Rigo 23 (born Ricardo Gouveia, 1966) is a Portuguese-born visual artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: ''One Tree'' next to the

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...

on-ramp at 10th and Bryant Street, ''Innercity Home'' on a large public housing structure, ''Sky/Ground'' on a tall abandoned building at 3rd and

Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which ...

, and ''Extinct'' over a Shell gas station. He resides in Los Angeles, California.

Early life and education

Rigo was born in 1966 and raised on the island of

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

in Portugal. In his youth he joined Center for Cultural Action (CACF) in

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

and connected with older artists. Rigo arrived in San Francisco in 1985, using the name Rigo 85. He earned a BFA degree from

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

in 1991, and an MFA degree from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1997."Walls with Tongues: Muralist RIGO 02 Speaks"
by Siobhan Fleming, ''Comet Magazine'' 3, 2002. From 1984 until 2002, Rigo used the last two digits of the current year as part of his name, finally settling upon "23" in 2003.Calendar item for 'Jam Sessions: Rigo 84–23'
"Another World is Possible" (radio show) website, ''

KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, which serves Southern California. It was the second of five stations in the non-commercial, listener-sponsored Pacifica Radio network. KPFK 90.7 FM be ...

.com'', January 23, 2006.

Career

San Francisco murals

Rigo is one of the founding members of Clarion Alley Mural Project collective in 1992 and is still an active member, as of 2017. He is considered by some

art critics Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and curators to be part of the first generation of the San Francisco

Mission School A mission school or missionary school is a religious school originally developed and run by Christian missionaries. The mission school was commonly used in the colonial era for the purposes of Westernization of local people. These may be day s ...

art movement."The Mission school"
by Glen Helfand, '' San Francisco Bay Guardian'', October 28, 2002.Reader responses to "Marketing the Mission"
''Stretcher.org'', January 17, 2005. Many of Rigo's 20+ murals are located in the

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, so named due to its location south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of ...

(SOMA) neighborhood in San Francisco. The first of a series of San Francisco murals, the forty foot tall shield-shaped street sign mural "Innercity Home" (1995) is located in the Tenderloin neighborhood and can be seen from a distance when entering the city on the freeway. The San Francisco pop art mural "One Tree" (1995) was one of his more iconic works, it was located near a freeway ramp at 10th and Bryant streets and featuring a mural of a

street sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

pointing to a single tree which grew nearby. In 2012, additional trees were planted near the mural which had previously featured only a single tree, and by 2017, the mural was deconstructed, cut and moved to point the pointing sign to the freeway ramp.

Political art

Rigo's artwork has highlighted world politics and political prisoners, from the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California ...

and the Angola Three to

Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia police officer C ...

, whose conviction for the murder of a policeman is contested, and the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an Native Americans in the United States, American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues ...

's Leonard Peltier. Rigo created a controversial statue of Peltier that was removed from the grounds of the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

in January 2017. In 2005, he created a statue based on the

1968 Olympics Black Power salute During their medal ceremony in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each Raised fist, raised a black-gloved fist during the playing ...

titled '' Victory Salute'', a twenty-two foot tall monument of two men:

Tommie Smith Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83 sec ...

and

John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power salute on th ...

. In the 1968 Olympic Games in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, these men each raised a black-gloved fist for human rights. Their simple gesture of the hand is considered as one of the most controversial statements of political and social activism in Olympic history. ''Victory Salute'' is a monument of that moment which was specifically built on the

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

campus because Smith and Carlos were both student-athletes at the college.

Other work

Rigo was an occasional professor at the

(now defunct)."Clarion Alley Mural Project"
by Megan Wilson, ''MeganWilson.com'', 2006. He has designed several installations as part of the 2006

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

."Rigo 23"
Liverpool Biennnial 2006 artists directory. His work is in the collection of di Rosa,

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

(SFMOMA), and the Berardo Collection Museum.

Awards

This is a list of select awards. *1991 - Chauncey McKeever Award, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California *1994 - WESTF/NEA Regional Fellowship for Visual Arts *1996 - One Tree, Best Public Art Project of the Year, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California *1997 - Stoli, San Francisco Arts Achievement Award Secession Gallery, Visual Art Residency Fellowship Award, Taiwan *1998 - SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, California *1999 - Biennal Award (under the name "Rigo 99"), The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York City, New York *2006 - Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, California *2007 - Howard Fellowship,

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, Providence, Rhode Island *Creative Work Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund with Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, California

References

External links

* Video
Artists ♥ San Francisco: Rigo 23
(2016) by SFMOMA on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

*Video
Rigo 23 and lost bird posters
(May 2010) by SFMOMA * Article

by Apollinaire Scherr, '' Metroactive'', December 21, 1998. (Scroll down to section "This Space for 'Huh?'") * Article/interview
"In Full Site - Rigo 99"
''Loud Paper'' 3(2), 1999.

by Hank Donat, ''MisterSF.com'', 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rigo 23 Artists from California Portuguese emigrants to the United States Portuguese painters Portuguese contemporary artists American contemporary painters American conceptual artists American muralists 1966 births Living people Madeiran artists Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area Mission District, San Francisco San Francisco Art Institute alumni Stanford University alumni People of Madeiran descent