Raul Rene Gonzalez
Multi-Disciplinary; Visual Arts: Illustrator, Mixed Media Artist, Muralist, Painter
Raul Rene Gonzalez is a multidisciplinary artist who incorporates an astonishingly wide range of mediums and methods in his paintings, drawings, sculptures, clothing, murals, installations, live and recorded dance and other performance-based work. Largely autobiographical in nature, his work explores topics such as fatherhood, gender roles, labor, identity, pop culture, science, and abstraction.
A prolific creator who finds inspiration anywhere and everywhere, Gonzalez is known by art critics, curators, and friends alike for his unwavering energy, ambition and experimentation that has led to the creation of several hundred unique works over the past decade. He truly lives his motto: “Werk. Hustle. Sleep. Repeat.”
A Houston native now based in San Antonio, Texas, Gonzalez’ experiences living in two of the biggest metropolitan cities in the country influence nearly all of his bodies of work—from detailed urban landscapes that pay homage to the workers who build and maintain our cities, to his wearable construction barrel suits, to his paintings that document key features of San Antonio’s musical history displayed permanently in City Hall.
Gonzalez’s work has been featured widely throughout Texas and the United States. His work is included in the permanent collections of the National Mexican Museum of Art (Chicago, IL), the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum (Albuquerque, NM), Benson Latin American Collection (Austin, TX), Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin, TX), the McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, TX), the University of Texas at San Antonio, Capital One Financial Services (Plano and San Antonio, TX), and the City of San Antonio, among others.
Gonzalez has been featured in Glasstire, Southwest Contemporary Vol. 5: Collectivity & Collaboration, Create! Magazine, The San Antonio Express News, La Prensa Texas, Spectrum News, The SA Current, The Austin Chronicle, Whataburger, and the upcoming New American Paintings No. 162: West Issue.
Gonzalez has been awarded artist grants from the Luminaria Artist Foundation, Sustainable Arts Foundation, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Dave Bown Projects, and the Surdna Foundation. In 2021 he was selected as San Antonio Museum of Art’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence and was named San Antonio Art League & Museum’s 2021 Artist of the Year.
Gonzalez earned his M.F.A. in Art from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a B.F.A. in painting from the University of Houston. Gonzalez lives in San Antonio with his wife and two daughters. In addition to his full-time art career, he manages Werk House SA, a short-term rental Airbnb property and is the Director, Curator & Resident Artist at Clamp Light Studios & Gallery, an artist-run space in San Antonio.