Jacinto Guevara moved to San Antonio in the early 1990s from his hometown of La Puente, California. He is a product of East LA schools and now lives in East SA. He grew up drawing on scrap pieces of paper and with the encouragement of his parents, taught himself to draw and paint. He writes: “The best of the early drawings were simple ‘studies’ of the world around me plus many fantasies. These drawings were never considered to be a product of ‘Art’. I didn’t consider making ‘Art’ until 1974.”
Guevara came of age during the rise of Chicano art in California. Much of the new Chicano artistic expression could be found in the murals of East Los Angeles which were painted in the 1970s. He acknowledges that he became “obsessed with the Xicano (Chicano) illustrative motif which included indigenous design and history, vato loco/street iconography and the great Mexican muralists.” .
In his twenties, Guevara painted but preferred music over art. For over a decade he played the accordion for several Los Angeles bands. In the late 1980s he met
several East Los Angeles muralists and decided to engage in art full-time. East Los Angeles was home to many Chicano artists, most of whom regrettably were ignored by the galleries and museums. Lacking access to the art markets, Guevara decided to move to San Antonio where housing was less expensive and opportunities for exhibitions and shows were more ample.
In his Eastside home on Olive Street Guevara stays busy painting and constructing his wood panels for his oil paintings. His paintings are in the UTSA collection as well as in the offices of numerous local professionals. Our
recent donation [Harriett and Ricardo Romo] of Chicano art to St. Philips’ College and the San Antonio Public Library includes several of Guevara’s paintings.