Rolando Castellón, also known as Rolando Dionisio Castellón-Alegria (born 1937) is a

Nicaraguan American A Nicaraguan American (, ''nicaragüense-estadounidense'', or ) is an American of Nicaraguan descent. They are also referred to as "nica" or "nicoya". The Nicaraguan American population at the 2010 Census was 348,202. Nicaraguans are the el ...

painter, author, art historian, and curator. He was a well-known contributor to the arts of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and he has lived in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

since 2013.

Biography

Rolando Castellón was born in 1937 in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1983. In 1966, he was a co-founder of the Casa Hispana de Bellas Artes in the

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...

of San Francisco. By 1970, Castellón was a co-founder of

Galería de la Raza Galería de la Raza (GDLR) is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective founded in 1970, that serves the largely Chicano and Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, a ...

, alongside

Ralph Maradiaga Ralph Maradiaga (1934–1985) was an American artist, curator, photographer, printmaker, teacher, and filmmaker. He was Chicano, one of the co-founders of Galería de la Raza and part of the San Francisco Bay Area Chicano Art Movement. Biograph ...

Rupert García Rupert García (born in 1941), is an American Chicano visual artist, and educator. He is known as a painter, pastellist, and screen printer. In the 1960s, he led a Chicano movement against 'Yankee' culture through the production and use of poster ...

Peter Rodríguez Pete(r) Rodríguez or Rodriguez may refer to: * Peter Rodríguez (curator) (1926–2016), American artist, curator, and museum director * Peter Rodriguez (economist) (born 1968), American economist and professor * Peter Rodriguez and companions ( ...

, Francisco X. Camplis, Gustavo Ramos Rivera,

Carlos Loarca Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, Chuy Campusano, and

René Yañez René Yañez (19 September 1942 – 29 May 2018) was a Mexican-American painter, Assemblage (art), assemblage artist, performance artist, curator and community activist located in San Francisco, California. He was a well-known contributor to the a ...

. He served as a curator at

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

(SFMoMA), from 1972 to 1981; and at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, from 1994 to 1998. His first retrospective art exhibition, ''Rolando Castellon: A Legacy of Mud, Post-Columbian Objects, 1981–1997'' (1997) was held at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

Bibliography

* * * * *

References

External links

SFMOMA 75th Anniversary: Rolando Castellón, conducted by Jess Rigelhaupt, 2007
by

Regional Oral History Office The Oral History Center is part of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The office was founded in 1954. OHC conducts, analyzes, teaches about, and preserves oral history interviews on a wide range of topics related to the ...

, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley {{US-painter-1930s-stub Living people 1937 births American people of Nicaraguan descent People from Managua Nicaraguan painters 20th-century Nicaraguan artists Hispanic and Latino American artists American curators Costa Rican curators