I learned to paint on the West Coast, so naturally I inherited several aspects of that school, namely respect for the human figure and a strong interest in color.

After several trips to Mexico, I took great interest in murals and developed an understanding of scale. Seeing Tamayo, Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco left and indelible impression on me that was to play a vital part in my life and my work during my East L.A. years (about 1972-1979).

By 1965 I was ready to visit the big city of New York, the center for American culture. I spent five years studying abstract Expressionism, contemporary ideas of minimalism, conceptualism, and performance art. I was very dissatisfied with these movements and even more so with the New York gallery scene, so I returned to Los Angeles to paint murals in the streets and to help the farm workers, finally establishing my studio in downtown L.A.

I was invited to show with the Jan Turner Gallery, and this has been the single most important event in my career. I paint and draw what I see, what I feel, and reflect much of my Mexican background in this process.

Click on the images to the right for an enlarged view --->