Carlos Almaraz

Carlos Almaraz is regarded as the leading figure of the Los Angeles Chicano Arts Movement. A member of the seminal Chicano art collective, Los Four, he and fellow members Gilbert "Magu" Lujan, Frank Romero, Beto De La Rocha—and later, Judithe Hernández—were proactive in the recognition and elevation of Chicano Art, and were given the first exhibition of Chicano Art at a major museum, at LACMA in 1974. As a supporter of Caesar Chavez, Almaraz also painted murals throughout Los Angeles depicting the civil rights struggles of Mexican Americans. These public works helped bring Chicano art to the attention of the mainstream art world.

After the dissolution of Los Four, Almaraz pursued his independent art career, developing an extraordinary range of personal iconographic symbols and images that populated his work. Some of these pictographic elements drew from Chicano, Native American and ancient Mexican cultures, but all were infused with his own personal meanings. Pyramids, volcanoes, cars, rockets, bones, bleeding hearts, nudes, raining clouds, and LA City Hall are orchestrated into dreamlike, agitated compositions with an exceptional "touch" pre-dating similar work by Basquiat. His most recognized subjects were fiery car crashes and serene Echo Park nocturnes.

Almaraz earned his MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in 1974. His paintings and prints portrayed the vitality of East Los Angeles through abstracted forms and an expressive use of bold colors. His work has been exhibited in many galleries and museums, including LACMA, MOCA, Vincent Price Art Museum, and Jan Turner Gallery.