To understand Los Four, we must start with their origins and their involvement in the politics of the 60’s and 70’s in East LA, California, a time of protest, pain, and possibility. Communities faced systemic racial injustice, police violence, and exclusion from mainstream cultural institutions–all symptoms of a broader erasure of Mexican-American and Chicano life. The Chicano Movement surged through the streets, demanding educational equity, labor rights, and representation. Activists were organizing. Students were walking out. Families en marcha for farmworkers. I’d like to highlight a few works that the members of Los Four did in solidarity during this time. To learn more about their involvement with the United Farm Workers Union and their bilingual newspaper, El Malcriado. 

Chicanos were building a movement across the nation, but in the art world, their voices were still largely missing. Their collective efforts intertwined activism and visual storytelling. They prioritized this in order to challenge the dominant narratives that centered abstract expressionism, conceptual art, and psychedelic pop art like those of Andy Warhol and performances such as Marina Abramović’s, which carried much of the art scene at the time.

In addition to being overshadowed by primarily white artists, otra cosa para mencionar, is that the city of Los Angeles, especially the Eastside, was undergoing massive construction and the active displacement of long-established comunidades. En 1961, the city completed the connections of Highways 101, 5, 10, and 60, which resulted in the removal of more than 3,000 structures (ya sean homes, shops, o local establishments) and displaced over 10,000 residents from their barrios. This reality made art inseparable from the struggle, as aesthetic expression became part of the broader urgency and resistance of the Chicano Movement.

The construction of the highways separated Black and Brown communities, largely for the benefit of nearby suburbs that wanted easier access to Los Angeles job opportunities. These freeways became physical and social borders, but artists like Carlos and Los Four turned those very walls into canvases, transforming them with massive, beautiful murals that the community could rely on and take pride in. Here we have History of LA, 1980, in which Carlos accurately displays the way the city of LA was built by immigrant labor.

First UFW Constitutional Convention, Fresno California, 1973

In the 1970s, Carlos Almaraz became an essential visual voice for the UFW and their fight for dignity and labor rights. His art served as a weapon in the struggle, amplifying the cries of farmworkers who were too often overlooked, underpaid, and exploited. Through murals and banners, Carlos helped shape the visual identity of the UFW movement led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta.

One of his most iconic contributions was creating artwork for UFW rallies and boycott campaigns, pieces that featured eagles, sunrise imagery, and workers with raised fists, all infused with a sense of urgency.  According to an oral history conducted by Margarita Nieto, for the Archives of American Art, Almaraz believed that art should be accessible and political, a sentiment he shared with many other artists of the Chicano movement.

Magu’s Contributions to another UFW Convention Mural

Magu Luján, much like Carlos Almaraz, created powerful murals supporting the United Farm Workers. In 1977, Magu took on a challenge of leading the creation of Una Sola Unión, a massive 60-by-40-foot solidarity mural for another UFM’s convention. The team was a mix of skilled Chicano artists from Los Angeles, like George Yepes and John Valadez, Fred Payan and other local Fresno artists.

Boycott Gallo, Carlos Almaraz

Carlos’ connection to the farmworker movement was deeply personal. Like many Chicanos, he understood displacement, poverty, and survival firsthand. It’s important to note that this alliance grew stronger as César Chavez and Carlos became close friends. During a time of uncertainty and financial hardship, Carlos asked César if he’d be willing to help fund his final semester of art school. César responded with a check. In gratitude, Carlos completed one of his most iconic works: the mural Boycott Gallo Wine, 1970, painted on the All Nation’s Community Center, which was revealed on Chavez’s birthday as a gift for his support. 

His work with the UFW represents a time when artists and activists stood shoulder to shoulder, when murals weren’t just murals, but declarations of justice. The building in which this mural was painted on also has huge significance and carried a lot of weight for the community of Boyle Heights.

The Stoto-Michigan Jewish Community Center was founded in the 1930’s and it served as a community pillar for many decades. Although it was established as a Jewish community center, by the 1950’s it had been recognized as a center in which anyone, no matter race, ethnicity, or religion, could reconvene with other local youth and families. From sports to art programs and cultural events, this center was a safe space where residents of Boyle Heights could gather, learn and celebrate their identities. Carlos created his mural as a call for solidarity with the Chicano movement and the farm workers. It was painted on the southern wall of the building, facing the main market street. Despite its rich history and status as a cultural landmark, the building was wrongfully demolished in 2006. The demolition was carried out sin proper permits, destroying both an architecturally significant structure pero also a site of deep community memory.

El Malcriado

Los Four were making noise even prior to the start of their formal art collective collaboration. In the mid-1960s, before Chicano art hit mainstream, Beto, Carlos and Magu found themselves behind the scenes of El Malcriado, the radical newspaper launched by César Chávez and the United Farm Workers.

First published in 1964, El Malcriado was run and written by migrant workers. The paper denounced the harsh, exploitative conditions faced by Mexican and Filipino farm laborers during the 1960s and 1970s.  Inspired by revolutionary Mexican print media, El Malcriado incorporated political commentary, satire, and visual art that echoed the strength of the working class. It also highlighted the brutal wages, poor housing, and inhumane working conditions that defined life in the fields; long before these struggles made their way into academic discourse or museum exhibits. Many accounts say that El Malcriado was la voz del pueblo since it was printed in both Spanish and English, una mezcla that felt just right for the people it served.

Headquarters and Locations of El Malcriado

El Malcriado was first created and printed out of the Farm Worker Union’s modest office at 102 Albany Street in Delano, California, with its address proudly listed on the newspaper’s masthead. As the movement grew and the need for a larger, more permanent home became clear, the paper’s operations shifted to the UFW’s Forty Acres headquarters at 30168 Garces Highway, just west of Delano. These spaces operated more than just offices, they were gathering grounds where artists, writers, organizers, and community members worked side by side. The walls that housed El Malcriado also functioned as informal studios, open doors where people could convene, share ideas, and build solidarity. In this way, the creation of the newspaper was entangled with the creation of the community itself, a testament to the spirit of collective struggle and creativity that defined the farmworker movement. Click here to see an issue of El Macriado.