Dear UC Irvine Langson Museum Community,
Join us on the UC Irvine campus next week from Monday, April 13, through Saturday, April 18, from 10 AM to 4 PM to celebrate and experience CLASS: C, a pop-up gallery created by Ruben Ochoa, who transformed his family’s Chevy van into a mobile studio and exhibition space while he was a student at UC Irvine.
CLASS: C will be parked at the Irvine Barclay Theatre plaza, located at 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine—an opportunity to encounter art outside the traditional gallery setting. CLASS: C is part of Breakdown/Breakthrough: Art and Infrastructure, on view through May 9 at the museum’s Irvine location (18881 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine). Together, these presentations explore how artists have engaged the built environment and everyday life in Southern California.
Warmly,
Your friends at UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art
Artist Talk: Ruben Ochoa
April 18, 2026, 2:00 PM
Artist Talk: Ruben Ochoa – Orange County Museum of Art | UC Irvine Langson
Join us for an artist talk with UC Irvine alumnus Ruben Ochoa (MFA 2003), whose work is featured at our Irvine location in Breakdown/Breakthrough: Art and Infrastructure, a two-part exhibition exploring how Southern California’s built environment shapes daily life here, from our movement and visibility to our sense of belonging. On view in Irvine (18881 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine) through May 16, the show features newly acquired photographs from Ochoa’s ficus series (2007); at Irvine Barclay Theatre plaza (4242 Campus Drive, Irvine), Ochoa’s mobile art gallery and studio CLASS: C will be on view April 13–18 from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Ochoa’s artist talk will explore these artworks in the context of his broader practice. He will be in conversation with the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Michaëla Mohrmann.
This program is free and open to all; no prior registration required.
About the artist
Ruben Ochoa, an interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, has spent three decades exploring space as both concept and material while addressing the sociopolitical and economic forces shaping the spaces we occupy. His notable works include Mis Marcadores (2019), a large-scale public installation at the US–Mexico border, and the AR lens ¡Vendedores, Presente! created in collaboration with LACMA and Snapchat in 2021 to support Los Angeles street vendors. Ochoa also collaborates with Revolution Carts to create art-wrapped vendor carts, which function as both tools for street vendors and social sculptures; they have been featured in such prominent venues as Frieze LA and the Hammer Museum. Through his art, Ochoa uses whimsy to reframe everyday objects, such as rebar, fence posts, tortillas, and street vendor umbrellas to provoke thought and highlight their deep sociopolitical implications.
About the curator
Michaëla Mohrmann has been assistant curator at UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art since 2022. She holds a BA in art history from Harvard University and a PhD in art history from Columbia University, where she studied modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on Latin American and Latinx art. Prior to joining UC Irvine Langson Museum, she worked as associate curatorial director at Pace Gallery and was an Andrew Mellon Museum Research Consortium Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Join us for an artist talk with UC Irvine alumnus Ruben Ochoa (MFA 2003), whose work is featured at our Irvine location in Breakdown/Breakthrough: Art and Infrastructure, a two-part exhibition exploring how Southern California’s built environment shapes daily life here, from our movement and visibility to our sense of belonging. On view in Irvine (18881 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine) through May 16, the show features newly acquired photographs from Ochoa’s ficus series (2007); at Irvine Barclay Theatre plaza (4242 Campus Drive, Irvine), Ochoa’s mobile art gallery and studio CLASS: C will be on view April 13–18 from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Ochoa’s artist talk will explore these artworks in the context of his broader practice. He will be in conversation with the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Michaëla Mohrmann.
This program is free and open to all; no prior registration required.
About the artist
Ruben Ochoa, an interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, has spent three decades exploring space as both concept and material while addressing the sociopolitical and economic forces shaping the spaces we occupy. His notable works include Mis Marcadores (2019), a large-scale public installation at the US–Mexico border, and the AR lens ¡Vendedores, Presente! created in collaboration with LACMA and Snapchat in 2021 to support Los Angeles street vendors. Ochoa also collaborates with Revolution Carts to create art-wrapped vendor carts, which function as both tools for street vendors and social sculptures; they have been featured in such prominent venues as Frieze LA and the Hammer Museum. Through his art, Ochoa uses whimsy to reframe everyday objects, such as rebar, fence posts, tortillas, and street vendor umbrellas to provoke thought and highlight their deep sociopolitical implications.
About the curator
Michaëla Mohrmann has been assistant curator at UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art since 2022. She holds a BA in art history from Harvard University and a PhD in art history from Columbia University, where she studied modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on Latin American and Latinx art. Prior to joining UC Irvine Langson Museum, she worked as associate curatorial director at Pace Gallery and was an Andrew Mellon Museum Research Consortium Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
