Edgar Ochoa is a Mexican-American artist born and raised in San Jose, California. His family immigrated from Guamúchil, Sinaloa in 1989. As many immigrants do, they came with very little and struggled to get situated in the United States. During their first years in the states, his family lived in a small garage in downtown San Jose, and eventually moved to a cramped one bedroom home. Regardless of the setting, his affinity for drawing and painting started in those small homes, and has remained present ever since he could hold a pencil. In grade school, he would spend the majority of his time drawing animals, letters, comic book characters, and cartoons. The amount of time spent putting pen and pencil to paper eventually landed him his first job as an artist. He began working as a caricature artist at an amusement park at the age of 15. During the same period of time, his interest for graffiti and aerosol art grew.
From a young age he had always been fascinated by graffiti lettering and street murals, and in his teenage years he decided to take to tunnels and train tracks to begin painting large scale murals of his own. His artistic style is heavily influenced by graffiti art and cartoon illustrations. It's a mix of vibrant energetic coloration contrasting against the outlines of dark shapes and lines. To this day, he still enjoys drawing and painting the same things he did in his youth, and remains heavily connected to the artistic and creative community.
He currently serves as Director of Community Engagement Program at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Aside from his role at the Plaza, he teaches art to local youth and is a freelance muralist, caricaturist and illustrator.
