Artist Statement
Half-breed, South Texan, queer, figurative sculptor specializing in the piñata form; playing on themes of race, sexuality, art, sin, humor, ephemerality and beauty.
Biography
Piñata-based sculptor, Roberto Benavidez (b. 1973, Beeville, TX) lives and works in the Los Angeles, CA neighborhood of El Sereno. His piñata sculptures have been featured in national, international and on-line publications including American Craft Magazine, ARTnews, Artsy, Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, hifructose.com, Hyperallergic, LUXE Interiors + Design, Politiken, The New York Times and This Is Colossal. Most recently he was featured in the New York Times Series “The Art of Craft.” Benavidez has shown in group and solo exhibitions, including at the AD&A Museum at UCSB, Craft In America, Mingei International Museum, Palo Alto Art Center, Self Help Graphics, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum and Riverside Art Museum; and this year his work was included in the 2024 Homo Faber Biennial in Venice, Italy. LA Metro commissioned him to contribute to the “Through the Eyes of Artists” poster series (2019); his Bosch fruit fascinators are featured in the finale of The Interview with the Vampire series on AMC+. He is also featured in the “Play” episode of the Craft In America PBS series, and is the subject of the 2024 documentary short “Piñatas of Earthly Delights” directed by Tom Maroney. His work is in the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, LA Metro, The Museum of International Folk Art and the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Abstract Piñata, Wasserman Works, Detroit, MI
2023 In the Garden: Piñatas, Diana Berger Gallery, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA
2019 Medieval Piñata, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ
2019 Piñatas of Earthly Delights, AD&A Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 Illuminated Piñata, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2015 Serrate, LA County Store, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Serrate, Salvage Vanguard Gallery, Austin, TX
2009 Sugar Skull Piñatas, Art For Empty Walls, Los Angeles, CA
Group Exhibitions
2025 Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM
2025 Cheongju Craft Biennale 2025, Cheongju, South Korea
2025 Tinned: Ten Year Invitational, Wasserman Projects, Detroit, MI
2025 Nature, BIMA, Bainbridge Island, WA
2024 Crossing the Line: The Passport Re-Imagined, BIMA, Bainbridge Island, WA
2024 Passion For Paper, Strohl Art Center, Chautaqua, NY
2023 The Possibilities of Paper, Torggler Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA
2023 Lagomorphs: Rabbits and Hares in Contemporary Craft, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
2023 LatinX Voices, Woodstock Arts, Woodstock, GA
2023 Enormous Tiny Art, Nahcotta, Portsmouth, NH
2022 Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration, Mingei Museum, San Diego, CA
2022 ¿Quién(es) Rompe(n) las Piñatas?, Museo de Arte Y Diseño Contemporáneo, San Jose, Costa Rica
2022 Division of Birds, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2022 Paper Show, Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA
2022 Aviary, Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Through the Winter, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2021 Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration, Craft In America, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Brand 49, Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA
2021 Spirit, Gold Bug, Pasadena, CA
2021 The Art of Paper, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, The Woodlands, TX
2021 LA Scenes & LA Made, Craft in America-LAX Airport, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Love 20/20, Gold Bug, Pasadena, CA
2020 Cut, Fold, and Handmade: The Art of Paper, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA
2019 Ancestral Lights, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Seattle Weed Pot Invitational, Orcas Paley, Seattle, WA
2019 Encounters: Honoring the Animal In Ourselves, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
2019 Tooth and Claw, Terminal 136, San Antonio, TX
2019 Beast, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2019 Common Bonds: Artists & Architects on Community, AD&A Museum, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 3-D! Pop-up, Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2018 Pialli, CuratorLove, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Per Diem, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2018 Et Tu, Art Brute?, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Crossing Boundaries: Engendering LGBTQ Identities, Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Biennials
2025 Cheongju Craft Biennale, Cheongju, South Korea
2024 The Journey of Life, Homo Faber, Venice, Italy