I was raised in the City Terrace hills where my house had the backyard view of East Los Angeles and included the zip code areas of 90063, 90023, and 90022 plus the Rose Hills signage. I was twelve years old when I saw the smoke from the Chicano Moratorium of August 29, 1969. It was a blooming smoke and it was rising over the vicinity of boulevards of Whittier and Atlantic. My hometown was uprising and I wanted to be part of it. I tried to convince my uncle to drive me there, but it fell on deaf ears. In my teenage years I worked as a draftsman while homing in on my artistic skills. I worked for the late Sister Karen Boccalero at Self Help Graphics and with Judy Baca at the Social Public Arts Resource Center (SPARC). I have always had a deep connection of being aware in my community and these two women inspired me to continue doing it. I use images of my youth like seeing my petite grandmother on this enormous industrial sewing machine and being culturally influence from being raised catholic and belonging to MECHA. I was in the verge of becoming a Chicano militant. I describe my work as Chicano graphics the fine art of Raquachismo.

Arturo Urista’s work embodies the cross fertilization of Esat L.A.’s Mexican heritage with its Aztec roots and it intertwines with the lifestyle of Los Angeles. His recent works takes the images of the street, synopsis of operas, literature and breaks it down into components parts. The art is fresh and powerful because it copies nothing from trendy art scene. It’s entirely his own.