Bio


Drawing from his experiences living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in the late 70’s, and also in Europe in the late 90’s, Enrique Chagoya juxtaposes secular, popular, and religious symbols in order to address the ongoing cultural clash between the United States, Latin America and the world as well. He uses familiar pop icons to create deceptively friendly points of entry for the discussion of complex issues. Through these seemingly harmless characters Chagoya examines the recurring subject of colonialism and oppression that continues to riddle contemporary American foreign policy.

Chagoya was born and raised in Mexico City. His father, a bank employee by day and artist by night, encouraged his interest in art by teaching Chagoya color theory and how to sketch at a very early age. As a young adult, Chagoya enrolled in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he studied political economy and contributed political cartoons to union newsletters. He relocated to Veracruz and directed a team focused on rural-development projects, a time he describes as “an incredible growing experience…[that] made me form strong views on what was happening outside in the world.” This growing political awareness would later surface in Chagoya’s art. At age 26, Chagoya moved to Berkeley, California and began working as a free-lance illustrator and graphic designer. Disheartened by what he considered to be the narrow political scope of economics programs in local colleges, Chagoya turned his interests to art. He enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned a BFA in printmaking in 1984. He then pursued his MA and MFA at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1987. He moved to San Francisco in 1995. He has been exhibitng his work nationally and internationally for over two decades with a major retrospective organized by the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa in 2007 that traveled to UC Berkelye Art Museum and to the Palms Spring Art Museum in 2008 ( fully illustrated bilingual catalog was published). In the Fall of 2013, a major survey of his work opened at Centro Museum ARTIUM, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital city of the Basque Country, near Bilbao, Spain (with a trilingual catalog documenting the exhibition). The exhibition will travel to the CAAM in the Canary Islands in 2015.

He is currently Full Professor at Stanford University’s department of Art and Art History and his work can be found in many public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco among others. He has been recipient of numerous awards such as two NEA artists fellowships, one more from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, residencies at Giverny and Cite Internationale des Arts in France, and a Tiffany fellowship to mention a few.

He is represented by Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, George Adams Gallery in New York, and Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. His prints are published by Shark’s Ink in Lyons, Co, Electric Works in San Francisco, CA, Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA, ULAE Bay Shore, NY, Segura Publishing in Pueblo, AZ, Trillium press in Brisbaine, CA, Made in California in Oakland, CA, and Smith Andersen Editions in Palo Alto, CA.

Academic Appointments


  • Professor, Art & Art History

Administrative Appointments


  • Professor: Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Graduate Seminar, Stanford University, Department of Art (1995 - Present)
  • Visiting Lecturer, Hidden History of Latin-American Art: San Francisco Art Institute (1997 - 1997)
  • Assistant Professor: Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Art Criticism, California State University, Hayward (1991 - 1995)
  • Full-time Lecturer: Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Graduate Critiques, University California Berkeley, Art Department (1990 - 1991)
  • Eureka Fellowship, Fleischacker Foundation (1996 - 1996)
  • Artist fellowship and residency at Giverny, France, Lilla Wallace Foundation/ Foundation Monet (1995 - 1995)
  • Fellowship, for Works on Paper, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) (1993 - 1993)
  • Fellowship, for Works on Paper, The Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) (1992 - 1992)

Honors & Awards


  • Kala Master Artist Award, Kala Institute (2010)
  • Elliot Medal, American Academy of Art and Design Biennial (2006)
  • President’s Award for Excellence, San Francisco Art Institute (2006)
  • Dean’s Award in the Humanities, Stanford University (1998)
  • Academy Award in Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters (1997)
  • Biennial Award, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (1997)
  • Public art commission, SFO international terminal (1996)
  • Eisner Prize, University California Berkeley Art Department (1986)
  • Distinguished Alumni, SF Art Institute (1985)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Chair, Search Committee for Emerging Practices Design, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
  • Chair, Search Committee for Emerging Practices in Design appointment Area Head, Art Practice, Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
  • Member, Search Committee for Design appointment, Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
  • Member, Committee for the promotion of Prof. Barbaro Martinez- Ruiz, Stanford University (2011 - 2011)

Program Affiliations


  • Center for Latin American Studies

Professional Education


  • M.F.A., University of California, Berkeley (1987)
  • M.A., University of California, Berkeley (1986)
  • B.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute, Printmaking Major (1984)

2024-25 Courses