From lectures at U.S. embassies to exhibitions in Mexico City and an upcoming collaboration alongside a Smithsonian exhibition, Diego Monterrubio is proving that world-class art doesn’t have to come from New York or Los Angeles—it can come closer to home for Kern County locals.
By Kathleen Hokit, Published September 16
Some of the world’s most accomplished artists work in cities like New York, Paris, and Mexico City.
One of them also teaches art classes in Bakersfield.
Most days, you can find Diego Monterrubio walking into a classroom at Bakersfield College or mentoring students at Central Valley High School in Shafter. It’s a role he treasures, one built on decades of experience as a professional artist whose work has traveled far beyond California.
Yet even after exhibiting internationally, lecturing abroad, and earning invitations from prestigious cultural institutions, Monterrubio remains remarkably grounded.
“I am an artist that teaches art,” he says simply. “Art has always been first before anything.”
The son of a Central Valley field worker and a Porterville dress designer, Monterrubio’s story starts far from the art capitals his work now reaches. But that philosophy, art before everything, has guided him since he was eight years old.
His grandfather, an illustrator for Coca-Cola in Mexico for more than four decades, noticed his grandson doodling one morning and invited him into his studio.
“What are you doing with this?” Monterrubio remembers his grandfather asking. “I shrugged my shoulders and said ‘I don’t know yet, but I see something.'”
The next day became the beginning of a lifelong apprenticeship.
“He started teaching me color theory,” Monterrubio recalls. “About a week later, I didn’t want to go outside and play anymore. I wanted to stay in the studio. I wanted to learn how to make art.”
More than 40 years later, that curiosity has evolved into an extraordinary career spanning painting, sculpture, collage, photography, and mixed media.
“I’ve been making art for over 40 years,” he says. “I’m a multidisciplinary artist. I pour bronze. I weld. I work with wood, mixed media, collage, sculpture. I’m just a very creative person. Sometimes I just see things that need to come to life”.
Oil painting remains his first love.
“Oil on canvas,” he says without hesitation. “Magic happens when you mix paint and apply it to the canvas.”
Yet Monterrubio has never been afraid to reinvent himself.
His newest body of work replaces paint with textiles, drawing inspiration from a lifetime surrounded by fabric through his mother, a dress designer who still runs a boutique in Porterville, California.
The series began at Thanksgiving, when he asked her to bring rolls of material from the shop so he could experiment.
“The moment we’re born, we’re wrapped in a blanket,” he says. “Textiles immediately become part of our lives.”
Instead of mixing pigments, he now hunts for the perfect fabric.
“When I’m painting, I can mix any color I want,” he says. “With fabric, if I need a certain shade, I have to go find it. I can’t compromise.”
That willingness to explore new ideas has earned international attention.
Over the past several years, Monterrubio has lectured and exhibited in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil through a residency sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. He delivered presentations in both English and Spanish while sharing his work with audiences across South America.
He has exhibited in Mexico City, where a gallery in the upscale Polanco district reached out after discovering his work online.
“They said, ‘We saw your exceptional work, and we’d love for you to show it here in Polanco,'” he recalls. “That was exciting and surreal.”
Then came another unexpected email.
The Fresno Art Museum curator contacted him about an upcoming exhibition that will coincide with a Smithsonian exhibition in 2028.
“When I read it, I had to pinch myself,” he says. “Because of this collaboration with the Smithsonian exhibition, I will permanently be part of American art history.”
Even now, the news feels almost unbelievable.
“I work hard,” he says. “At some point, you have to believe in yourself.”
Despite opportunities that have taken him around the world, Monterrubio continues choosing Kern County as home.
Diego Monterrubio was the premier artist of Art Heist 2025 at the Haberfelde. Courtesy of Diego Monterrubio
“Bakersfield and Kern County have given me everything I need,” he says.
His decision wasn’t accidental.
After years in the Bay Area, Texas, New York, and abroad, it was a family loss that finally brought him home. Returning to California for his grandmother’s funeral, Monterrubio found himself surrounded by relatives he barely recognized.
“I’d been such a rolling stone, I didn’t even know half of my own family,” he says. “That’s when I thought, maybe it’s time to come home.”
He accepted a teaching position at Bakersfield College in 2014 and has spent the past 12 years mentoring the next generation of artists.
And the meaningful work he dedicates to countless students isn’t just at the college.
Eight years ago, he accepted a position at Central Valley High School in Shafter after proposing something administrators hadn’t considered.
“I told them, ‘Graduation isn’t enough,'” Monterrubio says. “‘Let’s create a pathway to college.'”
He helped establish a dual-enrollment program that allows continuation school students to begin earning college credit while still in high school
“I came to this school specifically for these students to be successful,” he says.
His approach quickly paid off.
During his first year, one of his students earned Best of Show honors before advancing to the state competition.
“I’m happy to be there for my students,” he says. ” I want them to be successful.”
Teaching has never replaced creating.
Instead, the two continue fueling one another.
His latest series, titled La Fusión de Tres Culturas (“The Fusion of Three Cultures”), explores the identity of California’s San Joaquin Valley through the intertwined experiences of Mexican immigrants, Mexican Americans, and Chicano culture.
In his paintings, those worlds share the same frame, a farmworker, a low rider, an Aztec dancer, the three threads he sees woven through Valley life.
Growing up working alongside his father in agricultural fields inspired this body of work.
“I wanted to tell the story of our valley,” Monterrubio says. “Everyone has a story, no matter what language they speak.”
It’s that balance, creating internationally while remaining deeply rooted in the Central Valley, that defines Monterrubio’s work.
Courtesy of Diego Monterrubio
“The art community is in a really neat transition right now. I think we’re in an artistic renaissance. Downtown is becoming revitalized, people are embracing the arts, and I’m excited to be part of it.”
For an artist whose work has crossed borders, the most remarkable thing may be where he chooses to stand still.
The world’s best artists aren’t always found in the cities we expect them to be.
Sometimes they’re right here creating, teaching, and quietly building a renaissance in our own corner of the Central Valley.
Kern Magazine’s Signature Questions
What do you love most about your Kern County community?
“I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. My parents are just 50 miles away. Kern County feels like family, people really look out for you, and I’m excited to contribute to the community. and watch it grow.”
When you’re eating local, where do you go?
“I enjoy supporting restaurants throughout Bakersfield. Downtown has become one of my favorite places to explore because there are always new places opening and something different to experience.”
When you want to get out of town, where do you go?
“I’m very nomadic. I don’t usually leave Kern County for a weekend getaway—I get on a plane or train. But honestly, everything I need is here. I enjoy living here because it’s still a city where you can get anywhere in minutes, and my family is close by.”
What music are your currently vibing with?
“Because I work in different bodies of work, my music vibe changes just like the paint on my palette. I enjoy mexican boleros, sometimes a soulful low-fi vibe, definitely some old school funk, and always Caifanes.”
If you can give one piece of advice for a young creative wanting to pursue their passions, what would it be?
“Create discipline. Live by it. Fall in love with it. Whether you choose to sing, dance, perform or become a visual artist… you must fall in love with it forever. That is my passion.”
