Chuy Campusano

{{Infobox person

| name = Chuy Campusano

| other_names = Jesús Campusano–Uribe,
Jess Alberto Campusano

| birth_name = Jesus Alberto Campusano

| birth_date = November 21, 1944

| birth_place = El Paso, Texas, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|05|04|1944|11|21}}

| death_place = California, United States

| burial_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California, United States

| occupation = Visual artist, muralist

| movement = Bay Area Chicano Art Movement

| spouse = Dianne Shirley Bailey (m. 1973–1982; divorce)

| partner = Dianne DeMoss

| children = 2

}}

Jesus "Chuy" Campusano (1944 – 1997), was an American Chicano visual artist, and muralist. He was a well-known contributor to San Francisco's arts in the 1970s and 1980s; and was a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community focused gallery that featured Latino and Chicano artists and their allies.

Early life

Jesus "Chuy" Campusano was born on November 21, 1944, in El Paso, Texas; to parents Blasa (or Blaza, née Uribe) and Andres Campusano from Chihuahua, Mexico.{{Cite news |date=1997-05-07 |title=Obituary for Jesus (Chuy) Alberto Campusano |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-obituary-for/146339922/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1927-11-17 |title=Marriage Licenses |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/el-paso-herald-marriage-licenses/146341571/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=El Paso Herald |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |date=November 21, 1944 |title=Jesus Alberto Campusano, Birth • Texas Birth Index, 1903–1997 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VDP3-HCG |website=FamilySearch.org |publisher=Texas Department of State Health Services}}

In early life Campusano worked as a farmworker union organizer.{{Cite news |date=May 5, 1989 |title=Parades, parties for Cinco de Mayo (from C-1) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-parades-part/146341119/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=63 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Career and late life

In 1970, Galería de la Raza was founded by artists Campusano, Ralph Maradiaga, Rupert García, Peter Rodríguez, René Yañez, Francisco X. Camplis, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuel Villamor, Robert Gonzales, Luis Cervantes, and Rolando Castellón.{{Cite web |last= |date=October 3, 2012 |others=Alfonso Aguirre (translation) |title=Community forum contributes to the future of Galería de la Raza |url=http://eltecolote.org/content/community-forum-contributes-to-the-future-of-galeria-de-la-raza/ |access-date= |website=El Tecolote |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last1=Carlsson |first1=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcXQ4V49WQ4C |title=Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968–1978 |last2=Elliott |first2=Lisa Ruth |date=2011 |publisher=City Lights Books |isbn=978-1-931404-12-9 |pages=90 |language=en}} It was a non-profit art gallery and artist collective that featured Latino and Chicano artists in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Campusano, Spain Rodriguez, Rubén Guzmán, and Bob Cuff painted the Horizons Unlimited murals (exterior and interior) in 1972, at 22nd and Folsom Streets, which was one of the earliest murals in the Mission District.{{Cite book |last=Cordova |first=Cary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9TGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |title=The Heart of the Mission: Latino Art and Politics in San Francisco |date=2017-06-22 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-4930-9 |pages=130 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Horizons Unlimited [destroyed] |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/MM2021.304/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=SFMOMA |language=en-US}} The Horizons Unlimited murals no longer exist.

