Originally from the Mexican town of Irapuato, Marcos Raya has been creating art in and around Chicago since the late 60s. Initially focused on painting and drawing during his studies at the Windsor Mountain School in Lenox, Massachusetts, Raya's practice has broadened to include mural work, installation, and found object sculpture. He participated in the 1980 creation of the Prevent World War III mural, was exhibited nationally in the United States for Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985, and most recently appeared in the Wellcome Collection's Death a Self-Portrait. His work contains echoes of his Mexican heritage, anti-industrial sensibilities, and love of Surrealism. In particular, his paintings focus on psychological portraiture, with elements of darkness that permeate out of the frame into the mind of the viewer.