Sep 63 min read

Chicano Art from Cheech Marin is the Latest Exhibit on Display at the Old Orange County Courthouse

The new exhibition ‘Chicano Collection/La Colección Chicana Art’ spotlights Chicano art from the private collection of actor and comedian Cheech Marin.

“Quinceañera” by Carmen Lamas Garza from the Chicano Collection of Cheech Marin. Photo by Cynthia Rebolledo, Culture OC

Sitting in a vintage oak jury armchair inside the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento takes a sip of his coffee as he talks about the art that adorns the courtroom walls.

“What better place than here to house an art exhibit where people can come for free and see the legacy of not just the Chicano movement, but incredible Chicano artists,” said Sarmiento, referring to the new exhibition, “Chicano Collection/La Colección Chicana Art,” currently on display at the landmark courthouse. “Santa Ana has a sort of unknown connection to the Chicano movement and specifically this building.”

The Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana. Photo by Cynthia Rebolledo, Culture OC

The Old Orange County Courthouse has been witness to historic events and cases like Doss v. Bernal, the 1943 trial that successfully challenged the residential segregation of Mexican Americans in Orange County, resulting in one of the earliest legal victories against racial housing covenants in the United States. Such cases served as a primer to “El Movimiento” – detailing the experiences of Chicanos and the art created in response.

The exhibit highlights a selection of 26 limited-edition digital reproductions, known as giclées, of original paintings – presented in a variety of media, themes and expressions, paired with documentary ephemera – by prolific Chicano and Chicana artists from the private collection of actor and comedian Cheech Marin.

The prints, created through a national art project led by Marin with the late Richard S. Duardo of Modern Multiples Fine Art Editions and Melissa Richardson Banks of CauseConnect, features images depicting urban life and the Chicano experience between 1969 and 2001 by such Chicano/a artists as Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Gilbert “Magu” Luján, John Valadez, David Botello, Carmen Lomas Garza and Vincent Valdez, to name a few.

PHOTO 1: The entrance to the Historical Gallery at the Old Orange County Courthouse where the The Chicano Collection is on display. PHOTO 2: The exhibit highlights a selection of 26 limited-edition digital reproductions by prolific Chicano artists from the private collection of actor and comedian, Cheech Marin. PHOTO 3: Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento sits in a jury armchair inside the Historical Gallery which was previously a courtroom. PHOTO 4: Jury armchairs are a part of the room decor in the Historical Gallery where the Chicano Collection is on display. PHOTO 5: Images on display in the Historical Gallery. PHOTO 6: Chicano artwork adorns the walls of the courtroom at the Old Orange County Courthouse. Photos by Cynthia Rebolledo, Culture OC

Included is a detailed documentary film produced for the project by award-winning director Tamara Hernandez. It captures the compelling stories of the 26 artists, along with their recollections of the Chicano movement they helped to establish.

Melissa Richardson Banks, art advisor for Cheech Marin, says the prints represent paintings from the "Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge" exhibition, which toured the nation from 2001 to 2007. She added that it was a groundbreaking show because it was the first Chicano art exhibition that toured American art museums.

“The prints enable us to take them to venues that don't have security and climate controls — allowing us to go into libraries, schools and non-traditional community spaces to share this work,” said Richardson Banks, who has worked closely with Marin on these projects for the last 20 years. “The more that we can remove any barriers to seeing art, the better.“

Sarmiento, who has long championed Chicano culture (inaugurating the Chicano Heritage Festival at El Salvador Park in Santa Ana as mayor in 2022 and a resolution declaring August as Chicano Heritage Month in Orange County in 2023), says it was only fitting that he bring the Chicano Collection – with the support of OC Parks – to Orange County.

“I'm Boliviano but I grew up as a Chicano,” said Sarmiento, who was vice president of MEChA at UC Berkeley and also minored in Chicano studies. “It makes me feel proud that a young Chicano or Chicana can come see artwork that reflects their identity – artwork that speaks to raw feelings and emotions – in a mainstream government building. It shows people that we have an identity here and we're part of this county.”