A look at the life and work of the late Los Angeles artist Carlos Almaraz. From the lens of an immigrant child coming to this country to live his American Dream of becoming a famous artist. Through interviews and personal journal entries we explore his inner demons, his passions, his rise as a beloved leader of the Chicano Art Movement and his subsequent success as an artist who is ultimately lost to AIDS in the late 1980’s.
Few artists in fact painted canvases with the fiery passion and commitment of Almaraz. The time has come to fully tell his story and acknowledge an American Master and his impact in the larger art world in general. The famous collected his works from NYC to LA. Yet his challenges, demons, struggles and explorations through sexuality provides the essential stuff of great storytelling. His journals will provide a rare window and essential perspective giving us full dimensionality in his own and often humorous voice.
Carlos once said “Painting is an illusion. It’s a picture that someone makes. It’s a window to something that may or may not be real. It’s there and it’s as real as anything else at the time that you’re viewing it.”