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Jesus "Cimi" Alvarado |
Jesus “Cimi”
Alvarado was born
in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1977, but
was raised in “El Segundo Barrio" in South
Central El Paso. At an early age, he
realized just how vulnerable we are to our
environment. Second story presidios, tight
housing, a very urban-like, Mexico City,
Philadelphia like setting, was where he
played and came to understand what his
inspiration would be. That inspiration being
the love for the texture and toughness of
his ‘barrio’, the love of family, and the
culture of the prevalently brown people that
directly and indirectly played a role in the
development of his soul. And just how that
development empowered him to not be
victimized by his environment, but instead
find the nuances of beauty, strength, and
the dignity necessary to genuinely
transcend.
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Cimi attended
the prestigious private school of Cathedral,
but found himself more compelled by the
spirit of the ‘segundo’ and returned to
graduate from Bowie High School. There he
studied with Gaspar Enriquez, and found a
way to polish up his street creed style of
graffiti art that came to give him the
colloquial fame name of “Cimi”. The fervor
of civic and social activism became a course
of ethos that enhanced his overall
consciousness and understanding of the roll
‘Chicanos’ play in the American lexicon.
This was
instrumental in his development as an
artist; where he helped with designing sets
and backdrops for local and university
plays, poetry readings, and teaching South
El Paso ‘at risk’ youth the very real power
that the arts can play in developing
themselves into young men and women.
After spending a number of years at Centro
de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc, developing as
a young artist, Cimi moved to Dallas, Texas,
where he produced murals for Fremantle Media
(producers of American Idol): Telemundo,
Univision, Frito Lay, and the Texas State
Fair. Cimi also conceptualized the Mural
Arts Program in Dallas, while being the
coordinator at the Icehouse Cultural Center,
a very progressive and fresh theatre and art
gallery.
His paintings have been added to the Arizona
State University Hispanic Art Collection in
2005. |
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