A Vision for the Community
Daniel Camacho Takes Art to the Streets

by Meredith Florian

Only have time to visit art museums on vacation? Thanks to internationally renowned Mexican muralist Daniel Camacho, you can experience art in the midst of your everyday life. Just walk through the plaza at Fruitvale BART and feast on the colorful images of everyday people, flowers, and geometric shapes. Camacho, a ten-year resident of Maxwell Park, grew up in Mexico City and studied at the National Institute of Fine Arts. In Mexico he founded "Ojos de Lucha" (Eyes of the Struggle), a cultural group devoted to making art accessible to everyone.

It still surprises him that he has been able to devote his life to art. He came from a poor family. His mother, a talented garment maker, encouraged him to study painting. "I get my talent from her she made her own designs," he says.

He is probably best known in the Metro area for his geometric mural on the side of the building that is now the Dimond Peet's. But he also expresses his political and private visions in papier m?ch?, metal art, paintings, sculpture, and in the series of colorful banners (Ojos de Lucha) depicting the struggles of people in Mexico. [Ed. Note: The mural was removed during remodeling when windows were installed.]

When Camacho came to the U.S., he wanted to continue his political work, creating art that would empower people working for social change. Earlier this year at the C?sar Ch?vez Library, he had a month-long display of his acrylic-on-canvas banners, titled "Looking for Hope," which depicted the artist's views of Oakland.

For Camacho, art is not just a pretty thing; it should have a purpose. The murals are a way of teaching people about problems. Camacho devised his special banner art, which functions as a roving mural, as he describes it: "To make them more accessible taking them to the street. Our purpose was to bring the images out of the galleries." His banners moved through the streets at the last Day of the Dead celebration in Oakland and are now on display at Woodland Elementary in East Oakland.

Camacho believes in using art to promote a different type of life for everyone, especially for the school children of Oakland and Richmond, to whom he has taught art for several years. "It's hard for some kids," he told us. "They don't want to do the drawing because they don't think they can do it." But he builds both their artistic skills and their self-esteem by showing them how to work with what they have created. "Their crooked line could be a shape or a face. I work with them to make them confident. If you can make a shape, then maybe you can make a face. You can make the body too."

As we toured his studio, admiring both his political art and whimsical masks, Camacho admitted that it's not easy to make it financially as an artist. "One problem is that I don't go to galleries, and I have to go because that's the way for people to know me." He finds it difficult to promote himself in a commercial way, which he acknowledges is necessary in order to give him the funds to do the community work he wants to do.

Perhaps he will join the Open Studio circuit next year and give us all a chance to see more of his community-oriented art. If you would like to learn more about Camacho's work or have a special project in mind, call him at 534-5575.