Riverside, CA November 19, 2024 – 

This past Tuesday, nearly 200 people gathered at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum to witness a historic moment: the unveiling of a bronze statue of Cheech Marin, created by Southern California artist Ignacio Gómez. With its outstretched arms, the statue welcomes visitors to The Cheech, embodying Marin’s passion for art and his lifelong advocacy for Chicano culture. 

The ceremony was more than an unveiling—it was a celebration of legacy, community, and shared vision. Attendees also honored the late Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, whose tireless commitment brought this project to life. A community organizer and champion of Chicano culture, Valdez-Yeager’s vision inspired the campaign to fund the statue and sustain the programming at The Cheech. 

Cheech Marin himself expressed deep gratitude during the event. Reflecting on the journey that brought his collection and this statue to Riverside, he said, “This statue is not just a reflection of my work, but of the incredible power of Chicano art to tell stories, challenge narratives, and bring us together. Riverside has become a home for this art, and I am so humbled to be part of this journey.”  

Drew Oberjuerge, Executive Director of the Riverside Art Museum, shared her appreciation for the collaborative effort behind the statue. She highlighted artist Ignacio Gómez’s dedication, saying, “Through realizing Ofelia’s vision for this sculpture, I had the opportunity to get to know artist Ignacio Gómez better. I have a greater appreciation for his technique, his versatility, his long-standing body of work, and his deep respect for Cheech Marin and what he has done for Chicano art.” 

Maria Esther Fernández, Artistic Director of The Cheech, spoke of the significance of the new addition. “The statue reflects the open arms and welcoming spirit that have come to define Cheech’s collection and his dedication to sharing Chicana/o/x art widely. It is that spirit that galvanized community members in support of creating this special center that represents the hope and vision for Chicana/o/x art in the American landscape,” she said. 

For Ignacio Gómez, creating the statue was a deeply personal honor. “Cheech’s passion for art and culture radiates through his every endeavor. Capturing his spirit in bronze was an honor, and I hope this piece will inspire future generations to embrace and celebrate their roots,” he reflected. 

The unveiling also marked the culmination of the “Meet Me at The Cheech” campaign, which raised vital funds for programming and exhibitions at the center. The campaign’s success was made possible by generous supporters, including JPMorganChase, Dr. Georgia Hill, Dwight Tate and Kathy Wright, UNIDOS for the La Causa, Inc., Latino Network, and Spanish Town Heritage Foundation.

As the crowd dispersed, many lingered to admire the statue, a new symbol of cultural pride standing at the gateway to The Cheech. For those who came to celebrate, it was clear that the sculpture was more than just a tribute to Marin—it was a testament to the power of art, the strength of community, and the enduring legacy of Chicano culture in Riverside and beyond.

Trustee Cathy Paredes shows Sheba Turk around The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, otherwise known as “The Cheech,” which features famous work and includes new and local artists.

Source: CBS News

Cheech Collects installation is in full swing for opening day on June 18

Riverside, CA (June 1, 2022) – One of the nation’s first permanent spaces dedicated to showcasing Chicano art and culture is coming together quickly with the June 18 grand opening within sight. And when the doors open, visitors to The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in Southern California will be treated to the center’s first exhibition, Cheech Collects, which weaves a story of Cheech Marin’s 40-year journey as an art collector.

Cheech Collects features works by some of the most respected Chicana/o/x artists in the world co-curated by the center’s Artistic Director, María Esther Fernández, and Todd Wingate, the Riverside Art Museum’s Director of Exhibitions and Collections. More than 40 artists are included, many of whom are pioneers, trailblazers, and rule-breakers like Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Judithe Hernández, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez.

For Marin, the exhibition is a dream come true.

“These artists channeled their creativity into bold and innovative, aesthetically complex statements,” Marin said. “Not only are these works beautiful and complex, but they also raise visibility for social justice issues, and shape our popular, political, and cultural consciousness.”

The inaugural exhibition, which runs through December 2022, features nearly 100 works from Marin’s generous gift to the Riverside Art Museum as well as from his personal collection. It includes iconic works that have toured in Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, among other notable exhibitions, as well as some that will be on view for the first time. A second iteration of the inaugural exhibition will open in January 2023.

Like Marin himself, many of the artists featured in Cheech Collects have strong roots in the Los Angeles area, while others come from places like San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas. Regardless of their hometowns, many are considered game-changers in the world of Chicano art. Indeed, when the moniker “Chicano” was born some four decades ago amid the turmoil and social unrest of America’s 1960s civil rights movements, some of these artists were already emerging as advocates for change.  

