Jay Lynn Gomez
Born in San Bernardino, California to undocumented Mexican immigrants who have since become US citizens, Jay Lynn Gomez (b. 1986; formerly Ramiro Gomez) briefly attended the California Institute for the Arts before leaving to work as a live-in nanny with a West Hollywood family. Witnessing the immigrant labor force that works to maintain the lifestyle of America’s wealthiest classes, Gomez’s artistic practice is founded upon making the “invisible” visible. By placing cardboard cut-outs of these domestic workers streetside in front of gilded mansions, her work confronted all walks of life, establishing a practice that can shared and taken by all. Imbedding herself with the trans community, she has shifted from anonymity and transience to direct portrayals of herself and fellow queer individuals, defiantly exuberant in the face of social and economic plight. In 2016, Gomez was the subject of Domestic Scenes – The Art of Ramiro Gomez, a monograph by Lawrence Weschler, published by Abrams. Gomez has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the University of Michigan, Institute for the Humanities, and the West Hollywood Public Library, as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; and the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; among others. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; and the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA; among others. Gomez recently held her second solo exhibition with P·P·O·W and was on view in the group show Day Jobs at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, California, CA.
Jay Lynn Gomez
b. 1986, San Bernardino, CA
Lives and works in Boston, MA
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Under Construction, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2019
Here, For A Moment, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018
In NYC, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2017
In West Hollywood, Getty PST-related Solo Show, West Hollywood Public Library, West Hollywood, CA
2016
On Melrose, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Cut-Outs, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Cut-Outs, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2014
Domestic Scenes, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Luxury, Interrupted, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, CA
2012
Rose Gardens, Pehrspace, Los Angeles, CA
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
Accretion, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Mama’s in the Kitchen, Anat Ebgi Tribeca, New York, NY
Day Jobs, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, California, CA
Labor of Love, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University, Portland, OR
2023
Invisible Hands, 601Artspace, New York, NY
Day Jobs, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
2022
To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA
2021
and I will wear you in my heart of heart, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
Parallels and Peripheries, Practice and Presence, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
- LXS ANGELINS -, Galeria Javier Lopez & Fer Frances, Madrid, Spain
2021 L.A. Billboard Project, The Billboard Creative, Los Angeles, CA
Parallels & Peripheries: Practice + Presence, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
A Very Anxious Feeling: Voices of Unrest in the American Experience; 20 Years of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
2020
Alien vs. Citizen, MCA Chicago, Chicago, IL
2020 Vision, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY
2019
Sorry for the Mess, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
With a Little Help from my Friends, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Tell Me a Story and I’ll Sing You a Song, Curated by Bianca Moran, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Sweat of Their Brow, National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
Home - So Different, So Appealing, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
We Hold These Truths, No Longer Empty, Washington D.C.
My Barrio: Emigdio Vasquez and Chicana/o Identity in Orange County, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
You Belong Here: Reimaging the Blanton, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Cuidado! - The Help, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA
Occupancy, curated by Lynn Cooney, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Cuenca Biennial, curated by Dan Cameron, Cuenca, Ecuador
2016
Domestic Seen, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
S/Election, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Gildless Age, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Southland, curated by Patrick Martinez, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Ha Ha! Business!, Luis de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Paris Photo Los Angeles, Charlie James Gallery, Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Zona Maco, Charlie James Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
PULSE Miami Beach, Charlie James Gallery, Miami, FL
2014
EXPO Chicago, Charlie James Gallery, Chicago, IL
ArtMRKT San Francisco, Charlie James Gallery, Fort Mason Center, CA
Recent Acquisitions, Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, FL
LA Weekly Presents: Artopia, Grand Central Market, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Latin American Art Presents: Distant Parallels, The Collaborative, Long Beach, CA
Secrets & Lies, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
Dallas Art Fair, Charlie James Gallery, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, TX
In(Visible) & (dis)Embodied, District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington D.C.
Prospect 2014, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
Aqua Art Miami, Charlie James Gallery, Aqua Hotel, FL
Art San Diego, Charlie James Gallery, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
2013
TJ Martell Foundation Artworks for the Cure Barker Hangar, CA
AFL-CIO National Convention, CA
Divested Interest, CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
Meet Me at Metro, East LA Civic Center, Los Angeles, CA
Install: WEHO, West Hollywood Library, West Hollywood, CA
2012
Global Cardboard Challenge, Imagination Foundation, CA
L.A Road Concert: Mulholland Dr., CA
Bang Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
LA Road Concert: Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Select Public Collections
Allen Art Museum, Oberlin, OH
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas, Austin, TX
Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
RISD Museum, Providence, RI
San José Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Select Bibliography
2021
Jasmin Hernandez, “We Are Here: Visionaries of Color Transforming the Art World,” New York, NY: Abrams, 2021.
