Jorge Villarreal is a multidisciplinary artist who has studied architecture, fine arts, and photography at the University of Texas-San Antonio, San Antonio College, and Palo Alto College, while also having opportunities to study abroad. As a first-generation Mexican American growing up in McAllen, Texas, on the border of Mexico and the U.S., Villarreal was immersed in two distinct cultures. A sense of in-betweenness and not belonging influences his process in Texas and during his frequent travels between Mexico, Cuba, and recently Berlin, Germany. His work is inspired by this liminal experience and sense of discovery without a singular frame of reference.
As a photographer, color and history are central to his image-making, as is the process of occupying spaces as a flaneur. In his documentary work photographing places like Cuba, disrupting his routine to see the forgotten amongst the familiar allows for capturing unstaged moments that reveal a new perspective on his subjects.
Villarreal has exhibited his work in New York City, Miami, San Antonio, College Station, Seoul, Berlin, Paris, Mexico City and Havana. He was awarded a residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien through the Blue Star Contemporary Berlin Residency Program and has participated in the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Villarreal currently maintains a studio in San Antonio, Texas.