Biography

Aníbal López (A-1 53167), full name Aníbal Asdrúbal López Juarez (April 13, 1964 – September 26, 2014) was an artist and a native of Guatemala. He began his career creating figurative art influenced by expressionism. He has worked in several media, including acrylic and oil on canvas, photography, and video. In the 1990s he and other Guatemalan artists such as Regina José Galindo began creating art "actions" or live art, a combination of street art, performance art, minimalism, and conceptual art. A-1 53167 is the code name (his Guatemalan ID card number) that Aníbal López has used since 1997 to sign many of his art actions as a way to show how he questions codes of information regarding identity. The effect is to erase an ethnic-specific sense of belonging and perhaps to resist the impulse of art consumers to categorize him in preconceived categories such as indigenous, Mayan, or Guatemalan.