The Pulse 49: An Homage in the Blood of the Artist

Using his own blood as his medium, Los Angeles artist Rubén Esparza has created a series of artworks as a remembrance and an homage to the people massacred at Pulse nightclub.

On June 12, 2016, while preparing for a performance for an L.A. Pride event, Rubén heard of the news of the mass shooting. It hit a particular nerve knowing that the horrific incident happened at an LGBT gathering place on Latin night.

Rubén's work includes the names of the 49 victims, stains, and images of men kissing, all rendered with the artist's blood on large sheets of paper. The perpetrator was quoted as saying that he found the idea of two men kissing disgusting. The blood used in the work is the blood of a self-identified gay man. As such, the blood of a gay man is still seen as “infected.” Most gay men still cannot donate blood in the U.S. The drawing is placed on the bottom right of each paper panel, creating a negative space symbolizing the expanse that still separates the LGBT community from normative society. Esparza was compelled to create the work with the artistic intention to touch on the disturbing, tragic, and profound. 

The work was recently shown as part of an exhibition at the University of Minnesota, and part of an altar at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Rubén Esparza is an artist and independent curator based in Los Angeles. Esparza’s practice spans painting, drawings, and digital work, mixing it with elements of conceptualism, ethnicity, and queer culture. His curatorial work focuses on underrepresented artists primarily in the queer and ethnic communities. His work is included as part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Santa Barbara Museum, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, among others. He has created events and curated exhibitions across the United States, Latin America and Europe. He is the founder and lead curator of the Queer Biennial, anchored in Los Angeles, New York, Mexico, Miami, Paris, and Zürich.