Mario Torero is a legend. The artist, teacher, cultural historian and community activist has made a name for himself far beyond the streets of San Diego\u2019s Chicano Park and Barrio Logan.<\/p>\n
An international superstar determined to foster a global understanding of the artistic culture of the Latino\/Chicano community, Torero travels the world painting larger-than-life murals.<\/p>\n His vibrant, flamboyant and culturally expressive work can be found in Peru, Japan, Costa Rica, Spain and the Czech Republic. And in the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n Torero will reign among 350 artists showcasing their work at the Mission Federal ArtWalk in Little Italy on Saturday, April 29, and Sunday, April 30.<\/p>\n The University Heights resident will replicate \u201cThe Eyes of Frida Kahlo,\u201d a mural he painted in 1985 for San Diego\u2019s first ArtWalk. Torero\u2019s original mural was destroyed, he said, by the \u201cgentrification\u201d of San Diego. The new \u201cmore colorful\u201d version will be featured at the corner of India and Fir streets. Determined not to let Frida\u2019s eyes get destroyed twice, Torero will paint the 24-by-8-foot mural on canvas, then glue and overlay on wooden boards \u201cso that it can exhibited again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want to preserve these eyes for the next generation of Chicano artists making a name for themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cGraffiti art doesn\u2019t last; it\u2019s either cleaned off or torn down and thrown away. These eyes will not go to waste. I will create something wonderful and beautiful and preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n Excited about a Chicano booth to \u201cexpose who we are,\u201d graffiti can-spray artists and classical brush muralists will stand \u201cside by side instead of being ripped apart by time and generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Working on art since his graffiti days as a 16-year-old tagger, the 70-year-old recently minted American citizen strives to facilitate a Latino\/Chicano \u201cmovement.\u201d Combining the words \u201cartist and activist\u201d into one, Torero labels himself an \u201cartivist,\u201d an art activist who highlights Barrio Logan artists \u201covershadowed and overlooked by many.\u201d<\/p>\n No longer the angry revolutionary spray-painting walls, Torero works for those void of a political, environmental and social voice.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an artivist with no abstracts,\u201d he said. \u201cSociety rejects the word Chicano, but we\u2019re proud of our often, misunderstood identity. The root of street art es<\/em> the Chicano muralist. Our art reflects our culture, our psychology and our history. Our murals stand out from easel paintings.\u201d<\/p>\n Torero studied traditional Mexican muralists to shape his murals into expressing philosophies and delivering messages. He traversed communities, schools and universities seeking ideas to transfer into compositions that \u201creflect the people and their communities.\u201d According to Torero, by working with the community he empowered the community. The response within the media was overwhelming. Demand for his work became widespread.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an artist that initiates and follows universal revolutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And so, he has. Torero travelled to the Czech Republic following its 1989 Velvet Revolution, commonly referred to as the Gentle Revolution, a peaceful overthrow of power that ended 41 years of communist rule.<\/p>\n Welcomed by the Linhart Foundation, an independent, nonprofit \u201calternative culture\u201d organization, Torero was \u201ckidnapped\u201d to paint on the John Lennon Peace Wall. His mural was captured on a photographed later displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. Born in Lima, Peru in 1947, Torero\u2019s artistic legacy began with his father \u2014 renowned artist Guillermo Acevedo. Acevedo left a successful advertising agency in Lima because of political unrest.<\/p>\n The adventurer boarded a fishing boat travelling to San Diego \u2014 then the tuna cannery center of the world \u2014 and arrived here in 1960. Mario was 12.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father fell in love with everything about San Diego: the weather, the Mexican people, the ocean and especially the eucalyptus trees, because they reminded him of Peru,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Torero\u2019s life as revolutionary began during his service as a merchant marine, a job forced upon him by his father to \u201ckeep him out of trouble.\u201d Torero and crew members \u201cmutinied\u201d against the ship\u2019s captain for steering them into danger.<\/p>\n Experiencing the power of democracy first-hand, Torero devoted his life to creating change. \u201cThere\u2019s no room for regret in his world, only self-awareness and self-improvement,\u201d he said. Raised in the Barrio, Torero, along with his father, became artistic and influential leaders. Often gracing magazine covers and news stories, they garnered a sense of pride for young Latino artists active in the Chicano movement.<\/p>\n \u201cFamous Latinos were non-existent before the \u201870s,\u201d he explained. \u201cMy father was admired and respected by the city and the art world, even though he was brown.\u201d<\/p>\n The duo opened The Acevedo Art Gallery, which later became the first multicultural arts center that remained in existence for almost two decades. The center was closed to make way for the building of Horton Plaza. East Village Arts became their \u201creincarnated\u201d cultural center, which was then replaced by Petco Park. Torero again witnessed the destruction of his art for the gentrification of San Diego, including his \u201cEyes of Picasso\u201d painted on the walls of the Reincarnation Arts Center.<\/p>\n After the mural and the venue were destroyed, Torero returned to the Barrio and established the Barrio Logan East Village Art District.<\/p>\n \u201cTen years later, we flourish and thrive with a renewed sense a pride to foresee a better future,\u201d he explained. \u201cBefore our future was a constant battle of survival. The city realizes how important The Barrio Logan is because of Chicano Park, which has now been declared a National Historic Park. It\u2019s important not just for Chicanos but for all of San Diegans.\u201d The \u201cmover and shaker\u201d continues to break down racial and social barriers to protect the cultural, artistic Chicano movement, Chicano Park and the Barrio Logan.<\/p>\n \u201cAs one of the founders of Chicano Park, it\u2019s my job to use my art to build community,\u201d he said. \u201cMy art is a call for action on many levels \u2014 political, spiritual and emotional. Chicano Park is a Chicano legacy. Our murals revive and rejuvenate an art that has history.\u201d<\/p>\n The self-defined leader in social art justice and the \u201cAmerican Art Revolution\u201d teaches Cosmic Art workshops at his University Heights Mundo Gallery Healing Studio as well as Chicano Park. His Cosmic School of Art touts a philosophy that \u201cnurtures the inner, creative genius inherent in all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy artivism drives my intellect and my art,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a street teacher that heals through art and philosophy. My art is my tool. My art is a weapon of construction. For those who struggle, my art elevates the souls of humanity.\u201d Torero plans on working as an artivist until \u201cI drop in the bull-fighting arena with one last stroke.\u201d Worried that future gentrification projects will \u201ckick out or destroy the cultural and historical significance of Latino\/Chicano art,\u201d Torero strives to implement a Barrio Logan Art District that hosts galleries inclusive of artists of every nationality.<\/p>\n \u201cI dare to forever challenge social limitations and self-imposed obstacles,\u201d he concluded. \u201cI \u2014 we, the Chicano movement \u2014 will never stop questioning our world or seeking answers through our art.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Legend](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/FridaEyes.jpg\")
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