Projects
On this page I would like to introduce you to a few projects where my visual imagery and poetry have been featured. I have worked on commissions with private individuals who collect my paintings as well as with public entities (cities and schools) who have contracted me to create artwork in the form of murals and street banners for public viewing.
I have also collaborated with various publishing companies to create book covers for noted poet and playwright, Cherrie Moraga, (Heroes and Saints & Other Plays, published by West End Press). Another publishing project (involving my paintings as book covers for writers and poets, as well as in a book journal) was for Host Publications, a publishing company that teamed me up with writers Noni Benegas (from Argentina/Spain, author of Burning Cartography) and Liliana Blum (from Mexico, author of The Curse of Eve). They work with writers from all over the world. Host publications also published a literary journal called The Dirty Goat which features international writers and poets as well as 2 visual artists per publication. In their 17th edition, they feature my work.
My poems served as an inspiration for Musical Composer and Professor of Music at University of Florida, Gainesville, Paul Basler. He has set 21 of my poems to music which is sung by choir. The title of the projects are Cantos Alegres (Joyful Songs), Dias Divinos (Divine Days), and Embrace Creation. The compositions have been performed all over the world.
Another project I have been involved with is with Casiopea Magazine, based in Guadalajara, Mexico. I've included a sample from the collection of 40 original drawings for the 2007 Casiopea Magazine project.
Illuminations
"Confrontacion Interna de Luz y Salida"
39" x 28"
© 1997 Gabriel Navar
Gabriel Navar's painting "Confrontacion Interna de Luz y Salida", in the collection of Tomas Gomez, was chosen for the cover of the 1999 "Illuminations" (the publication for the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon).
International Mariachi Festival
"Festival"
24" x 19"
© 2001 Gabriel Navar
Gabriel Navar's painting "Festival" (Summer 2001) was commissioned and used specifically for the 10th Annual San José International Mariachi Festival & Conference. The painting was widely reproduced on posters, coffee mugs and t-shirts. Here you can see the reproduction for the catalog cover of this 4-day mariachi event.
Cirque
"Moon"
Collaboration with Art in the Community Class while I attended San José State University, Fall 1996. I painted the moon.
Winton Junior High School
"Hayward's History"
Mural I directed at Winton Junior High School in Hayward, California done April through July 1998 with students and Jose Loaiza, counselor. The mural is about the history of Hayward going back to the time when the Ohlone Indians inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mexicans and the Anglos.
Street Banners
"International Boulevard"
Street banners that Gabriel Navar designed for International Boulevard (E14th Street), were installed. If you are in the Oakland area, the banners run from 66th Ave - through San Leandro along International Boulevard. The message of the banners is to encourage education and that education opens doors!
Private Commission
"Petals of Light"
48" x 60"
© 1999 Gabriel Navar
"Petals of Light" is one of two paintings that were commissioned by Ed Diaz. I incorporated imagery based on photographs of landscapes which Ed shot.
Calendar Project
Calendar Project with Rene Yañez. 1999. "Intimidad Amarilla" (Yellow Intimacy) and "Rama Nueva" (New Branch). These are two of eleven designs that I did for the original artist calendars for the year 2000. The calendars were exhibited and sold in California at the Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, and the Richmond Art Center, Richmond.
Woodland's Mobile Mural Project
"Celebrating Today - Moving Forward", 5' 8" x 9' 6", December 2004, acrylic & oil on wood. This "stacked" mural was created as a commission for the City of Woodland's Mobile Mural Project. Woodland is a city near Sacramento, CA. For the imagery, I used colors, symbols and figures that in my mind represent optimism, unity and the notion of moving forward spiritually and intellectually as a collective family and community.
Calorcito de Amor: Selected by Cherríe Moraga
"Calorcito de Amor" is a painting that was selected by noted poet, essayist, and cultural organizer Cherríe Moraga for the cover of her collection of plays, "Heroes and Saints & Other Plays" ©1994 which includes "Giving Up the Ghost" and "Shadow of a Man". Moraga viewed the painting in a collective curated exhibition that I was a part of titled "Benchmarks" (Summer 2000) in San Jose, CA's MACLA. Moraga purchased the painting and is in her private collection.
© Gabriel Navar 1989 - 2017 
You may contact me directly if you are interested in acquiring my artwork.