William A. Noguera is an artist, author, and speaker whose artworks have exhibited in Paris, London, San Francisco, and New York. His recently published memoir, “Escape Artist,” has received critical praise from numerous publications, including Forbes Magazine and The Guardian. Noguera lives in Southern California. He previously lived on Death Row at San Quentin Prison and his work is represented by SE CLT Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, courtesy of the William A. Noguera Trust.

After more than four decades of incarceration, Noguera was freed in 2025.  During that time, Noguera forged a code by which he lives to this day:  accepting responsibility for his actions, educating others, and tenaciously creating an avenue for expression of hope. In the process, he explored his capacity to bring focus and clarity to his artistic vision. In a place where expectation for redemption is minimal, Noguera defeated the odds.

The range of Noguera’s artwork is broad: he first gained acclaim for his hyper-realistic montages in ink stippling, but he honed his skills over his decades on Death Row at California’s San Quentin Prison. He sculpts, paints, and creates mixed media pieces that Noguera says “allow the viewer to experience through a personal narrative the landscape of my confinement and the traps that exist there.” Throughout his artistic exploration, Noguera steeped himself in manifesting his freedom. Using crushed rocks from the prison yard, he created roughed gesso to literally break down the walls that incarcerated him. Noguera’s present abstract style is rooted in geometry, constructivism, color theory, and color field painting.

William Noguera’s Death Row Diaries, the only true crime podcast hosted from Death Row, is available to stream on Spotify, iTunes, and iHeartRadio. 

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