Rigo 23 (born Ricardo Gouveia, 1966) is a Portuguese-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

muralist A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, 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'' ...

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 ...

, and political artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: ''One Tree'' next to the

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

on-ramp at 10th and Bryant Street, ''Innercity Home'' on a large public housing structure, ''Sky/Ground'' on a tall abandoned building at 3rd and

Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which it ...

, and ''Extinct'' over a Shell gas station. He resides in San Francisco, California.

Early life and education

Rigo was born in 1966 and raised on the island of

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

in Portugal. In his youth he joined Center for Cultural Action (CACF) in

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its hig ...

and connected with older artists. Rigo arrived in San Francisco in 1985, using the name Rigo 85. He earned a BFA degree from

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

in 1991, and an MFA degree from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

in 1997."Walls with Tongues: Muralist RIGO 02 Speaks"
by Siobhan Fleming, ''Comet Magazine'' 3, 2002. From 1984 until 2002, Rigo used the last two digits of the current year as part of his name, finally settling upon "23" in 2003.Calendar item for 'Jam Sessions: Rigo 84–23'
"Another World is Possible" (radio show) website, ''

KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves Southern California, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet. It was the second of five stations in the non-commerci ...

.com'', January 23, 2006.

Career

San Francisco murals

Rigo is one of the founding members of

Clarion Alley Mural Project Clarion Alley Mural Project' (CAMP) is an artists' collective in San Francisco's Mission District. The mission of CAMP is to support and produce socially engaged and aesthetically innovative public art, locally and globally as a grassroots artist- ...

collective in 1992 and is still an active member, as of 2017. He is considered by some

art critics An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...

and curators to be part of the first generation of the San Francisco Mission School art movement."The Mission school"
by Glen Helfand, ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaun ...

'', October 28, 2002.Reader responses to "Marketing the Mission"
''Stretcher.org'', January 17, 2005. Many of Rigo's 20+ murals are located in the

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of the city's museum ...

(SOMA) neighborhood in San Francisco. The first of a series of San Francisco murals, the forty foot tall shield-shaped street sign mural "Innercity Home" (1995) is located in the Tenderloin neighborhood and can be seen from a distance when entering the city on the freeway. The San Francisco pop art mural "One Tree" (1995) was one of his more iconic works, it was located near a freeway ramp at 10th and Bryant streets and featuring a mural of a street sign pointing to a single tree which grew nearby. In 2012, additional trees were planted near the mural which had previously featured only a single tree, and by 2017, the mural was deconstructed, cut and moved to point the pointing sign to the freeway ramp.

Political art

Rigo's artwork has highlighted world politics and political prisoners, from the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

and the Angola Three to

Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death ...

, whose conviction for the murder of a policeman is contested, and the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...

Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and militant member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who, following a controversial trial, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two Fe ...

. Rigo create a controversial statue of Peltier that was removed from the grounds of the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was cha ...

in January 2017. In 2005, he created a statue based on the

1968 Olympics Black Power salute During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled ...

titled ''Victory Salute'', a twenty-two foot tall monument of two men:

Tommie Smith Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and former wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83&nb ...

and

John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional American football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power sal ...

. In the 1968 Olympic Games in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, these men each raised a black-gloved fist for human rights. Their simple gesture of the hand is considered as one of the most controversial statements of political and social activism in Olympic history. ''Victory Salute'' is a monument of that moment which was specifically built on the

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) ...

campus because Smith and Carlos were both student-athletes at the college.

Other work

Rigo is an occasional professor at the

."Clarion Alley Mural Project"
by Megan Wilson, ''MeganWilson.com'', 2006. He has designed several installations as part of the 2006

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

."Rigo 23"
Liverpool Biennnial 2006 artists directory. His work is in the collection of di Rosa,

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

(SFMOMA), and the Berardo Collection Museum.

Awards

This is a list of select awards. *1991 - Chauncey McKeever Award, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California *1994 - WESTF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Arts *1996 - One Tree, Best Public Art Project of the Year, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California *1997 - Stoli, San Francisco Arts Achievement Award Secession Gallery, Visual Art Residency Fellowship Award, Taiwan *1998 - SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, California *1999 - Biennal Award (under the name "Rigo 99"),

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate c ...

, New York City, New York *2006 - Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, California *2007 - Howard Fellowship,

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, Providence, Rhode Island *Creative Work Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund with Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, California

References

External links

* Video
Artists ♥ San Francisco: Rigo 23
(2016) by SFMOMA on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

*Video
Rigo 23 and lost bird posters
(May 2010) by SFMOMA * Article

by Apollinaire Scherr, ''

Metroactive ''Metro'' is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California, based Metro Newspapers. Also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', as well as ''Metroactive'' online, the paper serves the greater Silicon Valley area. In addition to prin ...

'', December 21, 1998. (Scroll down to section "This Space for 'Huh?'") * Article/interview
"In Full Site - Rigo 99"
''Loud Paper'' 3(2), 1999.

by Hank Donat, ''MisterSF.com'', 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rigo 23 Artists from California Portuguese emigrants to the United States Portuguese painters American contemporary painters American conceptual artists American muralists 1966 births Living people Madeiran artists Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Mission District, San Francisco San Francisco Art Institute alumni Stanford University alumni People of Madeiran descent American people of Portuguese descent