Photo of Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán
Title “South Berkeley Guerrero”
Year 2022
Materials acrylic paint, spray paint, oil, oil markers, chalk and gesso.
Dimensions 84 x 60 in
Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán is a disabled, first-generation Mexican-American painter and illustrator from South Berkeley, California. His art is a rich tapestry woven from the influences of Mexican artists, revolutionaries, and icons, blending the realistic colonial Mexican Spanish caste paintings with the flat, evocative aesthetics of Aztec pre-Columbian art. This unique fusion vividly represents his Mestizo identity.
Drawing from moments of his life, Muñoz-Guzmán incorporates recurring personal elements alongside Mesoamerican imagery and diverse environments he has inhabited. His depictions of himself and his family serve as powerful reminders to honor the working-class individuals often absent from contemporary art spaces. His broad use of mixed media, initially born from a lack of resources, has evolved into a hallmark of his everyday practice, reflecting his adaptability and resourcefulness.
Muñoz-Guzmán’s work is a continuous dialogue of ideas, memories, and thoughts, offering an ongoing source of reflection. His art possesses a matter-of-fact quality typical of social realism, where saturated colors capture the vibrant atmospheres of his childhood in South Berkeley and his family’s ancestral home in Tepatitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. Whether addressing themes of community, depression, or agrarian life, Muñoz-Guzmán approaches each subject with the same attention, care, and grace, acknowledging the significance of these experiences in shaping his identity.
The seamless integration of past, present, and future in his work underscores a profound understanding that all aspects of life contribute to the person he is today. Muñoz-Guzmán’s artistic journey includes a foundational year at Parsons School of Design and a subsequent year in the painting program at Rhode Island School of Design. He is continuing his studies at UC Berkeley’s Master of Fine Arts Program.
Muñoz-Guzmán has participated in numerous group shows exhibited at the RISD Museum, Fall River MoCA, Bureau Gallery, MACLA, Part 2 Gallery, Good Mother Studio, and Watts Towers Art Center. His debut solo exhibition, Tocando Tierra, opened at Room 3557 Gallery. He published his art book, Brown Eyes from Russell Street, with Sming Sming Books and released it at the 2023 San Francisco Art Book Fair. The book was acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) Library, UC Irvine’s Library, UC Berkeley’s Latinx Research Library, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), and the Oakland History Center at the Oakland Public Library.
Since 2022, Muñoz-Guzmán has been a facilitator for artist William Scott at Creative Growth. Selected projects include facilitating