Patssi Valdez grew up in East Los Angeles as a multimedia artist and cofounder of the seminal Chicano artist collective called Asco (active from 1972 to 1987), which responded specifically to socioeconomic and political problems surrounding the Chicano community in the U.S, as well as the Vietnam War. Some of her work, including her stunning 1993 acrylic painting “Room on the Verge” will be featured in Cheech Collects.

The show will also feature the work of Frank Romero, one of L.A.’s most iconic artists, who was born in East Los Angeles in 1941. He is a founding member of the Los Four art collective whose work in the 1974 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was acclaimed as one of the first ever Chicano art shows at a mainstream museum. Guests to The Cheech will see several works including his 1996 painting “The Arrest of the Paleteros,” which illustrates “paleteros” or ice-cream vendors, being arrested in Echo Park for not having permits.

The work of another member of the Los Four art collective will also be on display. That work belongs to Judithe Hernández, who was among the first Chicana artists to break through the mainstream museum barrier. The Los Angeles-based artist first gained recognition as a muralist and is now widely known for her works in pastel of archetypal, mythical female figures. The Cheech will feature her 2017 masterpiece “Juarez Quinceañera,” which depicts the atrocities of the Ciudad Juarez femicides.

Also joining the show is Wayne Alaniz Healy, a founding member of the East Los Streetscapers, one of the first groups of artists to begin the muralist movement in the 1970s. His 1991 acrylic painting “Una Tarde en Meoqui (An Afternoon in Meoqui)” will be featured in Cheech Collects. There’s also Margaret Garcia who began her career as a muralist and was involved in the murals that swept through the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The exhibition will highlight her 2000 oil painting “Janine at 39, Mother of Twins.” Two of many Marin favorites, both paintings never left his home after they returned from the nationally touring Chicano Visions exhibition.

The Cheech, as it’s affectionately called, is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, the City of Riverside, and Marin, who pulled together what is arguably the finest private collection of Chicano art.

“This collection of work not only weaves a narrative of Marin’s 40-year career as a collector but also explores its art historical significance,” said Artistic Director of The Cheech, María Esther Fernández. “This inaugural exhibition, coupled with our entire collection, represents a massive step forward in our pursuit of shaping the art world’s perceptions and understanding of Chicanx art.”

Other artists featured in this inaugural exhibition include the late Carlos Almaraz who was a leading member of the Chicano arts movement in Los Angeles in the 1970s and ’80s, producing banners for rallies in support of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers labor union. Look for works by: Gilbert “Magú” Luján, a painter, muralist, and sculptor who was among the first U.S. artists of Mexican descent to establish an international career; Glugio “Gronk” Nicandro, a painter, printmaker, and performance artist who was also a founding member of the LA-based arts collective Asco; and Sandy Rodriguez, whose work investigates the methods and materials of painting across cultures and histories.

The doors to The Cheech haven’t opened yet, but some of the new work is already turning heads.

Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre, who hail from Guadalajara, Mexico, but now live and work on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, just finished installation of a 26-foot lenticular artwork that will greet visitors as they enter the front door of the center. Seventy artworks by the de la Torre brothers are also featured in The Cheech’s inaugural temporary exhibition.  Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective premieres at The Cheech on opening day and after closing on January 22, 2023, it will embark on a national tour supported by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino.

Tickets for opening day on June 18 are sold out, but admission for other dates to the Riverside Art Museum and The Cheech can be purchased at www.riversideartmuseum.org.

The two-story lenticular work will be front and center for visitors entering the center.

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA (April 26, 2022) — When visitors enter the doors to the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in downtown Riverside, they will come face to face with a towering Aztec earth goddess with a special message about how to save the planet.

Although the center won’t open for another two months, installation is underway on the lenticular artwork by brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre that stretches 26 feet from the ground floor to the second-level balcony. The yet-untitled large-scale installation based on Aztec earth goddess Coatlicue is a commissioned artwork for The Cheech and will greet visitors as they enter the center.

“This piece is going to turn some heads,” said Einar. “There is a myriad of ‘Easter eggs’ to find as you move and take a closer look from the perspective of both floors.” 

The image shows the goddess rising from the earth, made of flora and fauna textures, which can be interpreted as a defense of mother nature. As viewers move laterally in front of the large LED backlit lenticular, the image of the goddess changes to a Transformer-like robot made of lowrider cars. A closer look at the work reveals more details. There are solar panels and windmills dotting the background map, going from East Los Angeles to Riverside. 

Jamex said the message is clear: “We see her beckoning us back to a simpler life, using less resources and eventually living in harmony with nature,” he said. “We see technology as the only way out of the global warming debacle. So, this ‘Transformer’ is the empowering image of the future scientists coming up with creative ways to deal with the rising global temperatures.”

