Multidisciplinary artist Alex Lujan was in his home studio when he began drawing on a Post-It note. At the time, he was thinking about how much he missed his father. He drew a man with a thick mustache, wearing long, pointy crocodile boots, holding a beer in one hand and a stirring paddle in the other. That first drawing of his father, who goes by Chappy, inspired Lujan’s signature character Bandito, a mean-mugged Tejano father who's a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, drives a dropped truck and loves beer.
Lujan created Bandito, a cartoonish, comical Tejano outlaw about four years ago. What started as a character featured in Lujan’s drawing has become a fixture in his work included in everything from paintings to animations to even a clothing brand called Bandito Trucking. The character has resonated with audiences because he said people notice a close resemblance to the father figures in their lives.
“[Bandito] is like this guy that’s real tough and he's a gangster, but when he comes home, it’s like his wife wears the pants,” he said. “This guy is still a family man, he still has a soft side.”
Originally from Odessa, Texas, Lujan said he remembers being around his Mexican family all the time when he was younger. When his parents divorced, he moved away with his mother and became disconnected from his Hispanic heritage.
“I moved and kind of lost that feeling I had when I was a kid, like my Hispanic side,” he said. “As I got older and started making that art, I think I was just trying to kind of reconnect with my roots and my family back home.”
Some of the memories Lujan shared with his mother were watching country-music videos all day on CMT and her filming him singing and performing. He incorporates those moments into his work, too, by making animated country-music videos featuring Bandito that he primarily shares on Instagram. The songs in the music videos, such as “Chappy” and “X-Bar,” are original tracks he wrote and recorded with Dallas producer Dustin Cavazos.
“I was making music with my buddy and neither of us like to be in front of the camera, so he was just like, ‘Hey, let’s make a little character animation for our songs,’” Lujan said. “I guess people would think they were funny or liked the music, and reshare it.”
Bandito, just like most of Lujan’s artwork, is loosely based on Lujan’s life. The Austin-based artist, who identifies as half-white and half-Mexican, blends Texas and Mexican culture and is influenced by his Mexican roots and memories growing up in West Texas. His love for skateboarding inspired his trashy, heavy metal style and his animations.
“There’s a bunch of mediums I play with, and if you look at all the artwork, it’s like real sketchy and not fine-tuned,” he said. “Even the animations or the music, nothing is super polished. It’s mostly just kind of being an outlaw. I try not to put it in a box.”
Lujan’s work has been displayed in galleries across the country and overseas, and even though he’s based in Austin, he has a big following in Dallas. Last December, he had his first pop-up at Malcriadas Collective’s “Noches De Nostalgia” art show at the Latino Cultural Center. Some of the pieces he showcased were Bandito sculptures that he made with cardboard, masking tape, wires and acrylic. He also airbrushed pieces live for attendees.
“I instantly fell in love [with his work] because a lot of his work reminds me of our work,” BB Velez, co-founder of Tejano streetwear brand Malcriadas Collective, said. “I feel like there’s not that many of us that do art like that, and I think it’s definitely important to show where you came from and to remind people that it’s OK to be from here and from over there.”
Lujan said people seemed to enjoy his previous works, but Bandito took things to another level.
“My goal is to get people to connect with it,” Lujan said. “There are people from all different races that show me love for this stuff. It’s like crossing a bunch of different cultures.”
Last year, Lujan expanded Bandito Trucking beyond a clothing line and published the first series of Bandito Trucking coloring books for children. The books include illustrations by Lujan of some of his childhood memories such as birthday parties, riding horses and rolling in laundry carts at washeterias. When asked what comes next for the Bandito brand, Lujan said, “Stay tuned.”
You can follow Lujan’s work on Instagram @playerunderpressure_ and @banditotrucking or visit his website.
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