Roberto Chavez (born Roberto Esteban Chavez; August 3, 1932) is an American artist,[1] known for his personally symbolic portraits, public murals and "funny-grotesque" paintings [2] that reflect the multicultural landscape of
Los Angeles. He was recently included in the Getty Center's
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 and the
Smithsonian’s Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art exhibits.
Background
Chavez was born in Los Angeles, California to Mexican immigrants who left the chaos and dangers of post-Revolution Mexico. Chavez and his seven siblings were raised in the Maravilla neighborhood in
East Los Angeles, which at the time was inhabited by a mixture of working class families, mostly Latino, but also Jewish, Mexican, Armenian, Italian, Russian and Japanese emigres.[3]
Education
Chavez earned his
Master of Fine Arts in 1961 at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he met and worked alongside
Charles Garabedian,
Gordon Rice,
Eduardo Carrillo and
Maxwell Hendler. In the early 1960s, Chavez became part of the "emerging gallery scene along La Cienega Boulevard"[4] at the Ceeje Gallery, which in contrast to the
Ferus and Landau Galleries that often exhibited New York artists, highlighted local, ethnic and women artists.[5]
Murals
In the mid-1970s, Chavez began painting public murals[6][7] throughout the city of Los Angeles, especially East L.A. where the La Raza political movement was gaining ground.[8] His 1972 anti-war mural Porque Se Pelean? Que No Son Carnales became part of artist Sandra de la Loza's Mural Remix.[9] show at
LACMAMural Remixed.
In 1974, Chavez painted The Path to Knowledge and the False University, a 200-foot mural on the East Los Angeles Community College campus,[10] where he worked as an arts educator and chair of the Chicano Studies department. Although the mural was destroyed by the college, the mural, its impact and the political questions surrounding the destruction were detailed in two museum exhibits: "Roberto Chavez and The False University: A Retrospective" at the Vincent Price Museum[11] and "Murales Rebeldes: L.A. Chicana/o Murals under Siege"[12] Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Beyond Borders in 2017.
MURALES REBELDES!: Contested Chicana/o Public Art, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, September 2017 - March 2018; San Francisco, California Historical Society, April - September 2018; Sacramento, California Museum, July - December 2019.[16][17]
A Universal History of Infamy, August 2017 - February 2018,[18] LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Art Along the Hyphen: The Mexican-American Generation[22] Autry National Center, Los Angeles October 2011 - January 2012
L.A. Raw: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles, 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy, Pasadena Museum of California Art 2012 [23] January - May 2012
^"Advance of the Rear Guard: Ceeje Gallery in the 1960s". Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery. ArtCenter School of Design. Retrieved 16 September 2023. A historical look at one of the most diverse galleries in 1960s Los Angeles.