Last week, legendary Chicano artist Emigdio Vasquez passed away at 74 after a long illness. Vasquez was most prominent during the 1980s and 1990s, when his expansive murals and portraits off Chicano life in Orange County graced the insides of city halls, walls, and libraries across Southern California. Unfortunately, the last years of his life saw the neglect of his public murals, and a scapegoating campaign by law enforcement claiming Vasquez's art glamorized gang life. What changed in OC during Vasquez's life—and will his art survive into the coming decades?
KCRW
