Harry Gamboa Jr. (b. 1951, Los Angeles)
Faculty, Photo/Media Program at California Institute of the Arts.
Co-founder of Asco (1972-1985), the Los Angeles-based performance group.
Founder and director of Troupe Non Grata (2022-present),
“Harry Gamboa Jr., Creative Polymath” -- J. Paul Getty Trust (2024)
His work has been exhibited and/or acquired nationally/internationally:
Tate Americas Foundation (2026); Museum of Contemporary Art (2026, 2021,1992), University of Kentucky Art Museum (2026); Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, (2026,Mexico City (2026, 2011,1981); Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (2023); AltaMed Art Collection (2022); J. Paul Getty Museum (2021); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2020); Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC (2019); Autry Museum of the American West (2018); Marlborough Contemporary, New York (2017); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016, 2015 and 1995 Biennial); De Appel, Amsterdam (2014); Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Austria (2013); Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, England (2013); Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. (2013); Le Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France (2013, 2017); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (UNAM), Mexico City (2013); Tate Liverpool, Liverpook, England (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2011, 2010); Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Switzerland (2009); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2011, 2008, 2001); Fowler Museum, UC Los Angeles (2011); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2006); Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark (1996); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1994); Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (1994); LAX/CSU Los Angeles (1994); Festival de Cannes, “Mur Murs”, Agnès Varda (1981); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1979); Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City (1978); Museo Alvar y Carmen T. Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (1978); Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ (1977).
His work has been featured:
Los Angeles Times (”Chicano art: An emerging generation”, Pulitzer Prize, 1984), The New York Times, Apollo, Spike Art Magazine, Actuel, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Frieze, Aperture, USA Today, Variety, Le Monde, Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, DW, Terremoto, Pfeil Magazine, El Universal, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Art Monthly and El País.
100 Best Artworks About America - ARTnews, May 28, 2026
#89 Harry Gamboa Jr., Decoy Gang War Victim, 1974, from the Asco era
©1974, Harry Gamboa Jr.— Brian Boucher,Senior Market Reporter, ARTnews
Featured cover image for ARTFORUM (OCTOBER, 2011)
Decoy Gang War Victim, 1974, from the Asco era
He has received numerous awards: Stieglitz Award, Los Angeles. Center of Photography (2024); Rockefeller Foundation (2004); Durfee Foundation Artist Award (2001); Flintridge Foundation Visual Artist Award (2000); Gluck Foundation (1998–1999), J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts (1990), California Arts Council (1996), Art Matters, Inc. (1996), and National Endowment for the Arts (1987 and 1980).
He is featured in two films:
ASCO Without Permission (2025), Director: Travis Gutiérrez Senger
Mur Murs (1981), Director: Agnès Varda
https://www.amazon.com/author/harrygamboajr
