Louie Gonzales, Xiloren Rifa

Luis C. Gonzalez (aka Louie-the-foot) is a prolific Sacramento, Calif. based artist whose paintings and poster art have been exhibited widely in this country and abroad.  Born in Mexico City, Gonzalez settled with his family in Sacramento where he completed high school and attended Sacramento State University. His creative work as an artist began in the 1960's. Gonzalez is a member of the renowned Royal Chicano Air Force, a collective of activist Chicano artists with whom he became associated as a youth; he also became involved with the United Farm Workers of America and its leader Cesar Chavez for whom he produced posters. His concern and support for the farm workers is a recurring theme in much of Gonzalez' work.

He acquired his nickname "Louie-the-foot" by arriving on foot at demonstrations and marches. He continues that tradition through his day job as a rural postal carrier. Gonzalez' aim is to foment pride in Chicano culture and history. He also is well known for his use of concrete poetry in his artwork. His combination of colorful graphic patterns and words in his many poem-paintings as well as posters reflect his bilingual cultural heritage as well as his sense of humor. Gonzalez comments, "my goal was to become a writer of Chicano stories. I had a fascination with words and the fact that I was bilingual only added fuel to the fire."
(https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/cema/louie_the_foot, 2020)