Mario Orozco Rivera

Mario Orozco Rivera (January 19, 1930 – November 20, 1998) was a Mexican muralist and painter, a later proponent of Mexican muralism, and whose work was particularly influenced by David Alfaro Siqueiros. He created a number of murals, mostly in the state of Veracruz before becoming an assistant to Siqueiros, directing the Taller Siqueiros in Cuernavaca and working with the artists on projects such as the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros. While preferring mural work, which he considered less commercial, Orozco Rivera also created oils and sculptures. Many of these works were exhibited in Mexico and abroad and can be found in many major collections. His work received recognition in various countries.

Orozco Rivera was born in Mexico City to a circus family, in which he performed as a young child. He was a cousin of painter José Clemente Orozco. When asked about his famous last names, he used to state “(José Clemente) Orozco is my dad and (Diego) Rivera is my mom!

At age sixteen he went to Cuba but returned after the Batista coup to begin studying at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" in 1952. After he finished, he traveled in Europe and into the then Soviet Union and China, paying for it by singing political songs. Like other artists of the Mexican muralism movement, he was politically active, a member for thirty years of the Mexican Communist Party then of the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico. This also mixed with his artistic work, working with political artist groups such as the Frente Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the Sociedad de Profesores e Investigadores, both of the Universidad Veracruzana.

While primarily a painter, he was also a poet, composer and musician, as well as a promoter of art and literature. From the 1960s to the 1980s he composed political songs and recorded four albums in the Soviet Union.

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