RAFA ESPARZA ARTIST

In 2015, esparza built a structure out of adobe bricks inside Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions on Hollywood Boulevard, then called on fellow artists, including poet Raquel Gutiérrez and vocalist Dorian Wood, to stage happenings on-site. Two years later, when he was invited to participate in the Whitney Biennial, he did the same thing — crafting a rotunda out of adobe, then inviting others to make their mark. Esparza is an artist who turns art into collective enterprise, challenging the ideal of the lone genius in favor of something more inclusive. Moreover, his chosen material — adobe — brings to whitebox gallery spaces the brownness of earth and the scent of soil, along with its attendant signifiers of labor and connection to place. In L.A.,