Renaissance & Rebellion - Flipbook - Page 204
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CALIFORNIA 402
Chaz Bojórquez: Innovation, Inspiration and Tradition
In 1969 Chaz Bojórquez changed the face of graffiti, creating a tag that represented him and the
streets, a stylized skull called “Señor Suerte” (Mr. Lucky). Señor Suerte was the first recorded tag created
by stencil—two decades before Bansky picked up a spray can. Señor Suerte spread across the Southland,
adopted as a street image and tattoo believed to protect gangsters from death. Today, Mr. Lucky is found in
tattoo parlors and on tee shirts around the world, and stencil graffiti is a highly regarded form of the art.
Born in Highland Park, Northeast Los Angeles, Bojórquez recognized at an early age the importance
of stylized writing as a tradition and as a means of respect. After studying Pre-Columbian art, ceramics, and
sculpture at Universidad De Artes Plasticas in Guadalajara, Mexico, Bojórquez returned to Los Angeles and
enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute to further his studies in ceramics, and was part of the last graduating
class of this iconic school. There, he touched down with the great abstractionist Matsumi Kanemitsu and
also studied Asian calligraphy under Yun Chung Chiang, himself the student of Po Ju, brother of China’s
last emperor. Bojórquez embraced the spirit and writing skills of Asian calligraphy. Combined with Cholo
graffiti’s emphasis on Gothic fonts, these became the foundation of his unique letter style that has launched
his career and influenced major artists around the world.
Señor Suerte was indeed lucky for Bojórquez: In 1979, ten years after he first stenciled the
fedora wearing skull on an NELA wall, Bojórquez traveled to 35 countries studying how graphics
and letters describe culture and national pride. Chaz Bojórquez is now represented in numerous
permanent museum and private collections including The Smithsonian Institute National Museum
of American Art, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian
Archives of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary
Art, Laguna Art Museum and The Gerald Buck Collection. He was recently awarded an Honorary
Doctorate by the Art Center College in Pasadena, CA.
For over 50 years, Chaz Bojórquez has been acknowledged as an artistic pioneer and as the
Godfather of West Coast Cholo-style graffiti art and was one of the first to transition from the
streets to show his art on gallery walls. His influence as both a street and fine artist has contributed
significantly to the richness and complexity of California and American art, as well as to the global
recognition of Los Angeles as a major force in the contemporary art world.
–Lisa Derrick
