Roberto Isaac "Beto" de la Rocha (born November 26, 1937) is an American

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 ...

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

, and

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. He was part of the

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 ( ...

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

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 ...

for a few years. De la Rocha was also influential in re-establishing the traditional

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

celebration of the

Day of the Dead 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 ...

in Los Angeles. He is the father of

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 ...

vocalist and lyricist

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 Against ...

Career

In 1973, he joined the influential

collective

. The group, composed of

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 ...

, Frank E. Romero,

Gilbert "Magu" Luján Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

, and de la Rocha, was responsible for numerous murals and

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

installations in the Los Angeles area. According to Luján, he and de la Rocha emphasized "indigenous and local" aspects of Chicano art, while the other two members were more interested in the European tradition. The group was also one of the first to draw mainstream attention to Chicano art, exhibiting at 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 ...

in 1974. According to

Judithe Hernández Judithe Hernández (born 1948) is an American artist and educator, she is known as a muralist, pastel artist, and painter. She a pioneer of the Chicano art movement and a former member of the art collective Los Four. She is based in Los Angeles ...

, the first female member of Los Four, de la Rocha was also a "brilliant printmaker", much whose imagery was drawn from "his ery fragilemental state".

Reestablishing the Day of the Dead in Los Angeles

De la Rocha was also influential in establishing the traditional Mexican celebration of the

in Los Angeles, when he, along with Chicano artist

Gronk ''grOnk'', or GRoNK, was a Canadian literary magazine begun in 1967 by bpNichol and others (for example, David Aylward, David W. Harris (later David UU; co-editor for the first series (8 issues, 1967), and editor of most of the seventh series ( ...

and a few others, led a

procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

from Evergreen Cemetery up First Street in

Eastside Los Angeles The Eastside is an urban region in Los Angeles County, California. It includes the Los Angeles City neighborhoods east of the Los Angeles River — that is, Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Los Angeles, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, Lin ...

. Luján later said that de la Rocha "should be given credit for initiating this process—almost single-handedly. And what he did, he didn't get funding or he didn't ask permission from anybody, he just went and did it." According to ''

The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted to ...

'', he was also the art editor of the

United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...

publication '' El Malcriado''. In 1974, de la Rocha, along with the other founding members of Los Four, was featured in a documentary entitled ''Los Four/Murals of Aztlan''. In 1999, de la Rocha was featured in a joint showing with Los Angeles artist John Zender at La Luz gallery in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Rocha, Roberto American people of Spanish-Jewish descent American artists of Mexican descent Painters from California California State University, Long Beach alumni Living people People from Los Angeles County, California Hispanic and Latino American artists 1937 births