Charles "Chaz" Bojórquez, born Los Angeles, CA 1949 Search this
Medium:
oil, zolatone, aluminum paint and aluminum leaf on canvas
Dimensions:
56 3/8 x 88 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. (143.2 x 224.2 x 8.9 cm.)
Type:
Painting
Date:
1992
Gallery Label:
Charles "Chaz" Bojórquez began his artistic career "tagging" his neighborhood of Highland Park, Los Angeles, in the early 1970s. Though he now paints on canvas instead of on walls, his work references the history and aesthetics of urban graffiti. The artist's calligraphic letters are adaptations of Cholo-style writing, one of the oldest forms of graffiti. It was invented by Mexican Americans in the 1940s, when gangs marked their territories with roll-calls, or lists of names. In Somos la Luz, Bojórquez created a roll-call of prominent Los Angeles graffiti artists. The title translates as "we are the light."
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program