2020
“Contemporary Artists (a publication during a pandemic),” The Department of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, 2020.
2016
Lawrence Weschler, “Domestic Scenes: The Art of Ramiro Gomez,” Abrams Publishing, 2016.
Carolina A. Miranda, “From Nanny to International Art Star: Ramiro Gomez on how his paintings reveal labor that makes California Cool possible,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2016.
Christopher Knight, “Review: Ramiro Gomez, On Melrose at Charlie James Gallery,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2016.
Katharine Schwab, “Documenting Los Angeles’ Near-Invisible Workers,” The Atlantic, April 20, 2016.
Susan Stamberg, “Gardens Don’t Tend Themselves: Portraits of the People Behind LA’s Luxury,” NPR Morning Edition, April 11, 2016.
2015
Lawrence Weschler, “Ramiro Gomez’s Domestic Disturbances,” New York Times, August 15th, 2015.
2014
Leah Ollman, “Review: Rendering the Invisible Visible,” Los Angeles Times, January 16th, 2014.
2013
David Montgomery, “Protest artist’s cardboard cutouts draw attention to immigration issue,” The Washington Post, February 14, 2013.
Brian De Los Santos, “Artist works to keep immigrants in the picture,” NPR, February 14, 2013.
Hrag Vartanian, “The people behind your images of luxury,” Hyperallergic, December 18, 2013.
Brian De Los Santos, “Artist works to keep immigrants in the picture,” NPR, February 14, 2013.
2012
Esmeralda Bermudez, “Artist pays homage to LA’s unseen workers,” Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2012.
Sarah Goodyear, “An LA artist makes immigrant workers impossible to ignore,” The Atlantic, July 12, 2012.
Teaching
2014
Guest Lecturer, UCLA
Guest Lecturer, Art & Social Justice, Congregation Kol Ami, CA
2013
Guest Lecturer, AFL-CIO National Convention, Los Angeles, CA
Guest Lecturer, UCLA
Guest Lecturer, Stanford University
Guest Lecturer, “Aqui se respire lucha” UC San Diego
2012
Guest Lecturer, Race Matters Series, “Quiet is the new loud” UC Santa Barbara
Guest Lecturer, “Sing the real” UC Santa Barbara
Residencies
2015
University of Michigan, Institute for the Humanities, Ann Arbor, MI
2013
City of West Hollywood Park
Artist in Residence CSUF Grand Central Art Center, CA
Mural
2013
The Caretakers/Los Cuidadores, City of West Hollywood Park, CA
Awards
2014
L.A. Weekly People
2013
25 Artist to Watch, Artvoices Magazine
100 Green Leaders in Art, Poder Magazine
Jay Lynn Gomez
I am a work in progress, 2024
oil on canvas
30 x 40 ins.
76.2 x 101.6 cm
Jay Lynn Gomez
Every day I walk outside is a leap of Faith (Walking with Alok), 2024
oil on canvas
72 x 72 ins.
182.9 x 182.9 cm
Jay Lynn Gomez
nude in a colored landscape of my mind (letting go of Ramiro), 2024
acrylic on cardboard medication packaging
4 1/2 x 6 1/4 ins.
11 1/2 x 15 7/8 cm
Jay Lynn Gomez
On 3rd Street, 2020
acrylic on stretched cardboard
12 x 12 ins.
30.5 x 30.5 cm
Jay Lynn Gomez
A Change Is Gonna Come, 2020
acrylic on paper
11 7/8 x 9 7/8 ins.
30.2 x 25.1 cm
Jay Lynn Gomez
On Sweetzer Ave, 2020
acrylic on stretched cardboard
12 x 12 ins.
30.5 x 30.5 cm
Below we examine 75 of the most important and exciting Latinx artists, who have had a profound impact on art history and their communities by creating work in which community members can see themselves represented.
Who is Jay Lynn Gomez? That question animates the artist’s current exhibition at P·P·O·W in New York, and the answer is a bit complicated, ever evolving.
Once a nanny for a wealthy Beverly Hills family, Jay Lynn Gomez lived alongside celebrities, often surrounded by paparazzi who would crop her and her colleagues out of their photos.
Artists have often been forced to hold down another job in order to make ends meet. For many, being able to leave these second roles in order to focus full time on art is the ultimate goal.
Last year, the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation, two of the country’s largest philanthropic funders in the arts, joined forces to establish the Latinx Artist Fellowship, which will support the work of 75 Latinx artists at various stages in their careers over a five-year period.
non-profit arts organization the billboard collective presents the seventh iteration of its public billboard exhibition opening on april 5 and taking over the streets of los angeles. featuring the work of 30 emerging and established artists, the project turns billboard advertising spaces into open-air art exhibitions. this year’s show includes works from guest artists ramiro gomez, phung huynh, narsiso martinez, and calida rawness.
