Cheech Marin Christens the Houston Fine Arts Fair

Tags: Cheech Marin, Chicano Art, Houston Fine Arts Fair, LACMA

The second annual Houston Fine Art Fair opened its doors yesterday to reveal an exhibition of 80 international galleries. To christen the event, Cheech Marin, perhaps better known for his affection for recreational drug use than a connection to the art world, will give a lecture on Saturday. In actuality, Marin is widely recognized for having developed one of the most extensive collections of Chicano art in the United States.

His collection traversed the country from 2001-2007 as a traveling exhibition, Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge; it broke attendance records and put Marin in the spotlight as a respected collector.

“Chicano art is American art,” Marin, a third generation Mexican-American, says. “My goal is to bring the term ‘Chicano’ to the forefront of the art world.”

Marin also lent his collection to an exhibition at LACMA titled Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection. LA Times critic Christopher Knight was less than enthralled with the exhibition, but museum-goers showed up eagerly and left impressed.

Martin’s talk will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 3pm.

Photo courtesy of HFAF and Getty Images