A sculptor, muralist and oil painter who also does works on paper, Martín Moreno has cultivated various themes of relevance to both Mexico and the Chicano community, including César Chávez and Emiliano Zapata, the mythos of Aztlán and of La Malinche, the origin of mestizaje, and other themes of the Mexican or pre-Hispanic cultural and racial heritage of Chicanos. The artist says of his influences, "My
earliest memories of color and rhyme are those of the fields. Sitting in the
back of a pickup truck with my family, watching row upon row of corn and tomatoes
form a visual pattern of rhythm. Realities of superstition told by the elders,
stories of La Llorona (Weeping Woman), the earth, my glorious past—all these
images come to life in stone, paint and canvas, and walls. To point a finger
when no one dares. To search one's soul and then to share. This iis my purpose
as a Chicano artista."
