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County CollectionEast Los Angeles LibraryOur Legacy: Forever Presente..Artist:
José Antonio Aguirre
Date:
2004
Region:
East Los Angeles
District:
First
Location:
East Los Angeles Library
4837 East Third Street Los Angeles, CA 90022 Department:
Public Library
 
Photos by: Scott Lindgren | Click for larger photos
Project DescriptionJosé Antonio Aguirre’s monumental mural Our Legacy: Forever Presente... was commissioned by First District County Supervisor Molina for the recently completed East Los Angeles Library. Aguirre’s vibrant four-cycle mural combines Byzantine and Venetian glass mosaic with carved limestone and covers more than 2,000 square feet of wall space on the interior, as well as exterior, of the east and west towers of the library’s main entrance. The mural is articulated in four movements: “The Gift to Humanity”; “Arrival”; “The Heart of the People”; and “Departure.” Throughout each cycle, iconic images representing significant East Los Angeles public leaders, social and political figures, actors, artists, and athletes are depicted. These depictions include Edward James Olmos, Congressman Esteban Torres, Congressman Edward Roybal, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Ruben Salazar, David Alvaro Siqueiros, Self Help Graphics Founder Sister Karen Boccalero, Anthony Quinn, Antonia Hernandez, Supervisor Gloria Molina, and Oscar De La Hoya. The artist observes, “I have created a visual image filled with symbolic elements of duality, history and social consciousness to provoke, question, offer definition and provide recognition of the rich, bi-cultural identity that binds the East Los Angeles community.” See José Antonio Aguirre, East Los Angeles Civic Center About the ArtistBi-national artist José Antonio Aguirre earned a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a studio artist, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. As a public artist, he has executed nearly 30 works in California, Illinois, Texas and Mexico City. Throughout his art career, he has been active as an installation artist, visual arts educator and cultural journalist for Spanish publications in Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas and Mexico. In March 2010 José was awarded the prestigious J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Award to Mexico. Fulbright is the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world, supported for more than half a century by the American people through an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress and by the people of partner nations. José Antonio Aguirre resides in Pasadena, California. |
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