Stevon Lucero, Chicano artist awakens universal consciousness for all.

By Renee Fajardo

 

“Heaven is before you, but you can not see it. It is obscured by your vision of hell.” Stevon Lucero 1978

 

Stevon Lucero is an artist. He has been painting what he sees, hears and experiences for nearly forty years. Five hundred years ago when the Spanish Conquistadors brought their priest to the “New World” (Mexico) where Lucero's ancestors were born, those like him would have been embraced with an open fire pit. That's what you do to heretics. Even by today's standards, Lucero could be considered a very dangerous man. When folks in Denver refer to him as the visionary Chicano artist, they aren't just whistling De Colores .

 

Lucero, who was born in 1949, grew up in Laramie Wyoming amidst Wild West cowboys and Mexican rail road workers. He lived on the “wrong side of the tracks” where life was marked by poverty, violence and alcoholism. “We were just poor Mexican kids living in a redneck town” laughs Lucero. “I didn't even know I was a Chicano, a Mexican /American, or about my cultural traditions. I was just trying to survive.”

 

His ancestral roots were not to be denied. Those with the sight are legendary among the indigenous peoples of Mexico. One day in 1st grade, Lucero showed up to class four hours late. His teacher thought he was playing hooky. Lucero for the life of him couldn't remember where he'd been. This was the first in a life long series of inexplicable other worldly experiences.

 

In 3rd grade while walking home, Lucero had the first of many full fledge visions. He recounts that he could feel his head being unscrewed as his soul split into two parts, the liquid part that was pouring into his head and the solid part that was part of his body. He was transported to a crowded room where he witnessed himself as an old man being shot. He recalls watching several past lives flash before him. When he realized that the conflict from each life kept being repeated until it was resolved he found himself in what he calls “Gods Mind”.

 

“It was the luminous grid. Years later I would read about the grid in the Power of Silence by Carlos Casteneda.” said Lucero. “I remember thinking this is God's consciousness. At 9 years old I did not know what I was suppose to do about it but I knew there was definitely a God. ”

 

Right after his 13th Birthday, Lucero would experience lucid, reoccurring sequential dreams. In these dreams he was transported by a UFO to a place of extreme light. It was here in the dream time that Lucero began a series of long conversations with the “Master”.

 

“These dreams lasted for years.” recalls Lucero “These dreams ended when I was about 18. I had been told by the “Master” I would not remember everything I had been told , but that as long as I held the Creator in my heart I would know what to do and when to do it. I saw there were many realities, dimensions and states of existence. People were awake, asleep, or asleep dreaming they were awake. My calling was to help others awaken through my art.”

 

Admittedly, Lucero may sound like a mad man. But his profound sense of spirituality has enabled him to create a prolific body of art work today that goes beyond addressing only Chicano issues. His work is fresh, relevant and hauntingly symbolic. It speaks to all races and cultures.

 

While in college at the University of Wyoming, he started painting what he called Metaphysical Fantastic Realism. This concept later evolved into "Materealism" where the conscious and subconscious merge together. He defines his style this way: "Materealism is the externalization of interior realities that are transformed into visual mystic metaphors through the process of the philosophic state I call polar synthesis. Thought forms.

 

After leaving college in his junior year, he moved to Colorado and became involved in the Las Raza movement which led to his becoming a founding member of CHAC (Chicano Humanities and Arts Council). In 1979 he met Tony Shearer who inspired him to create Neo-Precolumbian Art.

 

Internationally revered Mexican “Curandero” (medicine man), Tlacaelel, who is best known for deciphering pre-Columbian knowledge, told Stevon that he is one of the few artists on this planet that paints with true spirit vision.

 

Lucero in addition to his paintings is a renown muralist. His best know Mural was commissioned by The Denver Museum of nature and Science in 1992 know as the “Mercado de Tlatelolco” for the famous “Aztec, World of Moctezuma” exhibit.

 

He has lectured at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University. Lucero's paintings have been exhibited in New York and throughout the United States. Even though his pieces are collected by the likes of such public personalities as Edward James Olmos, Daniel Valdez, Al Pacino and many private collectors, the wealth and fame of more well recognized Chicano artist has eluded him.

 

“ Stevon is a solitary messenger who paints into the early morning hours. He always mesmerizes me with his dreams and visions of the future. His mind overflows with creative imagination, beautiful and sometimes terrifying. Often he expounds philosophies until I can no longer stay awake. He has no interest in marketing himself or his art. And this is what we accept as a family and are not here to commercialize on him.” said Lucero's wife of twenty-five years, Arlette, a Denver based illustrator.

 

Lucero is pragmatic about the lack of notoriety he has received. “I have never painted for any other reason than to carry out my destiny. My work is for people of all cultures. There are forces at work that prevent us from evolving to the next level of consciousness. My goal is to enlighten and awaken all I can while I am here.”

 

Many in the community believe Lucero is living on borrowed time. He has suffered three major heart attacks in the past decade and they wonder how long the visionary painter can continue to paint.

 

“I will paint until it is time to move on.” smiles Lucero. “Heaven is right before our eyes. I want to help all those I can to realize this before I leave. We can see hell but we can not seem to grasp the concept of enlightenment.”

 

For more information on Lucero's and his paintings visit www.stevonlucero.com .