The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture facts for kids

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum

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Former name	Riverside Public Library
Established	June 18, 2022
Location	3581 Mission Inn Ave Riverside, California United States
Type	Art museum
Architect	Ficks & Ficks, 1964

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, often called The Cheech, is a special art museum in Riverside, California. It's part of the larger Riverside Art Museum. This center focuses on showing and studying Chicano art from all over the United States.

The Cheech was created through a team effort. Cheech Marin, a famous comedian, actor, and art collector, donated his large collection of Chicano art. The City of Riverside provided the old public library building to house the art. The Riverside Art Museum then manages the center. The Cheech aims to be a top place for learning about Chicano art. It is the first museum in North America dedicated only to Mexican-American and Chicano art.

How The Cheech Got Started

After a successful art show of Cheech Marin's collection in Riverside in 2017, the city and museum asked him about making a permanent home for his art. Marin liked the idea of keeping his collection together. He also liked that Riverside values history and art, has a large Latino population, and is close to five universities. Two of these universities already had programs for studying Chicano culture, which helped convince Marin that Riverside was the perfect spot.

To raise money, a campaign called "Reach for the Cheech" began in 2017. By May 2018, they reached their first goal of three million dollars, thanks to a big donation from Altura Credit Union. Later, the State of California added $9.7 million, which covered most of the money needed for renovations. By December 2019, Bank of America also gave $750,000, bringing the total raised to almost $14 million.

The Museum Building

The Cheech museum is located in what used to be Riverside's main library. This building is about 61,420 square feet and is near the famous The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. The building was designed in 1964 and has two main floors plus a basement. It was renovated to become an art museum and learning center.

Outside, the building has eight large concrete screens, each weighing 17 tons. These screens have diamond patterns, and each diamond ends with a dove. These doves were put there to show a hope for peace.

Inside, a special reception area was created near the entrance. To make this area look amazing, glass artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre created a huge art piece called Gaiatlicue. This artwork is 26 by 13 feet and changes how it looks as you walk past it. It combines images of the Greek goddess Gaia and the Aztec goddess Coatlicue. The artwork is made from plants, animals, and parts of lowrider cars, and it talks about climate change.

What The Cheech Does

The Cheech has different galleries for art. Some galleries show a changing selection of art from the museum's permanent collection. Near the entrance, there is a community gallery for local artists. The second floor is used for large traveling art shows. The first temporary exhibit featured the de la Torre brothers, who are known for their glass sculptures.

The museum also helps people learn through art shows, catalogs, talks, films, and other events. Staff members lead tours for groups, including school children. Students from local colleges can also get internships, which helps them learn how to work in museums. Cheech Marin and local leaders hope The Cheech will bring new life and culture to Riverside.

The Art Collection

The first collection, given by Cheech Marin, includes over 700 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs. He collected these over 30 years. The collection shows many different types of Chicano art. Marin became famous in the 1970s as part of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. He is known for having one of the largest and most important private collections of Chicano art in the world.

The Center is also adding new art beyond Marin's collection. For example, two works by Judithe Hernández were bought and shown in the first exhibition.

Past Exhibitions

Cheech Collects

Cheech Collects was the very first exhibition of the museum's permanent collection. It ran from June 18, 2022, to May 14, 2023. It showed 120 artworks, mostly from Cheech Marin's collection, with many artists from California and Texas.

Some notable works from Texas included Vincent Valdez's painting Kill the Pachuco Bastards, which shows the Zoot Suit Riots from 1943. Cesar Martinez had paintings like Hombre que le Gustan las Mujeres. Other artists like Rubio, Adan Hernandez, and Candelario Aguilar, Jr. also had works displayed. Benito Huerta's Exile off Main Street was a new version of a famous painting by Picasso. Gaspar Enriquez's Charolito told the story of a young woman whose mother stopped her from making art.

From California, highlights included the two Judithe Hernández pieces. Works by Gronk, such as La Tormenta Returns, were featured near the entrance. George Yepes' La Pistola y el Corazón was a large version of his most famous painting. Carlos Almaraz's Sunset Crash showed car crashes against beautiful backgrounds. John Valadez's Getting Them Out of the Car showed everyday city violence. Frank Romero’s Arrest of the Palateros was a funny take on police arresting street vendors. Eloy Torrez's It’s a Brown World After All was a portrait of Cheech Marin. Two small paintings by Ana Teresa Fernández showed the artist dancing with an ironing board.

Collidoscope de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective

This was the first temporary exhibition at The Cheech, featuring the work of glass artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre. They were born in Mexico and live on both sides of the border. The exhibition was at The Cheech from June 18, 2022, to January 22, 2023, before traveling to other places. The show explored different cultures and ideas.

One artwork, Colonial Atmosphere, showed a moon landing craft based on an ancient Olmec head. The artists also used famous Mexican images like the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Aztec Calendar Stone. La Belle Epoch was a large moving sculpture based on the Calendar Stone, which looked like a Ferris wheel. Collidoscope also included ¡2020!, a glass sculpture representing the COVID virus as a newborn baby.

Xican–a.o.x. Body

This exhibition ran from June 17, 2023, to January 7, 2024. It was a major art show that looked at how the "Brown body" is used in art to explore Mexican, Mexican American, and Xicanx experiences. It covered works from the late 1960s to the present, featuring about 70 artists. It included many types of art, like film, pottery, and poetry, as well as paintings and sculptures.

Origenes/Origins

This exhibition was on view from June 17 to October 1, 2023, in the Altura Credit Union Community Gallery at The Cheech. It showed how seven Chicana/o and Mexican American artists used their personal stories from Southern California as ideas for their art.

Indigenous Futurism

Indigenous Futurism was an exhibition from October 14, 2023, to February 18, 2024. It featured sculptures, paintings, and videos by 18 female artists from California, seen through an indigenous viewpoint. The artists came from different parts of California. The exhibition explored how artists use old traditions in their work for freedom. The term "indigenous futurism" is similar to "Afrofuturism" and explores how people deal with the effects of colonization and rediscover their ancestors' traditions.

Judithe Hernández | Beyond Myself, Somewhere, I Wait for My Arrival

This special exhibition, from February 3 to August 4, 2024, showed works from Judithe Hernández's art career of over 50 years. Her art often tells stories of women becoming stronger and explores the lives and myths of Mexican migrant women. It also looks at the effects of colonization and the US-Mexico border on women and children. The exhibition included more than 80 works from her different art series.

In 1983, Judithe Hernández had a solo art show in New York City, making her one of the first Chicana artists to have a solo exhibition outside the Western United States. She later had an international career. In 2019, her seven-story mural La Nueva Reina de Los Ángeles was put up in downtown Los Angeles.

Artists in the Collection

Over 70 artists are part of The Cheech's collection, including:

Film About The Cheech

In 2019, a short film called The Cheech: An American Icon's Crusade for the Chicano Art Movement was released. It was directed by Edward Tyndall and featured Cheech Marin. The film talks about Marin's lifelong support for Chicano art and his efforts to create The Cheech Marin Center. A Grammy-nominated musician, El Dusty, wrote the music for the film.

See also

• Archives of American Art
• Chicano
• Chicana art
• Category:Chicano art