The vivid, ever-changing installation pays homage to its new home and points to the complexities of the often overlooked and misunderstood Inland Empire, which is now the fourth largest Latino metro region in the area. As the viewer moves around the piece, many Inland Empire-centric images and themes begin to emerge, including the area’s long history with the rail industry, its car culture, its network of freeways that are integral to the nation’s logistics industry, and its bounty of native plants and flowers that speak to growing environmental justice efforts. A map of Riverside is also visible upon closer inspection. 

The de la Torre brothers are a natural fit for The Cheech. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, and now living in San Diego, California, the brothers have navigated life on both sides of the border since they were very young and have inherited their own unique vision of the Latino experience and American culture. Their work draws from traditional Mexican folk art, pop culture, and religious imagery and mythology.

The Cheech, which is inside a mid-century building next to the historic Mission Inn Hotel, is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside, the “City of Arts & Innovation.”

Opening June 18, 2022, the center is expected to welcome more than 100,000 guests annually to explore exhibitions and engage in educational opportunities. The center will initially house nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures gifted from Marin, the third-generation Mexican American and film and TV actor who has been collecting Chicano art for four decades, including the work of the de la Torre brothers.

“When I saw the initial renderings created by the brothers, I couldn’t wait to see the real thing as I knew it would be much more than I ever expected, and it is,” Marin said.

The de la Torre brothers will also be featured as part of the center’s first temporary exhibit, Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective, which is being organized by the Riverside Art Museum in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. Curated by Selene Preciado, the exhibition encompasses almost three decades of work by the de la Torre brothers and features more than 70 mixed-media works, including blown-glass sculptures and installation art, plus some of the artist duo’s latest lenticular artwork.

RIVERSIDE, CA (April 1, 2022)—Chicano roots-rockers Los Lobos will headline a benefit concert on May 7 for the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, known as “The Cheech,” in downtown Riverside, the City of Arts & Innovation. The show, presented by Hot 103.9 and Katy 101.3, celebrates the approaching grand opening of The Cheech on June 18, 2022.

The benefit concert begins at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, 3485 Mission Inn Avenue, a few doors down from The Cheech. East LA rock band Quetzal will be the opening act, and Marin himself will be making a special appearance. Tickets start at $32 and are now on sale through Live Nation with all proceeds going to The Cheech.

The Cheech is the result of a public-private partnership between the Riverside Art Museum, Cheech Marin, and the City of Riverside.

When it opens on Saturday, June 18, The Cheech is expected to be the nation’s premier center for Chicano art and culture, welcoming more than 100,000 guests annually to explore exhibitions and engage in educational opportunities. The center will house nearly 500 paintings, drawings, and sculptures gifted from renowned comedian, philanthropist, and Chicano art collector Cheech Marin.

“We are going to make Riverside the center of Chicano art in the world,” Marin said. “And we’re going to bring the world to Riverside. Who better to celebrate this with than the best Chicano band in the world, Los Lobos?”

Over the last five decades, the East L.A.-bred band Los Lobos has made an indelible mark on music history by exploring an enormous diversity of genres—rock-and-roll and R&B, surf music and soul, mariachi and música norteña, punk rock and country—and building a boldly unpredictable sound all their own. The band released their most recent album, Native Sons, in July 2021.

Chicano art has roots in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, visually representing the social justice efforts of that time, and incorporating imagery from colonial folk art, religious iconography, indigenous traditions, graffiti art, and the melding of cultures along the US/Mexico border.

The 61,420-square-foot center, which used to be a midcentury public library, will house the work of artists such as Carlos Almaraz, Judithe Hernández, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Sandy Rodriguez, Frank Romero, and Patssi Valdez. A portion of this collection will be exhibited and toured at venues across the nation and throughout the world.

Riverside, CA (February 8, 2022)—The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum originally scheduled to open May 8 is now scheduled to open on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

Supply chain issues, contractor-related staffing shortages due to COVID-19, and unforeseen construction setbacks that come with renovating a historical building combined to necessitate this change. While unfortunate, a path forward has been established on how outstanding items will be resolved in a timely and safe manner.

“The opening has been delayed, but don’t despair!” says actor, comedian, and preeminent Chicano art collector and art advocate Cheech Marin. “We want everything to be just right so we can welcome the world in celebrating Chicano art and culture at The Cheech. Join us in June!”

The opening day of The Cheech, presented by US Bank, has been moved to June 18, 2022. A civic dedication will take place at The Cheech on Thursday, June 16, and a Gala, presented by UNIDOS, which was previously scheduled for Friday, May 6, is now set for Friday, June 17, at the Riverside Convention Center.