I was born in Heroica Veracruz, Mexico in 1968. My hometown offers a interesting history on two counts: it has serve as the entry point for conquerors of Mexico throughout history; and is also situated in a territory where the "Olmec" culture flourished-the oldest civilization in Mesoamerica that earned the title "mother culture" Upon graduating from high school , I temporarily gave up art to go to Commercial diving school as a quick way to make money, then I start working on the petroleum-drilling platforms offshore in Mexico. Nevertheless, I did not wanted to suppress my desire for painting and I started doing "murals" on the metal walls of the Barges or oil platforms located on the Gulf of Mexico. During my free time at home Veracruz, I started doing murals on middle schools, getting a lot of experiences on large scale painting . That was the time when I start thinking about coming to United states. When I came to the United States, I brought a bag with two jeans and a pair of shirts and, a fierce determination to succeed as a mural painter. I painted murals in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Coatesville, PA; Port Elizabeth and Camden ,NJ; a 12-story mural in Shreveport, LA; and several murals in Heroica Veracruz,Mex. Every muralist has a different reason for painting murals. My reason is to search for a way to explore my own "sense" of paint, trying to get new excitements as I start something new(at least for me) every day. On the other hand, I think that I have the necessity of translating the community language into a visual state. I feel satisfaction in doing large scale painting , sculpture, wood carving, clay, film, dance,rituals and any medium that gives me the satisfaction of culminate a piece that the community could appreciate. I believe that murals absorb so much time of my life, leaving me with so little time to explore other mediums. The nice thing about it is the support of the people involve: The community adopt a sense of ownership on the wall and in most of the cases, this is the one force preserving it. Most of my murals are still around, but I saw a couple disappear already, gone forever and even if I know that this will happen to all of them(I hope not soon), there is a sense of nostalgic lost. That is how much we relay in the media, at least there is a record of keeping a visual memory of it. I specially enjoy my job in Philadelphia and Camden, reveling in its diversity. For me, the chance of living in the middle of so many ethnic groups, languages, customs, religions, makes life fascinating. Cesar Viveros