$20,000 toward the acquisition of a major work from the painter’s car crash series for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by director Helen Lucero and museum curator Andrew Conners. Mexican-born, Almaraz worked in Los Angeles and New York and was a major influence on the development of the Chicano art movement. The fiery narratives from his car crash series are powerful, deeply pigmented paintings depicting turbulent urban landscapes.

$7,500 to acquire work by the painter for the museum’s permanent collection and the group exhibition Mexicanidad. Mexican-born, Almaraz worked in New York and in Los Angeles where he received recognition as a muralist in the early 1970s. Painted with fiery colors that depict turbulent urban landscapes, his work reflects social concerns of Mexican-Americans such as immigration, discrimination, and the farm workers’ movement.

$10,000 toward The Life and Work of Carlos Almaraz, 1941-1989, an exhibition, catalogue, and the acquisition of a painting. The Mexican-born artist worked in New York and in Los Angeles where he first received recognition as a muralist in the early 1970s. Almaraz was interested in social themes such as the farm workers’ movement. He later painted fiery narratives, depicting turbulent urban landscapes.