Garcia was born in French Camp, California, in 1941 to a Mexican-American family. His earliest introduction to art came through relatives: one grandmother made tissue paper dolls and another designed costumes for a local Mexican dance troupe. Garcia served in the Security Service of the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1966. After his military release, Garcia enrolled in San Francisco State College, where he received a B.A. in Painting and Drawing (1968) and an M.A. in Printmaking (1970). In 1981 he was awarded an M.A. in the History of art at UC Berkeley. Garcia has taught at UC Berkeley in the Chicano Studies Program and in the School of Environmental Design. He is Professor Emeritus at the San Jose State University, School of Art and Design.
The work of Rupert Garcia has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America. In 2011 the M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum in San Francisco exhibited works created by Garcia at Magnolia Editions in "Rupert Garcia: The Magnolia Editions Projects 1991-2011"; Magnolia Editions also published a catalog for the exhibition with an essay by John Yau. Other recent exhibitions include retrospectives at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and The Alternative Museum, New York, NY (traveled to the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA). He is represented by the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco, CA, and his work is held in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of New York; the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; the Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; the Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA; the M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA; the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.
MILITARY SERVICE: Air Force-U.S. 1962-1965; Indochina, 1965-1966.
EDUCATION:
1959-62 Stockton College, Stockton, CA. A.A., Painting.
1966-68 San Francisco State College, San Francisco, CA. B.A., Painting, 1968; M.A., Painting-Printmaking, 1970.
1973-75 University of California, Berkeley, CA. Doctoral studies in art education.
1979-81 University of California, Berkeley, CA. M.A., the History of Art.
1993 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts.
TEACHING:
1969-81 San Francisco State College, San Francisco, CA. La Raza Studies Program; Art Department.
1973-80 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA.
1979-85 University of California, Berkeley, CA. Chicano Studies Program; Department of Architecture.
1987 University of California, Berkeley, CA. Chicano Studies Program.
1988- San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. Professor of Art, School of Art and Design.
SELECTED RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
1998 The Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, NV. Paintings and Works on Paper, November 6, 1998-January 1999.
1999 The Trout Gallery, Weiss Center for the Arts, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. Resistance and Affirmation: Prints and Posters of Rupert Garcia, November 5, 1999-January 15, 2000. Catalog.
2000 Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Works on Fabric and Paper, June 8-July 14, 2000. In-gallery limited edition catalogue.
2001 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Politics and Provocation: The Posters of Rupert Garcia, March 3-23, 2001.
2002 Craft and Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building Atrium, Oakland, Ca. Oakland Icons: Paintings, Posters and Prints by Rupert Garcia and Mel
Ramos, September 16-November 1, 2002.
2003 Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Rupert
Garcia: Another Look, the 1960s and 1970s, February 20-March 22, 2003. Special Edition Commemorative limited edition catalogue.
b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA. Rupert Garcia: Selections, 3 May-4 June, 2005.
Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Rupert Garcia: Los Perros, July 13-Agust 19, 2006.
SELECTED RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
1998 National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. Posters American Style, March 27-August 9, 1998. Travel to U.S. museums through August 1999. Catalog.
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK. National Drawing Invitational, May 2-June 6, 1998. Catalog.
1999 El Museo del Barrio, New York, N. Y. Pressing the Point: Parallel Expressions in Chicano and Borricua Art, September 23, 1999-January 9, 2000. Catalog.
2000 Achim Moeller Fine Arts, New York, NY. Cross-Currents in Modern Art, A Tribute to Peter Selz, February 2-March 3, 2000. Catalogue.
Los Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. Made in California, 1900-2000, October 10, 2000-February 2001. Catalogue.
2001 Jack S. Blanton Museum, The University of Texas, Austin, TX. Rembrandt to Rauschenberg, Building the Collection, January 19-March 4, 2001. Catalogue and brochure.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. The Road to Aztlan: Art From A Mythic Homeland, May 13-August 26, 2001; The Austin Museum of Art, October 12-December 30; The Albuquerque Museum, February 10-April 28, 2001. Catalogue.
2003 Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. The Anti-War Show: The Price of Intervention From Korea To Iraq, January 11-February 15, 2003.
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA. 25 Years of Heart and Struggle, June 28-August 15, 2003.
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA. , August 28-October 19, 2003.
California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA. At Work: The Art of California Labor, September 1-December 20, 2003. Catalogue.
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA. One Struggle, Two Communities: Late 20th Century Political Posters of Havana, Cuba and the San Francisco Bay Area, September
28-December 13, 2003.
Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec.
Global Village, The 1960s, October 2, 2003-March 7, 2004. Catalogue.
64 North Moore Street, NY. The Magnolia Tapestry Project, New Textile Art of the 21st Century, September 18-19, 2003.
2004 El Museo del Barrio, NY. Voces y Visiones, Highlights From El Museo del Barrio's Permanent Collection, November 14, 2003-February 8, 2004; The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, March 20-May 16, 2004. Catalogue.
Pier 9, Embarcadero, San Francisco, Ca. Display of commissioned decorated heart for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. June 2004.
Paula Brown Gallery, Toledo, OH. Magnolia Editions, Fine Art Prints and Tapestry, June 15-July 15, 2004.
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA. Weaving Weft and Warp: Tapestries from Magnolia Editions, July 23-September 17, 2004.
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA. What's Going On--California and the Vietnam Era, August 28, 2004-February 27, 2005.
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, October, 2, 2004-January, 2, 2005.
2005 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. The Corcoran 2005 Print Portfolio: Drawn to Representation, 31 March-20 June, 2005. Catalogue.
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, IL. Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, 18 June-4 September 4, 2004. Catalogue.
2006 UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, CA. The Missing Peace, June 22-September 10, 2006. Catalogue.
De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA. Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, July 20-October 22, 2006. Catalogue.
Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA. Magnolia Editions: Woven Transcriptions, The Belgium Tapestries, December 15-Ferbuary, 2006.
2007 American University Museum at the Katzen, American University, Washington, D.C. High Fiber, April 24-March 13, 2007.
Eastside Cultural Center, Oakland, CA. Posters from the Inkworks Archive, July and August, 2007.
2007 The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Looking for the “There There”, California Art from the Collection, 1950-2000, November 21, 2007-April, 13, 2008.
Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. dissent! 1968 and now, February 10-March 9, 2007.
2008 The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. The American Evolution, A History Through Art, March 1-July 27, 2008. Pamphlet.
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA. The Question is Known: (W)here is Latin American/Latino Art?, April 18-May, 24, 2008.
SELECTED RECENT AWARDS, HONORS, COMMISSIONS & OTHER PROJECTS
1999 San Francisco International Air Terminal, San Francisco, CA. Gate Room #5. "Bird Technology," tile mural (17'X 25') completed September 16, 1999. S.F. Art Commission Project.
2000 University of California Regents Lecturer, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. Spring, 2000..
2001 Oakland Chamber Award 2001, Individual Artist Category, the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Oakland, CA.
