Mario Ybarra Jr. (1973) Mexican-American, a conceptual artist born and raised in Los Angeles. His artwork operates as examinations of excluded social norms, often examining complete environments, histories, and narratives. He received an MFA from the University of California Irvine and a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design. He has been featured in many local, national, and international exhibitions/fairs including the 2008 Whitney Biennial, the Tate Museum in London, at the Orange County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, MOCA Los Angeles, MOCA Detroit, the ICA Boston, Museo De Cervantez Spain, ARCO Fair 2011 and 2013, LACMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. In 2002, in partnership with his wife Karla Diaz, he co-founded Slanguage (an artist-run space/collective in Los Angeles that hosted art exhibitions, residencies, and programming for youth and adults). He has been featured as a speaker in many national and international venues including most notably at the Creative Summit in New York, and Art Pace San Antonio.