Roberto Chavez: Portraits

Roberto Chavez (1932-2024) was a gutsy chronicler of the human condition, looking to others as reflections of himself, of life at large. Born in Los Angeles to parents who came to California after the Mexican Revolution, Chavez was captivated by family and community from a young age. This exhibition includes dynamic self-portraits showing a personal evolution across the years; moody images of Chavez’s wife and children rendered with careful attention to color and shadow; and larger paintings combining Chavez’s expressionist figuration with symbolic, abstract elements. In the 60s, alongside Eduardo Carrillo, Charles Garabedian, and Louis Lunetta, Chavez exhibited at the seminal Ceeje Gallery—one of the first to represent a diverse range of artists, including Latino, Black, Asian, male, female, gay, straight, young, and old. Portraits highlights Chavez’s emphasis on connection—on attention to the individual as a way of honoring universal human experience—and embodies the artist’s highest goal: to “make paintings that came alive.”

In 1961, Chavez received his MFA from UCLA, where he studied with William Brice and John Paul Jones, but he turned away from the abstraction of his teachers in favor of figurative, symbolically-charged work. Part of the diverse roster at the iconoclastic Ceejee Gallery, Chavez painted his community and contemporaries in everyday moments, amid the scenery of the era—standing on the sidewalk, frowning in the bedroom—or grappling with the issues of the times—like worker strikes, student walkouts, and anti-war rallies. As the “Spiritual Father of Chicano Art,” Chavez shaped the first-wave Chicano art movement. He was extremely active in the Chicano art scene of East LA, serving as a mentor, role model, and collaborator to many artists, including Asco members Willie Herrón and Gronk; Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert “Magu” Luján, and members of the collective Los Four; Oscar Castillo; Ofelia Esparza; Margaret Garcia; Roberto Gutiérrez; Leo Limón; Joe Rodriguez; and John Valadez. In 1969, Chavez co-founded the Chicano Studies Department at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) amid widespread campus protests and resistance.