The Art of Chaz Bojorquez
interview / liz rice mccray
We welcome the living legend, the pioneering “Godfather” of modern Los Angeles “cholo-style” graffiti, Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez to this months’ cover. Bojórquez has been speaking the visual language and artistry of Chicano graffiti since 1969 and is acknowledged for taking his art form from the streets and transitioning it into the established art world. Thus succeeding in creating art that is both influential and impactful on multiple social levels, while forever staying true to his graffiti roots. Bojórquez was born in 1949 in East Los Angeles where he grew up and started writing, developing and cultivating the aesthetics of his distinctive graffiti style and signature lettering. In the ’60’s, Bojórquez started preferring the use of brushes and paint and markers over spray paint. In 1969 Bojórquez created his most famed tag, Señor Suerte, inspired by Mexican folklore, an extremely iconic and important image of the Chicano urban art movement. Bojórquez attended Chouinard Art School (known today as Cal Arts) where he studied figure painting and ceramics and independently studied Asian calligraphy from Master Yun Chung Chiang (Master Chiang studied under Pu Ju, brother of the last Emperor of China). This is where he credits learning the fundamentals of what art is – “a foundation structuring ideas within your mind.” Bojórquez worked as a commercial artist in advertising and film, including logos for movies The Warriors and Turk 182 and master inking for The Empire Strikes Back, the Muppet movies, and James Bond. Chaz Bojórquez paintings are in numerous permanent museum collections including, The Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of American Art, LACMA, MOCA, National Hispanic Cultural Center and Laguna Art Museum.
We’re honored to receive some images of a few of Chaz’s plein air drawings, never previously released for public viewing. He usually reserves these pieces for gifting to family and friends. We hope you enjoy! See More Of Chaz Bojórquez’s work on Instagram, @ Chaz_Bojorquez, at Facebook, @ChazBojorquez.