Marc Trujillo’s North American Purgatory

Discount retailers, members-only wholesale clubs, fast food restaurants, car washes, and gas stations are some of the subjects the San Fernando Valley-based artist Marc Trujillo depicted in his visual records of “North American Purgatory”. These photorealistic paintings are depictions of the spaces and places that are not designed to be enjoyed, with people mostly just passing through them: 

"It's this little slice that we spend a lot of our lives in," he says. "I like these kind of places people don't go to be there. If I paint a USA gas station, the painting has a real chance at being more of an experience than you have when you're actually there."

image credit: Marc Trujillo via KCET