Rebels with La Causa
Royal Chicano Air Force Art and Activism, 1970–1990
Royal Chicano Air Force Art and Activism, 1970–1990
Rebels With La Causa explores the expansive production and creative impact of posters by the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), one of the Chicano Movement’s most prolific and impactful artist collectives. Beginning in 1970, when a collective of students gravitated towards Sacramento State art professors José Montoya and Esteban Villa, the group coalesced and named themselves the Rebel Chicano Art Front. As was true of other artists at the time, their posters were not individually signed but marked with the group’s initials: RCAF. After being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force, they decided to call themselves the Royal Chicano Air Force, adopting military regalia and incorporating flight imagery in their art. After they moved into the wider community, the RCAF transformed into a multidisciplinary collective of artists, writers, musicians, scholars, activists, and community organizations.
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The exhibition will highlight 95 posters created for the myriad artistic, cultural, and spiritual activities organized by the larger RCAF collective from 1970–1990. It will also feature photographs, ephemera, and videos related to the collective’s artistic production, community engagement, and political activism. The exhibition's iconic posters, while serving as event announcements of the collective’s activities, also reflect the role of the RCAF artists’ aesthetics experimentation and technical innovations within Chicana/o art history and American graphic arts.