Playing with Fire: Paintings by Carlos Almaraz

Playing with Fire: Paintings by Carlos Almaraz


  • Aug 6–Dec 3, 2017
  • BCAM, Level 2

Gaytino (excerpt)

L.A.-based producer, writer, and activist Dan Guerrero and artist Carlos Almaraz were lifelong friends, from their initial fifth grade schoolyard meeting to the very day Almaraz died of AIDS in 1989. They grew up a block apart on the same East L.A. street, sharing big dreams and a passion for adventure. Almaraz always wanted to be an artist and Guerrero was drawn to the entertainment world early. The two set off for New York City in 1962 to follow their dreams, with Almaraz staying a few months during a break from art school and Guerrero remaining for a successful twenty-year career in musical theatre. Geography did not diminish their brotherly friendship, and upon Guerrero’s return to L.A. in the early 1980s, it matured and deepened.

Guerrero wrote the autobiographical ¡Gaytino! to celebrate both this special friendship as well as his equally profound relationship with his father, renowned singer and composer Lalo Guerrero, recognized as the Father of Chicano Music and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton.

Dan Guerrero has performed his solo show at venues across the country, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. The ¡Gaytino! excerpts featured here focus on Guerrero’s friendship with Almaraz. The full performance can be viewed at www.gaytino.com.


¡Gaytino! videography by Daniel Buckley, editing by Richard Read