Justin Favela grew up in Las Vegas in an evangelical Guatemalan and Mexican house. But shortly after starting his art career, he realized that Mexican was the default label to many museums. 

Favela has been creating art from unique mediums for most of his life, beginning when he recreated the “Stardust” sign out of cardboard. This continued well into his time at school, when he began to poke fun at the “white canon” of the art world, what he called ‘the great whites.”

Later, he commented on cultural appropriation after a large city center was developed in Las Vegas, bringing with it a $50 million art installation claiming to show the city what real art looked like, which caused him to parody famous works of art. 

“A lot of (art) I found to be ridiculous, and I still do honestly,” Favela said. “Even though I’m part of the art world. How these white people get away with this shit is incredible.”

Favela parodied Carl Andre’s “Floor Piece” by dipping a sombrero in gesso and naming it “Floor Sombrero” and mimicked Richard Sarah’s “Stacks” by creating large Doritos stacked in different places. 

When Favela was about to graduate school, he said he felt he wanted to move on and evolve his art further. But his teacher kept trying to bring him back to explore one topic: his identity. 

“I want to make work that’s a little bit more conceptual, and my teachers kept pushing me towards making art about my identity,” Favela said. “I thought that’s so interesting, because none of my white friends are being asked to make art about their identity, you know? So I thought, ‘All right, I’m going to make the corniest, cheesiest sculpture to represent latinidad.’”

Favela said he originally intended for that piece to be his only piñata but 15 years later, he still finds himself making them — now on a larger scale. While making his piñatas, people around Favela questioned his art and the medium from which he made it. 

“’You should really think about changing your medium,'” Favela said. “I would get that all the time, and I love a challenge. So, every time somebody would say that I just double down and not change my materials and keep pushing the piñata.” 

In his time as an artist, Favela has made murals, replicas of Frida Kahlo’s house and giant taco pizzas — all out of piñatas. During this time, he said he’s explored “authentic Mexico” by observing Mexican landscapes and documenting every taco he eats. In the last few years, however, Favela said he’s felt like a husk of himself. 

“I realized that I did need a break, and I realized that I’ve just been making and going and going,” he said. “(I) haven’t had time to really reflect on my career, have time to really develop new ideas. Honestly, I’ve just kind of been phoning it in for a long time, and that just isn’t fun for me anymore. I’m not having fun making my art anymore.”

Despite having planned to collaborate with the Ulrich Museum of Art for years, Favela said he found himself almost canceling until having an enlightening conversation with one of Ulrich’s creative directors, Vivian Zavataro.

“Vivian was basically like, ‘Well, why don’t you make the show about (your burnout)?’… I really feel like I did it to myself,” Favela said. “… I feel like I’m a damn piñata. I am just the shell that people use for whatever they want.”

Favela said he realized he wanted to give back to his community and decided for every exhibit he ever did, he would collect a piñata for each. To achieve this, Favela took a road trip from Las Vegas to Wichita, collecting piñatas in a 20-foot U-Haul along the way.

“It’s been amazing taking the road trip,” Favela said. “… Some of the places there were businesses they were running out of their homes, and so that some people let us into their homes and greeted me like I was a family member. It was so beautiful.”

Favela’s friend and photographer, Mikayla Whitmore, made the long journey with him. The pair have been friends since their years as undergrads, and Whitmore said they could never grow tired of him — even on the long journey. 

“He’s just such a special spirit that over 18 years, I’ve never gotten sick of traveling or working for him in any conditions,” Whitmore said. “We’ve done stuff, hanging out together or installing, and working side by side for 24 hours straight on a three-week bender.”

Whitmore and Favela collected 116 piñatas on their road trip from Las Vegas to Wichita. Favela will display 116 piñatas in his latest exhibition, “Everything must go: Justin Favela’s closeout blowout re-grand opening,” which opened Aug. 4 on the second floor of the Ulrich Museum. Favela said he wants the exhibit to be interactive.

After he leaves, some materials will be left behind so the Wichita community can keep adding to the mural. 

On Nov. 15, Favela’s family will come down to Wichita for a fiesta at the Ulrich Museum, where they will break all the piñatas hanging from his installation.