Brief biography
   

  Born and raised in East Los Angeles, John Zender Estrada experienced a
  rich and diverse cultural environment drawing from the strong personalities
  of the Chicano youth around him. At fifteen he lived in Mexico City where
  he gained a love and respect for Los tres grandes, the famous Mexican
  muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro
  Siqueiros.

While still in High School John won several
  competitions including an internship to California State University, Los
  Angeles (Ceramics) and at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of
  Design (fine art and life drawing).

Upon graduation from Verdugo Hills High School, John continued his fine
  arts studies with the Otis Art Institute majoring in Fine Art and Illustration.
  While attending Otis, John was influenced by the New York art scene,
  primarily the abstract-graffiti-pop expressionists. Actively involved in
  establishing the Los Angeles style of graffiti art, John was one of the many
  early pioneers that created the graffiti movement in the early eighties. John
  recreated himself as Zender (the rising mountain) and had his first one- man
  show at Otis titled "Zender-Neo Expression" in 1987.

  Deeply committed to making public art Zender has produced over 300
  murals in Los Angeles andthroughout the United States. As founder of
  Creative Art Solutions he has devoted many hours nurturing young artists
  and making a difference in many communities.

  Zender has seperated his public art from his personal paintings,  his work
  has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zero-1 Gallery,
  Pueblo Gallery, CSDI, ICU Gallery and many others. He has had several
  one man shows and many group shows, exhibiting with Chicano artists,
  Graffiti artists.
  His easel paintings have evolved from series to series. Most of his works
  from his earlier series now reside in private collections. In 1995 his work
  arrived at a spiritual turning point and began incorporating more intimate
  and personal ideas concerning spirituality into his artwork. Influenced by
  Roberto Matta, Kandinsky, Gorky, Lam, Basquiat and the Bible he began calling his painting theory The Process of Change.

"My work is influenced by the word
  of God. I want to bring eternal spiritual concepts into my work, I use
  the artistic language to communicate  life and existence. When I see a
  vision or a spiritual truth it holds so much mystery that using mere
  recognizable imagery can't reach the soul of the viewer."

A painter meets his God: A Testimony

Artist Statement :Spiritual Abstractions

EXHIBITION HISTORY

SOLO EXHIBITION

1988  “Neo-Expressionism”      Otis Art Institute Gallery                    
              Los Angeles CA, USA                    

1994  “Arte de mi Corazon”       University of Southern California
            Los Angeles, CA USA

1995   “Twisted Tenderness”   Arroyo Books Gallery        
  Highland Park, CA USA 
  
1996     “Revelations 1”         Luna Sol Café Gallery                                       
              Los Angeles, CA. USA

1996     “The Grey Planet”   HomelandCulturalCenter                                                      
              Long Beach, CA.USA

  1997 “Derranged Aesthetics”  Casa dela Raza                                                            
             Santa Barbara CA, USA

2002   “A Decade of Paint” Community Self Determination
             Institute.  Los Angeles, CA
 
2005    “Public Eye Private Heart” BlueBird Art House
             Whittier, CA

2006     “Blue Prints” Works on Paper Bluebird Art House

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1992  “Imagery in Motion” Traveling Exhibition
 LACE, SPARC, Self Help.
             Los Angeles, CA.USA

1993    “Next Step”  Zero-One Gallery
              Los Angeles, CA.  USA

1994   “Dia de los Muertos” Otra Vez Gallery
              Self Help Graphics
              Los Angeles CA, USA

1994   “Urban Revisions” Museum of Contemporary Art
              Los Angeles, CA USA 
 

1995 “Villa y Zapata”  Homeland Cultural Center                                     
              Long Beach, CA. USA                                           

1996 “Grito de Nuestras Almas”  Exhibiting with Yolanda Gonzalez                    
               Al’s Finger Print Gallery                                   
               Long Beach, CA. USA

1998     “Alma De La Raza”   Alwun House                                                     
               Phoenix AZ, USA
 
1999    “Paintings from the other side”  Exhibiting with Roberto de la Rocha                   
              La Luz Gallery                                                       
              Long Beach CA, USA

2001    “Knowledge Acquired Wisdom Applied”
                 Rock Rose Gallery
                 Los Angeles, CA

2001 “Where the Paint Flows” March
          “LA City Giants” August
       CSDI GALLERY
        Los Angeles, CA
 
2002      “Urban Art” ICU ART GALLERY
                Los Angeles, CA      
    

2004      “The Prophet” Bluebird Art House
                Whittier, CA

2005      “Dia De Los Muertos”
              Casita Del Pueblo
              Whittier, CA
              Blue Chips Gallery
              Self Help Graphics

2005     “2 to the Dome” Crewest Gallery
              Alhambra, CA      

 
 
2006     “City of LA Urban Cityscapes” Bluebird Art House
               Whittier, CA      
 

2006     “Dawn to Dawn ” Seeds
               Traveling art exhibition, CA 

2007     “You Call this Art? ” Buckwild Gallery
               Venice, CA