Artist debuts ‘Vintage Urban Collection’

In his paint-coated shorts and T-shirt, Alexander P. Huerta furiously creates a new piece every day inside his Peacenart studio in the Arts Factory.

He knows he is blessed to be an artist and doesn’t want to waste his gift.

It was nearly two decades ago when he picked up a paintbrush to dabble with his creativity and found his calling from God to be an artist.

"I surrendered to the creator and accepted my calling," he says. "Now I do art every day."

More than just painting to paint, Huerta wants his mixed-media artworks and his gallery space to be a blessing to other people.

Huerta hopes his new exhibit — "The Vintage Urban Collection," opening Thursday at the Sahara West Library and continuing through Oct. 4 — will have the same impact. An artist's reception is planned for 5 p.m. Thursday.

"But I don't have high expectations," he adds. "I'm just going to do what I do."

Huerta, 48, never thought about being an artist as a younger man.

Working for Harrah's Las Vegas for 13 years, he had few goals for his life.

"It was booze, boobs and going to work to pay bills," he recalls. "I thought that was the end of it. I thought if I was lucky enough, maybe I would marry someone and have kids."

But everything started to change the day he wandered into an art gallery on the Strip in 1995.

"That's when God rerouted my life," he says.

Staring at "Le Reve" by artist Pablo Picasso, Huerta never noticed how imperfect the beautiful painting really was. The lines didn't always connect. The shapes weren't always complete. And yet the artwork created a deep desire in him to actually paint. He thought about it for a year, but he was delayed by health concerns.

"Nov. 4, 1996, I had got a kidney transplant I had been waiting for," he says. Born with a kidney that functioned at 80 percent, he spent a lot of time at dialysis.

After the transplant, Huerta felt it was time to commit to changes. He picked up the brush and began to paint. It wasn't an immediate success and, in fact, matters became worse.

"I had hit rock bottom in 2001," he recalls. "I thought my life was over. I had spent years drinking and gambling and living the typical Vegas lifestyle."

But then, Huerta says, he heard God tell him he was an artist. From then on, he felt he had a purpose and began to live it out.

"I got it in my head that I needed to start doing art every day," he says.

Huerta decided to look for an arts community and found the Arts Factory.

"I remember him setting up his easel outside of the Arts Factory during First Friday," says Dray Wilmore, a local artist who Huerta says mentored him. "It was nice to see him dive into his art."

Throughout the years of painting and creating, Huerta says Wilmore gave him plenty of advice.

"He would always tell me, 'They won’'t know what you do until you show them what you do,' " Huerta says.

Seven years ago, he decided to purchase space in the Arts Factory.

"I had gotten a commission," he says. "I thought I could either spend it on doughnuts and Sunkist (soda) or actually invest in the space."

His investment proved to be a wise one, because he says he felt he had plateaued working at home. Moving into his new space and being around other creative minds helped him with his art.

His current neighbor is his former mentor, Wilmore.

"It's nice to have him around," he says. "It's like bringing him into the family."

Huerta's first artistic style was called controlled chaos, which featured a lot of bold colors. He did that for years until in 2013 he decided to experiment.

"That's when I created 'vintage urban,'" he says. "It was the total opposite with very little color. But it has been the most successful."

He has sold entire series of artworks and even designed art for CD covers.

"The Vintage Urban Collection" debuts his work in this style.

Outside his Arts Factory studio, Huerta has partnered with other artists for shows around town and even painted murals — once across from the Arts District.

"He has definitely come into his own," Wilmore says.

"The Vintage Urban Collection" at the Sahara West Library is his first solo gallery.

Back at his own gallery, Huerta is reflecting yet another style.

"I'm back to lots of color," he says.

Pieces reflect some of the issues he has dealt with, such as that past mentality of ’booze, boobs and paying the bills for work.’

Huerta says he will continue to do work in his urban collection style. He is hoping to branch out and do galleries or exhibits in California.

"No matter what happens or how big I get, I was born as an artist in Vegas," he says. "I've been so blessed here. I will always be here for the arts community."

Contact reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5201. Follow @mjlyle on Twitter.