This is the first biography of the renowned American Chicano visual artist and activist Rupert García, drawing on fifty hours of interviews conducted over thirty years and accompanied by eighty images. This in-depth oral history gives an unparalleled look at García?s life and work, tracing his evolution as an artist and the political upheavals that shaped his life and worldview. 

Mario T. García?s testimonio places Rupert García?s art in historical perspective, from his beginnings as a working-class Mexican American from California?s Central Valley, his coming of age in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, his involvement in the antiwar movement during the San Francisco State student strike in 1968-69, and his participation in the Chicano Movement and beyond. Influenced by history and politics, García?s vital works of art represent a changing world through the eyes of an artist, speaking to issues of poverty, racism, capitalism, war, and the role of the artist in society.

His art?from revolutionary silkscreen posters to monumental pastels to portraits of political icons like Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara, and Dolores Huerta?serves to critique history and reassess it. It is work that will endure for generations to come. 

Rupert García: The Making of an American Artist, a Testimonio is a compelling story of a working-class Mexican American from California’s Central Valley who became a major American artist with national and international recognition. Mario T. García’s oral history of Rupert García, based on extensive interviews over many years, provides a compelling autobiographical narrative of the life and times of an American artist. This testimonio places Rupert García’s art in historical perspective, spanning his beginnings in Stockton, California and his time in the Air Force, including participating in the U.S. war in Vietnam, to his experience at San Francisco State during the historic San Francisco State student strike in 1968-69. Influenced by history and politics, Rupert García’s art speaks to a changing America through the eyes of an artist, speaking to issues of race, class, imperialism, war, and the role of the artist in society.Introduction
Chapter One—Stockton Boy
Chapter Two—School Days
Chapter Three—Junior College and the City
Chapter Four—Indochina
Chapter Five—San Francisco State
Chapter Six—The Mission Cultural Renaissance
Chapter Seven—Moving On
Chapter Eight—Fluorescence
Chapter Nine—Millennial Artist
Afterword
Notes
Index

"Long overdue but worth the wait, this is a critical contribution to U.S. history, American art history, and social sciences. Offering un gran testimonio of vanguard Chicano artist Rupert García, historian Mario García's book is the model and blueprint for comprehensive examinations of key figures in our shared social struggles and cultural victories."

"With his roots in the revolutionary foundation of the Third World movement, Rupert García's global perspective is now a legendary part of American art. He takes his place within the context of significant contemporary artists through his powerful graphic complexity, refined image making, and intellectual honesty."

"The master of the testimonio does it again! Mario T. García lets an important but overlooked American artist tell the story of his life, with the images both visual and literary to match."

Rupert García: The Making of an American Artist, a Testimonio is a compelling story of a working-class Mexican American from California’s Central Valley who became a major American artist with national and international recognition. Mario T. García’s oral history of Rupert García, based on extensive interviews over many years, provides a compelling autobiographical narrative of the life and times of an American artist. This testimonio places Rupert García’s art in historical perspective, spanning his beginnings in Stockton, California and his time in the Air Force, including participating in the U.S. war in Vietnam, to his experience at San Francisco State during the historic San Francisco State student strike in 1968-69. Influenced by history and politics, Rupert García’s art speaks to a changing America through the eyes of an artist, speaking to issues of race, class, imperialism, war, and the role of the artist in society.Mario T. García is a distinguished professor of Chicano studies and history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published over 20 books over the course of his career, including Blowout!: Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice and The Latino Generation: Voices of the New America.US