How I Received the Pseudonym Lázaro

In 1966, I enrolled at Texas Arts and Industrial University in Kingsville, Texas, a school that held a special place in my heart. The university was established by Captain Richard King, the visionary behind the renowned King Ranch and the town of Kingsville. Captain King sourced his original cattle stock from a village in Mexico and successfully persuaded many of its residents to relocate and work on his vast Texas ranch, earning them the name "kineños."

The university gained recognition for its distinguished programs in petroleum geology, animal husbandry, and fine art. Despite the art department's modest enrollment, it enjoyed ample funding, an exceptional faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. Among the notable figures on campus was an art student named Jose Luis Rivera Barrera, hailing from a kineños family and having grown up on the King Ranch. The ranch awarded Jose a scholarship to study art at the university. Jose, with his striking resemblance to Jimmy Hindrex and his dark complexion, was well-known on campus (Today, Jose Luis is a respected Hispanic artist).

For reasons known only to him, Jose began calling me Lázaro. The name stuck. It caught on among my fellow art friends, and to this day, I sign my artwork with the pseudonym Lázaro.