| Rupert García | |
| Other Names: | Rupert Garcia |
| Birth Place: | French Camp, California, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation: | Visual artist, educator |
| Employer: | San Jose State University |
| Known For: | Painting, pastel art, screen printing |
| Movement: | Bay Area Chicano Art Movement |
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 posters, and screen prints. In 1970, he co-founded the Galería de la Raza in San Francisco.[1] [2] [3] He is a professor emeritus of art at San Jose State University since 2011.
Rupert García was born in 1941 in French Camp, an agricultural town in the San Joaquin Valley. He grew up in the nearby city of Stockton.
García studied painting at a junior college, and enrolled at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) to study pop art. He graduated from with a BFA degree in painting in 1968.[4] During his study in San Francisco State College, he joined the anti-war movement and participated in the 1968 student strike organized by the Third World Liberation Front.[5] In 1981, he has received an MFA degree in printmaking, an MA degree in art history and a PhD in art education from the University of California, Berkeley.[6]
García served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, participating in Operation Rolling Thunder.[6] [7] During his study in San Francisco State College, he joined the anti-war movement and participated in the 1968 student strike organized by the Third World Liberation Front. In 1968, he decided to stop painting and made political posters condemning violence against Latinos, blacks and other minorities in the United States. He stopped painting until the mid-1970s, instead creating political posters denouncing violence against Latinos and Blacks in the United States.
In 1970, Galería de la Raza was founded by artists including García, Chuy Campusano, Ralph Maradiaga, Peter Rodríguez, René Yañez, Francisco X. Camplis, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, and Rolando Castellón.[8] [9] It was a non-profit art gallery and artist collective that featured Latino and Chicano artists in the Mission District of San Francisco.
In 1988, he taught in San Jose State University, in the school of art and art history department and retired in 2010. Since 2011 to present, he is the Professor Emeritus of Art, in San Jose State University.
In 2011, he exhibited at the de Young museum.[10] His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art,[11] Smithsonian American Art Museum,[12] Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery,[13] National Gallery of Art,[14] San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[15] Oakland Museum of California,[16] Hood Museum of Art,[17] and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts.[18]
| Politics and Provocation: The Posters of Rupert Garcia, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC | ||
| 2003 | Another Look at the 1960s and 70s, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA | |
| 2006 | Los Perros, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA | |
| 2011 | Vintage Prints and Posters, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CAThe Magnolia Editions Projects 1991–2011, De Young, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA | |
| 2018 | Rupert Garcia: Rolling Thunder, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA |