Cheech Marin's new museum in Riverside dedicated solely to Chicano art

'The Cheech' museum dedicated to Chicano art

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture is opening to the public Saturday in Riverside. The museum will house the largest collection of Chicano art in the world thanks to legendary comedian and actor Cheech Marin.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Actor and comedian Cheech Marin, probably best known as half of the Cheech and Chong duo, has millions of fans around the world. But not many of them know that Cheech actually has another passion for collecting Chicano art. Saturday, the first museum ever dedicated solely to Mexican-American artists, opens in Riverside. It is called "The Cheech," or more formally, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture.

The Cheech opens Saturday and the first big exhibit called "Cheech Collects" will be on display through June 2024. You can go to RiversideArtMuseum.org to get tickets.

What is Chicano art?

"Chicanos are Mexican-Americans with a defiant political attitude because of their experiences of demanding that their educational system be on par with their body, or their work situation, or their social situation," explained Cheech. "The Chicano school was just a description of a culture from a myriad of different viewpoints, whether it's historical or religious or gender-based or any kind of bias that they had to bring this together and what you get at the end is the sabor of the taste and the feeling and the smell of a culture."

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture is the first museum ever dedicated solely to Mexican-American artists. (FOX 11)

How did the new museum come to be?

"I had this collection that I had been collecting for 40 years, and we had toured it around the nation in those 40 years and we broke attendance records and every single museum, we played it in. From the Smithsonian on down to everyone and found a home here, not just in the building, but in the community already from Riverside, in the Inland Empire," Cheech told FOX 11's Michaela Pereira.

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture is the first museum ever dedicated solely to Mexican-American artists. (FOX 11)

Representation matters

"[Community members being able to see themselves in the art] is absolutely the most important thing for most of the museums that we played. The audience was the first time they'd ever been in a museum, any museum of any kind. You have to see them in person to get the full effect, and I want them to have that experience. But the paintings on these walls look like them, and that's the first time that's happened," Cheech said.