...lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and paints in acrylics. He graduated with honors with an M.A./M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Department of Fine Arts Graduate School and  a B.F.A. from University of California at Berkeley. Diego has a C.L.P. from the University of San Francisco.  He received a number of fellowships for his Academic study. His artwork illustrates many complex social-economic issues faced by contemporary society. Diego Marcial Rios' fine art has been included in more than 400 exhibitions from Japan to Bulgaria. He is in a number of Museum Collections: The Auchenbach Foundation Collection at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Oregon; Laguna Beach Museum, Laguna Beach, CA.; Museo National De La Estampa, Mexico City, Mexico, etc.. He has also illustrated a number of books and his work is part of a number of Public Collections: Harriet Taubman Gallery, MD; Mission Cultural Center, SF; Irish Arts Council, Belfast, Ireland and many more.  He has appeared as a speaker on Art and been interviewed on Television. His artwork has been included in many magazines. Diego has been a recent guest speaker at UC Merced, St. Marys College, and San Jose State University.

Artist's statement:
My artwork illustrates many social-economic problems faced by contemporary society. My artwork has been labeled by many as "Chicano art". This label is true in that I am a Chicano doing art, but false when "Chicano art" is used as a restrictive term due to cultural misconceptions. The topics I chose are not specific Chicano problems, but rather complex macroeconomic and political phenomena that human beings encounter in life.

I create art that is visually stimulating to gain initial viewer acceptance. Once this is achieved, the viewer is confronted with ancient symbols of life and death. These messages, I feel, need to be expressed in order to voice the plight of the weak and exploited people of the world.

Figures and landscapes in the art are inspired by what I have experienced and later dreamed about. The depictions of industrial and moral deterioration are a reflection of urban decay. Scenes of brutality are inspired by incidents of suffering I have witnessed. Urban violence and police brutality are rampant due to the unequal distribution of wealth and power. This unequal distribution keeps many in poverty, where they experience the harshest injustices and burden of "man's inhumanity to man".

Poverty and in humanity can only be addressed by great social and economic reforms. Art can be a product and reflection of society; it's harshest critic and a catalyst to action.