Rate My Professor Carlos Donjuan

Carlos Daniel Donjuan, born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico in 1982, immigrated to Dallas, Texas with his family at the age of three. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2005 and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2009. Donjuan joined the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2009 as an adjunct professor in Drawing. He advanced to Professor of Practice and Drawing Area Coordinator from 2013 to 2019, and has served as Assistant Professor and Drawing Area Coordinator since 2020. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor of Painting at El Centro Community College in Dallas from 2011 to 2019. As a teenager, Donjuan co-founded the Sour Grapes Art Collective graffiti crew, later serving as its project manager from 2010 to 2020, focusing on community murals and collaborations.

Donjuan's artistic practice, rooted in graffiti and mural painting, explores themes of identity, immigration, and hybrid cultural experiences. His renowned 'Illegal Aliens' series, featuring masked figures in surreal landscapes, has been exhibited at major institutions worldwide. Key solo exhibitions include 'Dream Dream Dream' at Nicole Longnecker Gallery in Houston and Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas (2023), 'The Real Unreal' at Meow Wolf in Grapevine, Texas (2023), and 'Ghost' at Sour Grapes Studio (2019). Group exhibitions feature 'Beyond Reality' at McNay Art Museum (2023), inaugural and second-year exhibitions at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture (2022-2023), and multiple shows at Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, and UTA Gallery faculty biennials. Notable public works include the mural 'The Lost Boys' commissioned for Facebook offices in Fremont, California (2021), West Dallas Mural Fest installation, and over 20 years of graffiti in Oak Cliff and west Dallas. His contributions are documented in UTA Faculty Creative Works, including exhibitions at Bath House Cultural Center and Super Chief Gallery.