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Mario Chacon is an artist warrior who uses his talent to document Chicano and indigenous history and social justice issues. His work, including murals across San Diego, evokes powerful emotions that become a permanent call to action against injustice.
Chacon, 67, took his first art class at the age of 50, but his artistic career began long before that.
He grew up in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles during the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 70s. He recalls the dropouts of thousands of Chicano students protesting inequality in high schools in the Unified School District of Los Angeles.
“The strikes were the most formative experience for me,” said Chacon. “It exposed the racism, the brutality … the excesses the police make even on children protesting for better education. It helped me a lot to form my opinion as well as my career goals and my artistic vision. “
His career as an artist slumbered for more than 30 years.
After graduating with a Masters in Education from SDSU, Chacon spent 15 years at UCSD as a consultant and administrator on programs such as Upward Bound and OASIS before becoming Assistant Dean of Thurgood Marshall College. He later served as dean of San Diego City College for 13 years and then moved to Grossmont College. Chacon, who lives in Normal Heights, retired from his educational career two years ago.
It was only after he left UCSD that art took on a bigger role in his life. It started with an art class.
“I had to free myself from an artistic block,” said Chacon. “I haven’t done anything in art for 20 years. Robert Sanchez was a catalyst … a spark that made me more committed. “
Robert Sanchez is a distinguished professor of fine arts at Mesa College and a good friend of Chacon.
“I consider him an ally in the San Diego arts scene,” said Sanchez. “His insatiable documentation of Chicano and indigenous culture, combined with his commitment to activism, aligns him with the voices of those who fight for human rights, individual freedom and belief in the power of creativity.”
Chacon has succeeded in manifesting his passion for the connection between human rights and art. His non-murals often depict the gritty reality of politics and actions against immigrants and Latinx. His art often uses bright colors against dark backgrounds – often with cultural motifs, such as his piece of a Latinx man hanging in barbed wire. Some people said they saw Jesus in the folds of the man’s shirt. Many saw it as a symbol of hope.
One of his most recent projects was a team led by well-known artist Victor Ochoa for a mural of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, who died in 2010 when US Customs and Border Protection officials tried to deport him. The mural can be seen in Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, which also pays tribute to other people who died at the border or who died in custody.
“He is a poetic warrior who uses art as a weapon to wage good combat,” said Sanchez of Chacon’s continued journey to expand his passion for community activism through art.
Chacon is not satisfied with keeping his talent to himself. Before the COVID pandemic, he gave art classes to senior emerging artists.
“Art is often not seen as a viable career,” says Chacon of his ethnic community. “I don’t like that people never had time to do art because they had to have two or three jobs in their lives to make ends meet. It is terrible that people have to die without time for their art. “
He hopes that as the pandemic subsides, he can continue to offer classes for the artists, young and old.
About this series
Alicia DeLeon-Torres is a member of the UT Community Advisory Board. She works at the Nemeth Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations. She also served as Commissioner for the California Attorney General’s Civil Rights Commission for Hate Crimes and the San Diego City Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention.
Someone San Diego Should Know is a weekly column written by members of the UT’s Community Advisory Board about local people who are interesting and noteworthy because of their experience, accomplishments, creativity, or references.
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