Margaret with her “My Cousin Willie” (1985, Oil on Masonite) on the wall at LACMA for the Brockman Gallery Los Angeles 1967-1990 exhibit. Exhibit opens 10/17/2026. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

The wall description reads

“After meeting Margaret Garcia at Self Help Graphics, East L.A.’s celebrated print workshop, Alonzo Davis invited her to curate a show at Brockman. Garcia presented “Magu y Maguy”, a joint exhibition with Gilbert “Magu” Luján that offered complementary visions of Chicano Life. Her expressionistic paintings and prints weave personal experience, ancestral memory, and Chicana identity into textures of everyday life. Portraits of vibratory intensity, such as Willie My Cousin, make that intimate political insisting on an individuality that resists reductive stereotypes”.

MARGARET GARCÍA

Born September 20, 1951 in Boyle Heights (Los Angeles, California)

Resides in Los Angeles, California

An avid painter, García began her art career as a muralist and was chosen to participate in the 1984 LA Olympics public art program. A teacher and a mentor to many young artists, García studied at California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles City College, and the University of Southern California, where she attended the Fine Arts graduate program.

Her paintings provide a look at her community through the reflection of the individuals. Although she does not consider her portraits overtly political, over time she has come to realize that their very specificity belies the stereotypes given to any culture by the media.

In addition to her portrayals of her community, her long running “Views from the Pueblo” series captures street scenes and landscapes depicting her Los Angeles neighborhoods of Echo Park, Boyle Heights and Highland Park. Her work has been exhibited in group shows throughout the United States, Mexico and in Europe. In 2022 and 2023, she was featured in solo exhibitions at the Museum of Ventura County and at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles.

Margaret’s public art work is currently on display at the platform level, Universal Metro Station, Two Blue Whale mural (!978) in Mar Vista, La Gloria Molina mural on the St. Louis Street-facing wall of Casa0101 (Boyle Heights, CA). Her paintings are current on display at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, Galeria Yasmin (Pomona, CA), University Gallery, California State University Dominguez Hills (Gardena, CA). Margaret’s work is part of a group show about the Brockman Gallery (Los Angeles 1967-1990) now at LACMA in October 2026.

Website Version 10.16.2026