Joe Ayala - United States of America
About the artist
Member since the very beginning
Joe Ayala was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1976. Shortly after his birth, he moved to Lorain, Ohio where he lived for twenty-five years. After a year and a half stay in Orlando, Florida, he returned to Ohio, this time to Cleveland to pursue his career in art. Joe’s artwork contains many diverse styles jumping from cartooning and illustration to fine art with inspirations ranging from John Sargent, Edgar Degas, Leonardo DaVinci and Pablo Picasso to Andy Warhol, John Lennon and R. Crumb. It is not unusual to view one of his exhibits and see a humorous cartoon hanging next to one of his fine paintings inspired by master artists. “I express myself through my artwork of course, and there’s no better way than to use different styles...to convey various emotions in each piece that is more obvious to see rather than subliminal.” Joe is fast becoming one of the top emerging and respective artists in the Cleveland area. He is the founder and director of his own art group Museo de Ayala. He has organized and curated all five of his successful solo shows in 2005 and has participated in more than ten group exhibitions in Cleveland and Orlando since 2004. This year he will promote, curate and participate in two group shows and a solo exhibition in Cleveland. He is the current director of “The Fellowship” a Cleveland artists organization which includes nationally known artists from The Cleveland Museum of Art to local emerging painters, illustrators, poets and sculptors. He is currently organizing and participating in the first ever Fellowship exhibition this May. His resume of past and current connections of organizations and institutions include The Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Cleveland State University, Café Bellas Artes, The Cleveland Arts Organization, Universal Studios and Image Comics to name a few. His works can be found in various public and private collections in Cleveland, New York City, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and Ontario, Canada.
