• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Art / JOSÉ MONTOYA – IN HIS OWN WORDS

JOSÉ MONTOYA – IN HIS OWN WORDS

March 6, 2010 by

Artist and Poet José Montoya

JOSÉ MONTOYA – CALIFORNIA ARTIST

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

By the late 1960s, we have the Chicano Movement begin to consolidate. And the whole concept of what is Chicano Art is being discussed throughout the Southwest. I was concerned that our people did not know their history, did not know who we were. Who are we? Where do we come from? What are the images of the barrio?

I wanted a historical update on the Pachuco. So that we could show people that there was a lot of class

1940s Zootsuiters

in being what you guys are calling gangsters or hoodlums. I remember them very fervently wanting to show the man that they weren’t lazy, dirty Mexicans.

"Pachuco" by José Montoya

That they could dress as sharp as Clark Gable in Gone With The Wind. The could work hard to have their drapes tailor made by good tailors. For them it was a matter of showing they had class, and still they got their ass kicked with the Zootsuit riots and all of that.

"New Symbols for La Nueva Raza" flyer

Once the Chicano Movement got going, they were looking for people with abilities. It was the power of the movement. The notion that we could better the plight of our people, finally. That we had the tools, that we had the people to do it and this was more important than showing at the Crocker Gallery or showing in New York. That was not what we were going to use our talents and abilities for. We were going to use them to further and correct the wrongs that had been done to our people and to use them, more than anything else, as an organizing tool.

Esteban [Villa} was teaching silk screening in the barrio, Eduardo Carrillo was doing murals, I had the barrio program for kids. We needed a term to sign our posters. We were going to be known as the Rebel Chicano Art Front.

Royal Chicano Air Force artists

And only the initials would go in the posters or murals. People began to see RCAF and they were curious about what our connection was with the Royal Canadian Air Force. We would try to explain, “No, we’re the Rebel Chicano Art Front.” Finally, someone just said, “No man, we’re the Royal Chicano Air Force!”

And from then on it took a whole different meaning. They gave us flying helmets, and a local grower gave us a jeep. So we would do our locuras (craziness) dressed as pilots with goggles and leather flight jackets with fur and go to Safeway to boycott grapes in a jeep.

RCAF Pilot José Montoya

Then there was a crop duster that crashed and in the inquiry the pilot said that the RCAF has been the fault for him crashing–andaba pedo el vato (the guy was drunk). But he tried to claim that Cesar Chavez had his own private air force, and that they were called the Royal Chicano Air Force and that they should be investigated. So we go investigated by the Aeronautics Commission. And they asked us, “who’s in charge?” “Well, we can’t tell you.

José Montoya reads poetry

Its top secret!” We just went along with the locura (craziness)and its still going on!

Filed Under: Art, INTERVIEWS Tagged With: Jose Montoya, Jose Montoya dies at 81, Passing of a Chicano legend

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 07.03.25 BRILLIANCE OF ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ-DÍAZ

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

The Brilliance of Latino Artist Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz Among the major acquisitions by the prestigious Smithsonian American Art Museum in the 1990s was an Ángel Rodríguez-Diaz painting of famed Latina novelist Sandra Cisneros. Rodríguez-Díaz painted Cisneros in a black Mexican dress decorated with sequins and embroidery, and she “holds a patterned rebozo that snakes around her […]

MIS PENSAMIENTOS with ALFREDO SANTOS 07.03.25 NO KINGS DAY PROTESTS

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

THE NO KINGS PROTEST RALLY IN AUSTIN, TEXAS On a pleasant Saturday afternoon on June 14, 2025, Austin participated in a nationwide ‘NO KINGS” protest rally along with 2,100 other cities and towns and 5,000,000 others citizens across the U.S.A.. It’s estimated that the Austin rally, held on the Texas Capital grounds, drew over 20,000 […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07.03.25 VIEQUES PARAÍSO AGRÍCOLA

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre Vieques Vieques es la Isla Nena del Archipiélago Borinkano que descansa a diez leguas al este de la Isla Grande;  cuenta con 132 kilómetros cuadrados, 33de largo por 7,2 de ancho, con una topografía de montes, colinas, pequeños valles y planicies costeras; abundan playas espectaculares, lagunas con algunos manantiales […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07. 03.25 VIEQUES AN AGRO PARADISE (ENGLISH)

July 3, 2025 By JT

Umpierre Agro Vieques Vieques is the Nena Island of the Borinkano Archipelago that rests ten leagues east of the Isla Grande; it has 132 square kilometers, 33 long by 7.2 wide, with a topography of mountains, hills, small valleys and coastal plains; spectacular beaches abound, lagoons with some springs and ravines but insufficient to supply […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin