Mario Torero is an “artivist”, most known over the last 52 years for an extensive body of socially conscious mural work produced in different cities throughout the United States and around the world.  With a long history of involvement in both local and global arts and progressive movements, Mario has come to be seen as an iconic Chicano artist with deep roots in the San Diego cultural arts community.  A co-founder of San Diego’s world famous Chicano Park, he has contributed more than twenty standing murals and three sculptures there. Mario is also a founding and continuing member of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, and was a co-founding board member and Arts Commissioner for the San Diego Commission of Arts and Culture.  Son of beloved San Diego artist Guillermo Acevedo, Mario immigrated from Lima, Peru at twelve and was raised in the barrios and ghettos of San Diego becoming a local Chicano leader among the national civil rights movements. In the last 20 years Mario has consistently been visiting Peru, Europe, Central America and Asia collaborating and promoting a cross exchange of cultures, Peruvian and Chicano/American artists and students.