Aitor Lajarin-Encina is an artist, educator, and organizer born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain, in 1977, the year of the punk. He received his BFA in painting from the University of Basque Country, Bilbao, and his MFA in visual arts from the University of California, San Diego. Aitor is an interdisciplinary artist whose principal expertise is painting and drawing. Some of his creative work and research interests include painting and drawing contemporary critical issues, different modes of critique of modernity, and various speculative intersections of contemporary art practice and public culture.
Recent exhibitions include the Heritage Square Museum (Los Angeles), Universidad de las Americas (Puebla, MX), Artnueve Gallery (Spain), and Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX). He has been involved in various artist-run curatorial initiatives since 2015, and has taught painting, drawing, and interdisciplinary studio classes at UC San Diego and UDLAP in Puebla, MX. He is currently based in Fort Collins, CO, where he is an Assistant Professor of Painting at Colorado State University, where he teaches painting, drawing, and socially engaged art practice courses. His work is featured in the collection of the Denver Art Museum and the Fidelity Corporate Art Collection, as well as numerous public and private collections.