Gilbert "Magu" Luján (October 16, 1940 – July 24, 2011) was a well known and influential
Chicano
Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
,
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
ist and
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
. He founded the famous
Chicano
Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
collective
Los Four
Los Four (active from 1973–1983) was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world.
Members
The Chicano artist ...
that consisted of artists
Carlos Almaraz
Carlos D. Almaraz (October 5, 1941 – December 11, 1989) was a Mexican-American artist and a pioneer of the Chicano art movement.
Early life and education
Almaraz was born on October 5, 1941, in Mexico City, Mexico to parents Roe and Rudolph Alm ...
,
Beto de la Rocha (Father of former
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...
frontman
Zack de la Rocha
Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Agains ...
),
Frank Romero
Frank Edward Romero (born July 11, 1941) is an American artist considered to be a pioneer in the Chicano art movement. Romero's paintings and mural works explore Chicano and Los Angeles iconography, often featuring palm trees and bright colors.
...
and himself. In 1974,
Judithe Hernández became the "fifth" and only female member of
Los Four
Los Four (active from 1973–1983) was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world.
Members
The Chicano artist ...
.
Luján was born in
French Camp, California
French Camp (from ''Campo de los Franceses'', Spanish for "Field of the Frenchmen") is an unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 3,770 as of the 2020 census. Up from 3,376 at the 2010 census, a ...
, near
Stockton, to parents of
Mexican and
indigenous ancestry from West Texas. Six months later, his family relocated to
East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010 United States Cen ...
, where he spent his childhood and adolescence, except for some time in
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
in 1944 or 1945. As a young teenager, Luján was heavily influenced by the
Afro-American music
African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slavery ...
scene in Los Angeles, for instance listening to
Johnny Ace
John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunsh ...
and
Mary Wells
Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...
. He went to
El Monte High School
El Monte High School in El Monte, California, is a public high school of the El Monte Union High School District. It is one of the oldest high schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Founded in 1901, it began operation in a single, upstairs classroom ...
, class of 1958.
Background
After serving in the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
, Luján returned home from three years in England in 1962 and began to attend college, first at
East Los Angeles College
East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...
, then to
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
, where he earned his B.A. in Ceramic Sculpture in 1969 and then to
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
, where he earned an M.F.A. in Sculpture in 1973. By this time
East L.A.
East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
had become a hotbed of socio-political and cultural activity, as the
Chicano Movement
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black ...
became a turbulent and exciting social force in the communities the U.S. Southwest. At this time, Luján began to organize art exhibits and artists' conferences to establish
Chicano Art The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement ( ...
as a valid form of artistic expression. The first of these was held at
Camp Hess Kramer, which was, according to Luján, "a Jewish camp that allowed
Mexican-Americans
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican ...
to meet there to talk about educational disparities that we had in East L.A."
In 1969, Luján curated a Chicano art show at
Cal State Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
, and during the show's run, met with various artists associated with East LA art journal ''
Con Safos''. Luján was invited to become art director of ''Con Safos'', and through this work, he met with three other like-minded Chicano artists and formed
Los Four
Los Four (active from 1973–1983) was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world.
Members
The Chicano artist ...
in the Fall of 1973 at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
.
In 1973, Los Four had their premiere exhibition at UC Irvine. In 1974, Los Four exhibited the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
's first-ever Chicano Art show, appropriately called "Los Four." This was quickly followed by several other exhibitions on the west coast. Los Four did for Chicano visual art what
ASCO had done for Chicano performance art; that is, it helped establish the themes, esthetic and vocabulary of the nascent movement. "Magu," the name by which Luján is most known, says of that time:
:''The significance of Los Four mirrored the socio-political introspection and concerns of Raza at that time besides providing some iconographic vocabulary to initiate definitions of our ethno-art forms. Our Los Four Xicano contingency ran against some Euro-aesthetic standards of the period. We, as pictorial artists, gave a visual voice to those interests of parity for our young artist constituency-culture. It was a form of cooperation binding us by our sociological circumstance, indigenous paradigms and our adopted response to unify ourselves along political cultural oriented purposes, in lieu of solely aesthetical ones.''
From 1976-1980, Luján taught at the La Raza Studies Department at
Fresno City College
Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...
becoming department chair 1980. Since then, Luján has worked full-time on his artwork, devoted to developing his aesthetic. During the years of 1999-2007, Magu held his art studio operations at the Pomona Art Colony in downtown
Pomona, CA
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polytech ...
, helping to garner appreciation and support of the arts in the city and surrounding communities. During 2005, he took on a position as art professor at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
, one of the seven prestigious
Claremont Colleges
The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)—Pomona College, Scr ...
.
In 1990 Magu was commissioned as a design principal for the
Hollywood & Vine
Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centere ...
station on the Metro Rail Red Line (
Hollywood/Vine (LACMTA station)
Hollywood/Vine station is an underground rapid transit (known locally as a subway) station on the B Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located under below the iconic Hollywood and Vine intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine ...
) in Los Angeles, California. By 1999 Magu completed a series of wall tiles and platform sculptural benches in the form of
lowrider
A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body. These customized vehicles are generally individually painted with intricate, colorful designs, rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires. Lowrider rims are generally smalle ...
automobiles. He chose the theme song, "Hooray for Hollywood," as the signature tune for the
Hollywood & Vine Metro station. A design rudder established was "light," which Luján considered another central motif in Hollywood, from the light that passed through film projectors to the sunny streets of Southern California to the creation of celebrity "Stars." The Yellow Brick Road, which was built to run from the plaza (which is currently being demolished to build a high-rise with chain restaurants and businesses) to the train platform, is a prominent motif taken from the 1939 classic movie
''The Wizard of Oz'', a movie which was an inspiration to Luján's work.
Magu's artwork became famous in its own right throughout the 1980s and 1990s as it used colorful imagery,
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
animals, depictions of outrageously proportioned
lowriders
A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body. These customized vehicles are generally individually painted with intricate, colorful designs, rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires. Lowrider rims are generally smalle ...
, festooned with Indigenous/urban motifs juxtaposed,
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
,
Dia De Los Muertos
The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...
installation altars and all sorts of borrowings from
pop-culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. Magu states:
:''"My art intentions, over the years, have been to use
Mesoamerican
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Withi ...
heritage as well as implementing current popular Art and cultural folk sources as the content substance to make Chicanarte."''
One of his sons is the
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
ist Otoño Luján, who is a member of the band Conjunto Los Pochos.
Installations and exhibitions
*
Hollywood/Vine (Los Angeles Metro station)
*
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
*
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
*
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
*
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
*
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...
* Guadalupe Center for the Arts
* Centro de la Raza, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
* "Inaugural Museum Show" at the El Paso Art Museum, El Paso, Texas
* "Le Demon des Anges", a European Art Tour, with 16 Chicano Artists in Nante & Leon, France; Barcelona, Spain; and in Sweden
* "Caliente y Picante" an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
Art Special
*
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry of the Riverside Art Museum, or The Cheech, is an art museum and academic center in Riverside, California, United States. The center will focus on the presentation and study of chicano ...
References
External links
*
*
* Images of Luján's work on Hollywood & Vine metro station:
**
**
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lujan, Gilbert
1940 births
2011 deaths
Sculptors from California
California State University, Long Beach alumni
American artists of Mexican descent
American muralists
Deaths from prostate cancer
People from French Camp, California
Military personnel from California
Art in Greater Los Angeles
Fresno City College faculty
Pomona College faculty
Hispanic and Latino American artists