Bryan Barcena

2025

Very proud for and of Jay Lynn Gomez to see her 2019 painting The Subcontracted Janitor used as art for this thoughtful NYT editorial piece on the erosion of civil rights in the United States under Trump. This painting is on view in the Art at Tamarisk program in Rancho Mirage, CA curated by Bryan Barcena thru August 31, 2025. Brava Jay! @jaylynngeezy @bryan.barcena @nytimes @ever.a.k.a.thegirlabouttown @michaelunderwood @tamariskcountryclub #charliejamesgallery

Happy 15 LAND 🦋🦋

New, middle-age headshot. Thanks @starmontana . Featuring @lizette_hernandez._

Tintype for ten years. ❤️ Happy Anniversary.

It’s been a JOUR-NEY but I’m so happy to have worked on LANDs first permanent public commission for the Los Angeles Department of Regional Planning with Teresa Baker @tttttbaker and Felix Quintana @felixfquintana . Curators always say that working with the artists is the best part of the job (even when sometimes it isn’t), but in this case it was an unmitigated joy and I’m really lucky to have been a midwife to their work. Thanks to Ben Love @benjamin___love from Matéria who also brought me back from the brink more than once. Congrats to the artists and to LAND and to LADRP!

❤️🎂🎉🥳41 and better than ever.🥰🎈🎁🎊

10 days of sitting at cafes

Today marks one year since I left my dear colleagues at Regen Projects. I could never have imagined the way things have turned out since then. Very proud to have my first column as West Coast Editor of the magazine be about a one of the first artists I met upon arriving in LA almost ten years ago. I’ve been thinking about this piece since then and I’m proud and delighted to be able to share my thoughts. It’s been a ride, but I believe in this magazine, and more importantly, art criticism and using the creative outlets at hand to make change. Thanks and all praise to our contributors. I’ve been given an amazing opportunity to serve as a Curator at Large at @nomadicdivision . I’m excited to be curating the 2024 Mohn LAND grants with @irina.gusin and we’ll soon be announcing the list of projects. We’re also doing two great commissions with @tttttbaker and @felixfquintana for the county. I’ve been thinking about the role public art since grad school and I feel like LAND has provided me with a chance to bring them to bear on the city I love. Thanks @lhyatt for the opportunity. Finally, Of Wit Editorial marches on. Coming soon is the catalogue to Hammer Museum’s PST exhibition, Breath(e): Toward Climate Change and Social Justice, followed by the catalogue to accompany At The Edge of the Sun at Jeffrey Deitch. Excited to be working with @polymodestudio and @ellalosangeles on these projects. As you can see I’m very busy, but also very lucky. Thanks to everybody. Thanks to LA. Thanks to Erick.

NEW JOB ALERT! Associate Editor, Los Angeles for Artforum I’m thrilled to represent this city, the artists working here, and the culture that feeds them. Moreover, I’m so thankful for the magazine for recognizing the need for a local editor. Excited to get out there and be a good ambassador! Send me invites! It’s surreal to be a part of something so foundational to my understanding art and culture. This April 2006 issue sat on my coffee table in college for too many months…my attempt to be a good Art History student and seem cultured. All things come around.