Efrain Torres is an artist and producer influenced by popular and queer culture, as well as the aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s. He works across a diverse range of media, blending audio, drawing, installation, graphic design, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, and video.
Torres' current body of work explores and celebrates identity performance, queer world-making, and intrapersonal inquiry, particularly in response to his experiences growing up as a queer, first-generation Mexican-American cis man within a Catholic context. His art encourages individuals to identify with their desired roles while challenging societal expectations and questioning social constructs. Torres examines and blends the relationships between femininity and masculinity, both in sexual and non-sexual contexts, while deconstructing gender norms within Mexican-American culture—a culture deeply rooted in Catholicism and traditional gender roles. His work aims to create safe spaces that allow for the escape of social judgment and self-judgment.
Torres earned his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts with an emphasis in painting from California State University, San Bernardino, and completed his Master of Fine Arts in the Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He has exhibited his work nationally in both solo and group exhibitions, showcasing at venues such as Art Share LA (Los Angeles, CA), The Walking Gallery (Pomona, CA), the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (San Bernardino, CA), Shoshana Wayne Gallery (Santa Monica, CA), and Chaffey College Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art (Rancho Cucamonga, CA).
From 2011 to 2013, Torres was a resident artist at PermaDirty Project Space, where he curated the group exhibition "Intertwine Originals" in 2013. He was also a resident artist at Lifework Gallery and Studio in Palm Springs, California, from 2010 to 2011. Additionally, he served as Co-Director of The Walking Gallery, an alternative gallery in Pomona, California, from 2010 to 2013.
Torres' work has been featured in articles for Coyote Chronicle and Inland Empire Weekly, and it was published in The Chaffey Review, Volume IV. His pieces are part of the Robert Summer Queer Collection at Cerritos College and the archives of the California Institute of the Arts. Currently, he serves as the Visual Arts Coordinator for the City of Fontana and resides in the Greater Los Angeles area.