![]() The public will soon get an expansive view of her work at The Cheech as well, with a retrospective of Hernández's art planned for exhibition in two years.īeing a part of Los Four, Hernández said, was "wonderful and terrible all at the same time." They often "fought like crazy."Īrtist Elsa Flores Almaraz, Carlos's widow, recalls that the group often argued about the way things should be organized. "We really had to work to kind of divest ourselves of some of that stuff, especially the guys, and learn how to be more accepting and treat the other as professional equals, regardless of gender," said Hernández. Part of her integration into the group meant taking a good, hard look at how the collective viewed gender roles given their "traditional upbringings." The group voted on the suggestion and added Hernández, but decided to keep the name as Los Four because it was already so well-known. Romero also remembers being a part of the conversation. "And he felt that if a group was going to be true to its mission to be inclusive and not to observe all of the old traditional exclusions of women, he thought that women should be part of the group." "He was also probably the most fervent Marxist of the group," said Hernández. Soon, Hernández would play a large role in the collective. Tartan also directed the documentary "Murals of Aztlán: the Street Painters of East Los Angeles," which was tied to a 1981 exhibition hosted at Craft Contemporary (formerly known as the Craft and Folk Art Museum) which also featured the work of Gronk, Willie Heron, John Valadez, the East Los Streetscapers, Judithe Hernández. Each member talks about his upbringing and relationship to Chicano culture. It also shows the artists walking around their neighborhoods - Romero often with a camera in hand - and working in their studios. Romero's mother, a caterer in Boyle Heights, supplied the food for the opening.Ī documentary on the group, produced and directed by James Tartan, includes the recognizable scene of the group holding a lively discussion around a table. FOUR is spelled out vertically with LOS intersecting across it, the two words sharing an O. Romero put his graphic design skills to work, creating posters for the exhibition and brainstorming a logo with Luján. The artists' pieces spanned mediums, from spray paint to acrylic to watercolor to drawings, a clear indication that their practice was a multimedia one. The brochure listed the works by authorship, showing "collective works" then the individual artist's name with wall labels. It was, in some ways, an "extended version" of the UC Irvine show. In 1974, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art presented "Los Four: Almaraz/de La Rocha/Lujan/Romero," which was described as "an exhibition of paintings, drawings, watercolors and sculpture by four artists from the Los Angeles Chicano community." On view for two months, the exhibition included "a cooperative mural" and was organized by Hal Glicksman of UC Irvine and Jane Livingston, Curator of Modern Art at LACMA. Luján served as the connection to UC Irvine, where he got his MFA, and the show was on view from November to December of 1973. Inside the New Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Artīut it would be a 1973 UC Irvine exhibition that would eventually lead to institutional praise of their work. "It was just part of our lives in those days," said Romero. ![]() Los Four became a part of the Chicano movement in the 1970s, often creating murals with political themes and aligning themselves with groups such as the Concilio de Arte Popular, which produced the publication Chisme Art focusing on Chicano art, and Plaza de la Raza. The image captures their individual energies, even while showing how they work together as a group. Romero holds a spray paint can, while Almaraz and Luján put their fists in the air. ![]() There's a photo of the artists that often makes the rounds: it shows the four standing in front of a mural. This moniker captured their multifaceted identities as a group: Almaraz was born in Mexico City, de La Rocha in Wilmar, Romero in Los Angeles and Luján near Stockton. ![]() They wanted "something bicultural and bilingual," and Romero suggested Los Four. The story goes that Luján first introduced Romero to Almaraz and de La Rocha Romero doesn't remember an official start date to the group but it all started to come together when they decided on their name. What to Expect at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture
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