The Fire of Life

The Fire of Life, the collection of performance artist Robert Legorreta, is a fascinating and eclectic archive. Correspondence, artwork, photographs, and other materials document Legorreta’s artistic career and trace the development of the East L.A. arts scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The collection contains more than a thousand LPs, gathered primarily for the Latino imagery on their covers, and toys, coupons, and ads, that show how Latino themes have been used to promote consumer products.

Robb Hernandez first explores Legorreta's career as the performance artist Cyclona and his influence on the generation of East L.A. artists who emerged during the tumultuous years of the Chicano movement, then assesses the collection in terms of its value to researchers. An illustrated section features album covers and the artist's thoughts on the significance of their Latino imagery. The book also includes a detailed finding aid for the collection.