Emmy Lou Packard, a New Deal era muralist, directed Homage To Siqueiros (1974), a {{Convert|90|sqft}} mural project at Bank of America building in the Mission District, located at Mission Street at 23rd Street.{{Cite web |last=Wenus |first=Laura |date=June 6, 2014 |title=Iconic Mural at Bank of America Turns 40 |url=http://missionlocal.org/2014/06/an-iconic-mural-turns-40/ |access-date= |website=Mission Local}}{{Cite book |last=Brook |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/reclaimingsanfra00 |title=Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture |publisher=City Lights Books |year=1998 |isbn=0872863352 |location=San Francisco |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reclaimingsanfra00/page/232 232] |quote= |url-access=registration}} Campusano served as the head mural designer on the project working under Packard, and Luis Cortázar and Michael Rios assisted.{{Cite book |last=Latorre |first=Guisela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HNYLBbUCpV0C&pg=PA45 |title=Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California |date=2009-09-17 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-77799-6 |pages=45–46 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1974-06-22 |title=Community Artists Do Murals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hanford-sentinel-community-artists-d/146340022/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=Hanford Sentinel |pages=14 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1974-06-08 |title=Mission murals in the Mexican manner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-mission-mural/146340411/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In the late 1970s, Campusano was a director at the Pacifica Arts and Heritage Council in Pacifica, California, where he led the creation of civic-funded art murals in San Mateo County.{{Cite news |date=1977-10-19 |title=Murals and a Sculpture Will Decorate Pacifica |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pacifica-tribune-murals-and-a-sculpture/146339578/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=Pacifica Tribune |pages=22 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1978-01-04 |title=Artists Unveil Designs for City Mural Project |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pacifica-tribune-artists-unveil-designs/146339559/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=Pacifica Tribune |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1977-08-05 |title=San Mateo County project: Dressing up blank walls with murals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-peninsula-times-tribune-san-mateo-co/146339546/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Peninsula Times Tribune |pages=18 |via=Newspapers.com}} He also worked as a mural artist consultant.{{Cite news |date=1983-05-11 |title=High Schools Host Arts and Crafts Faire |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pacifica-tribune-high-schools-host-arts/146341055/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=Pacifica Tribune |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Campusano painted a {{Convert|5000|sqft}} brightly colored mural on the side of the former Lilli Ann building at 2030 Harrison Street (at 17th Street) in the Mission District in 1986.{{Cite news |last=Brazil |first=Eric |date=December 19, 1998 |title=New hope for big mural in Mission |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/new-hope-for-big-mural-in-mission-3053724.php |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=SFGate |publisher=San Francisco Examiner |language=en}} The mural was painted over in July 1998 (after the artist’s death), which spurred community protests, and a lawsuit.{{Cite news |last=Gledhill |first=Lynda |date=August 5, 1998 |title=Mission Mural now a Whitewashed Wall |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Mission-Mural-now-a-Whitewashed-Wall-2998669.php |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=SFGate |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Hendricks |first=Tyche |date=September 23, 1998 |title=Mural missed, Mission miffed |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Mural-missed-Mission-miffed-3068653.php |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=SFGate |language=en}} The case was settled for USD $200,000.{{Cite book |last=Bonadio |first=Enrico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu-CEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti |date=2019-11-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-67331-0 |pages=116 |language=en}}

His work was featured in the noted Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation traveling group art exhibition in 1990–1993, alongside other major Chicano artists.{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Finding Aid for the CARA: Chicano Arts: Resistance and Affirmation Papers 1985–1994 |url=http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/ucla/clucs/CARA.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906182417/http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/ucla/clucs/CARA.pdf |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |access-date= |website=Online Archive of California |publisher=California Digital Library}}

Campusano died on May 4, 1997, in California. He was survived by his partner Dianne DeMoss, and his two children.

Exhibitions

1977, Paintings, Drawings and a Mural Presentation by Jesus (Chuy) Campusano, solo exhibition, Loeb Rhoades Market Hours Gallery on the 8th floor of the Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California{{Cite news |date=1977-05-11 |title=New art exhibits |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-new-art-exhib/146339598/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=30 |via=Newspapers.com}}
1986, Teotihuacan Fresco Mural Project, solo exhibition, Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California{{Cite news |date=1986-06-22 |title=Mexican Museum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-mexican-museum/146340441/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Sacramento Bee |pages=250 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1986-06-29 |title=Mexican Museum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-peninsula-times-tribune-mexican-muse/146340937/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Peninsula Times Tribune |pages=57 |via=Newspapers.com}}
1990–1993, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, traveling group exhibition, Wight Art Gallery at University of California, Los Angeles;{{Cite web |last=Acosta–Colon |first=Maria |date=1990-09-24 |title=Chicano Art: It's Time for a New Aesthetic . . . |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-24-ca-802-story.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Fresno Art Museum; Tucson Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Albuquerque Museum of Art and History; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. (now Smithsonian American Art Museum); Bronx Museum of the Arts;{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |author-link=Holland Cotter |date=1993-04-04 |title=Art View; Chicano Art: A Lustier Breed of Political Protest |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/arts/art-view-chicano-art-a-lustier-breed-of-political-protest.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} El Paso Museum of Art; and the San Antonio Museum of Art