About Margaret Garcia

Born in East Los Angeles, 1951.

"I define Chicano art by creating it," Garcia states. “My work is personal and also embraces the cultural common ground of my community and the history of Los Angeles.”

The Los Angeles native began her career as a muralist, involved in the murals that swept through the 1984 Olympics.  Identified as one of 24 artists who have had an impact on LA Art, Garcia’s work consists of oil paintings saturated with a wildly expressive palette. Flat compositional space is firmly rooted is the tradition of Mexican folk art. Her paintings are in the collections of LACMA, the Laguna Art Museum and the personal collection of Cheech Marin.

Recent exhibitions include: Arte Para la Gente: the Collected Works of Margaret Garcia, Museum of Ventura County (Ventura, CA) 2021; Arte para la gente: The Collected Works of Margaret Garcia, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes (Los Angeles, CA) 2022. Shifting Perspectives: Cheech Collects, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture, The Cheech Center (Riverside, CA) 2024; Cheech Collects 2 Anniversary Edition (The Cheech Center) 2023; Chicano Dreams, Bordeaux, France 2016;

Her station art at the Universal City Metro Subway Station is a tribute to the History of California and the signing of the Capitulation of Cahuenga, making California a territory of the United States.

Her greatest sense of accomplishment is from knowing that she has facilitated an artist in becoming what they want to be; a working, thriving and recognized artist.