Getty PST: LA/LA; My Barrio: Emigdio Vasquez and Chicana/o Identity in Orange County

Ken Gonzales-Day, Ramiro Gomez, Cynthia Herrera, Dulce Soledad Ibarra, Patrick Martinez, Shizu Saldamando, Alejandro Sanchez, Ana Serrano

Co-curated with Denise Johnson, Natalie Lawler, Fiona Lindsay Shen

September 13, 2017 – January 5, 2018

Chapman University’s Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA

My Barrio: Emigdio Vasquez and Chicana/o Identity in Orange County; Catalog

Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA - Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles

Vankin, Deborah. The godfather of Chicano art — and the son who’s keeping his memory alive, Los Angeles Times, September. 18, 2017

Emigdio Vasquez (1939-2014) was a prolific artist who painted over 30 public murals in Orange County between 1976 and 2006. His murals celebrated the Chicana/o cultural movement, depicting local people and places alongside imagery from Mexican and Mexican-American history. His 1979 mural, El Proletariado de Aztlán, is located on a Chapman University-owned triplex on North Cypress Street, Orange, and was restored by the artist’s son in 2014.

In addition to his work as a muralist, community leader, and advocate for youth, Vasquez produced a large body of oil paintings which document Chicana/o community life. The Guggenheim Gallery brings together a group of these works alongside contemporary artists. Identifying Vasquez’s mural and related paintings as a bridge shared by the Orange community and Chapman University, the exhibition will nourish dialogues concerning the emergence of Chicana/o politics, identity, and artistic sensibilities in the North Orange County region