I Inside the Barrick
A Las Vegas Symbol With Flare I Paint This Desert
Justin Favela's 'Low Rider' Travels to the South I Paint This Desert
Luis Jiménez' 'Vaquero' Rides Tall I Paint This Desert
Public Art for the Evening I Paint This Desert
Man One With One Man's Goal: Make Graffiti Legit I KCET
LA Story I X Index
From Lincoln Heights to Los Feliz: Woody Guthrie's Time in Los Angeles I KCET
Cheech and Chong: Alice Bowie and the First Chicano Punk Song I KCET
10 Monumental Murals of Los Angeles I KCET
How One Flag Went From Representing Farmworkers to Flying for the Entire Latino Community I TakePart
WRITING/MENTION (HYBRID )
Images that 'Bookmark' a Neighborhood I KCET
MEDIA MENTIONS
Vegas-made conceptual art needs all the friends it can get I Las Vegas Weekly (cited)
Muralist Brings Art To Skatepark I Review Journal (cited)
Ed Fuentes: Episode 56 I Latinos Who Lunch
Artists and Administrators Come Together in Las Vegas I KNPR (cited)
Local artists cheer — and boo — UNLV’s redesigned Rebels mascot I Review Journal I By Carol Cling (cited)
'Arts community blossoms off the Vegas Strip' I TheGuardian (cited/video)
Public art projects transform public spaces in Las Vegas I Review Journal I By Carol Cling (cited)
'Writer, photographer, designer, “conceptual storyteller' I Desert Companion I By Scott Dickensheets (subject)
'Ed Fuentes And The Artist Known As 'Bunko' ' I KNPR (subject)
Verse-Case Scenerio I Desert Companion (cited)I By Scott Dickensheets
How Shepard Fairey's arrest provides a new look at an old question: Is it art or is it vandalism? I LAT July 14, 2015 I Deborah Vankin and David Ng (cited)
"Art in Public View" I Desert Companion July 2015 I By Scott Dickensheets (cited)
"Urban Walls: Writer Ed Fuentes Talks Las Vegas Street Art" I Las Vegas Weekly April 2015 I By Kristen Peterson (P/U by LA Observed)
"'Benchghazi': Bench Designs Planned for Main Street Stir Public Art Debate" I Las Vegas Weekly I April, 2015 I By Kristen Peterson (cited)
"Brian Williams' tall tale of Iraq war becomes art meme" February 2015 I LATimes I David Ng / Also AP via Las Vegas Review Journal + UPI + CBS
"Life is Beautiful and Art is Subjective" I KNPR State of Nevada I October 2014 (cited)
"Mural Sparks Public Art Controversy" I KNPR State of Nevada I December 2013 (cited)
"Mural controversy" LATimes I July 2013 I Deborah Vankin (cited)
"Photographer sees Parallels Between Downtown Las Vegas and LA" I Las Vegas Weekly (Joe Downtown) I June 2013 I By Joe Schoemann
Around the Counties: Ed Fuentes Shares His View on L.A. County Arts I KCET
"A vibrant voice chronicles the renaissance of downtown L.A." I LA Times I March 2012 I By Larry Harnisch
“Downtown Dwellers" Forgotten Neighbors I NBCLA Los Angeles I Dec 29, 2007 Television. (NBC4 awarded Regional Emmy)