"I started painting professionally in 1985, and the idea of re-inventing myself has been a recurring theme in my life. Everything changes, everything grows, and so does my work."
Juan Daniel Estrada aka John Zender
I was born and raised in East Los Angeles in 1966, in a rich and diverse cultural environment composed of Chicano youth. At fifteen I lived in Mexico City where I gained a love and respect for Los Tres Grandes, the famous Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. While still in High School I won several art competitions including an internship at California State University, Los Angeles (Ceramics), and at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design (fine art and life drawing). Upon graduating from Verdugo Hills High School, I continued my fine arts studies at Otis Art Institute majoring in Fine Art and Illustration. While attending Otis, I was influenced by the New York art scene, primarily the abstract-graffiti-pop expressionists.
Actively involved in establishing the Los Angeles graffiti art style, I was one of the many early pioneers who created the graffiti movement in the early eighties. I recreated myself as Zender (the rising mountain) and had my first one-man show at Otis titled "Zender-Neo Expression" in 1987. Deeply committed to making public art I produced over 300 murals in Los Angeles and throughout the United States. As founder of Creative Art Solutions ( a mural company), I have devoted many hours to nurturing young artists and making a difference in many communities.
I have always separated my public art from my paintings, my work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zero-1 Gallery, Pueblo Gallery, CSDI, ICU Gallery, and many others. I haves had several one-man shows and many group shows, exhibiting with Chicano artists, Graffiti artists. My easel paintings have evolved from series to series. Most of my works from my earlier series now reside in private collections. In 1995 I arrived at a spiritual turning point and began incorporating more intimate and personal ideas concerning spirituality into my artwork. Influenced by Roberto Matta, Kandinsky, Gorky, Lam, Basquiat, and the Bible I began calling My painting theory The Process of Change. Most recently I have re-invented myself again using my real name. dropping Zender and creating a new body of work called "Triunity" a fusion of all my past influences to represent the balance of the Soul, Body and Spirit.
I was born and raised in East Los Angeles in 1966, in a rich and diverse cultural environment composed of Chicano youth. At fifteen I lived in Mexico City where I gained a love and respect for Los Tres Grandes, the famous Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. While still in High School I won several art competitions including an internship at California State University, Los Angeles (Ceramics), and at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design (fine art and life drawing). Upon graduating from Verdugo Hills High School, I continued my fine arts studies at Otis Art Institute majoring in Fine Art and Illustration. While attending Otis, I was influenced by the New York art scene, primarily the abstract-graffiti-pop expressionists.
Actively involved in establishing the Los Angeles graffiti art style, I was one of the many early pioneers who created the graffiti movement in the early eighties. I recreated myself as Zender (the rising mountain) and had my first one-man show at Otis titled "Zender-Neo Expression" in 1987. Deeply committed to making public art I produced over 300 murals in Los Angeles and throughout the United States. As founder of Creative Art Solutions ( a mural company), I have devoted many hours to nurturing young artists and making a difference in many communities.
I have always separated my public art from my paintings, my work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zero-1 Gallery, Pueblo Gallery, CSDI, ICU Gallery, and many others. I haves had several one-man shows and many group shows, exhibiting with Chicano artists, Graffiti artists. My easel paintings have evolved from series to series. Most of my works from my earlier series now reside in private collections. In 1995 I arrived at a spiritual turning point and began incorporating more intimate and personal ideas concerning spirituality into my artwork. Influenced by Roberto Matta, Kandinsky, Gorky, Lam, Basquiat, and the Bible I began calling My painting theory The Process of Change. Most recently I have re-invented myself again using my real name. dropping Zender and creating a new body of work called "Triunity" a fusion of all my past influences to represent the balance of the Soul, Body and Spirit.
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PUBLIC ART
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