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Ernest Doty

July 15, 2014 – Fall 2014

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A photo of artist Ernest Doty speaking with two visitors in front of his mural on the exterior of the Albuquerque Museum. The mural features numerous small, colorful birds flying out of the body of a dead bird.

Ernest Doty speaking with visitors outside of his visiting artist installation.

An image of artist Ernest Doty using spray paint to create a mural of a brightly colored bird.

Ernest Doty working on his Visiting Artist installation.

An image of artist Ernest Doty using spray paint to create a mural of a brightly colored bird.

Ernest Doty working on his Visiting Artist installation.

Albuquerque Museum’s Visiting Artist program is generously funded by the Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

From Tuesday, July 15 through Friday, July 25, 2014 Albuquerque-born and -raised artist Ernest Doty painted site-specific works of art at the Albuquerque Museum. Doty, who had traveled from his then-home of Oakland, California, works primarily in aerosol paint and is nationally respected as a creator of large-scale outdoor paintings. During each work day, Doty developed the painted surfaces outside the Museum’s amphitheater and collaborated with Museum staff to install the individual parts in the lobby.

Visitors were encouraged to watch the artist work each day and follow the development of his vision throughout the two-week period.  Doty’s imagery is often inspired by birds and invented animals and incorporates the joyous prismatic effects of rainbows and hard-edged shapes.  With the powerful geometric architecture of the lobby as a backdrop and framework, Doty’s paintings brought a lively, colorful vitality to that grand space.

A portrait of artist Ernest Doty standing in front of a black background. Doty looks forward with his arms crossed and is bald light-colored skin and tattoos on his arms and neck. He is wearing a black T-shirt with an image of a shark on it.

Photo by Odell Hussy

About the Artist

Ernest Doty (born 1980 Albuquerque, New Mexico; lives Los Angeles, California) is a prolific and passionate street artist and activist. Through his work, he equates justice and vision in his pursuit for more wall space. At once a mystic and a social activist, Doty seems to want to drag the rest of the contemporary world into an age of neo-enlightenment, kicking and screaming. His ancient characters, with their multiple sad eyes have a message for us: their message is silence, compassion and social justice. Doty’s work can be found throughout Albuquerque, including his mural We Exist Somewhere Between Limbo and Purgatory, located behind the Sunshine Theatre on 2nd Street.