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MESA — Cheech Marin has played a stoner and been half of the Cheech and Chong comedy team, an actor and musician.

Add to that list art collector.

Major art collector.

"My goal is to promote Chicano artists," said Marin, in Mesa earlier this month for the opening of "Papel Chicano: Works on Paper" at Mesa Contemporary Arts, the visual arts venue at the hopping Mesa Arts Center.

Marin, who was about 11 years old when he first started checking out art books from the library, has about 350 pieces by contemporary Chicano artists. The walls of his homes host some of the works, but most are in storage.

He didn't like that. He wanted the works and the artists to get the exposure he felt they deserved.

So Marin got the works on the road with "Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge," a major exhibition that traveled across the country for several years.

Before that closed early this month after its final stop at the Milwaukee Public Museum, Marin decided he wanted to get his works on paper out to the public, too.

In the meantime, Patty Haberman, curator at Mesa Contemporary Arts, impressed with the "Chicano Visions" show, longed for an exhibit of the works Marin owns.

She approached him when he was in Phoenix at the beginning of this year, and a match was made.

"I started collecting 20 years ago," said Marin, standing next to an oversize piece, "The Death of Wino," by Vincent Valdez. It is a powerful pastel on roofing paper of a grandfather sitting on a porch step, cigarette butts scattered around his strong feet, his gnarled hands holding a smoke, and his solid stare fixed someplace in the distance. Wino, his dog, floats on a cloud in the sky above him.

Marin had not seen this painting of a well-lived, lonely man hung before — it's too big for his homes — and he likes what he sees.

"I could spend a lot of time with this," he said, then snapped back to the subject at hand.

"I discovered Chicano painters who were getting no recognition and no work. . . . They were painting about the experience of being a Chicano in this country. It was a group of artists talking about the same thing at the same time."

He was doing the TV show "Nash Bridges" when he started collecting, and a hefty paycheck allowed him to buy artwork almost every week.

"I couldn't stop buying this stuff," he said. "I knew there was something important happening."

He loved the work. And he was confused why others weren't rushing to buy it.

"These guys were really good, and they didn't have any shelf life," Marin said.

But it was more than that, he said. The exclusion of Chicano artists meant the exclusion of a large population of people.

"When cultural institutions aren't showing works of your culture, they aren't talking to you."

Marin knew that the solo artist had little power. He wanted to pull these men and women together, buy their works, make sure others saw pieces from what he called the "Chicano School of Art."

"At first people questioned if it was fine art, so I fought that fight."

"You can't love or hate Chicano art unless you see it," he would tell potential backers, viewers, museum people — anyone who would listen.

The "Chicano Visions" show drew in thousands at venues around the country.

There's hope "Papel Chicano" will do the same. Next up: the grand-opening exhibit for Muzeo, a new museum in Anaheim, Calif.

Marin, meanwhile, will continue to do what he loves.

"I intend," he said, "to keep collecting."

Pieces emotive and imaginative

"Papel Chicano: Works on Paper From the Collection of Cheech Marin" has 40 works by 19 artists. It is a show that may well cause you to draw the same conclusions Marin did: Something important is happening here.

The works in this exhibit give a peek into Chicano life in rural areas and cities. There are romanticized visions, magical realism ones, gritty, humorous and realistic images.

While some are stronger than others, they all show expertise, imagination and deeply felt emotion. A look at a few of them:

● Portraits by San Antonio artist César Martínez are thick with emotion and character. Some show a wariness, others a weariness, and all expose a fascination with hairstyles.

● Eloy Torrez's "Red Floor," an oil on paper, is a can't-pull-your-eyes-away portrait of a woman in black, hair thick and slightly wild, lips red, and suspicious eyes that have seen too much sorrow, too much hardship. One hand rests on a wooden chair, one foot is stepping forward. She's tired, she's strong. And she won't put up with anyone's nonsense.

Torrez is responsible for a load of famous murals in Southern California, including "The Pope of Broadway" — more commonly known as the Anthony Quinn mural in Downtown Los Angeles.

● Margaret Garcia's "La Jarocha," a pastel on paper, is Marin's latest acquisition. The woman in the painting is a dancer who is preparing to perform the traditional Baile de las Brujas — the Dance of the Witches. Her face is painted white, the light falls on her full white gown, making it look gold in spots. The background is a blood red. There's a look of concentration on her face as she focuses in on the dance she is about to perform. Garcia's strokes are thick and heavy, and her use of light and color are magical contrasts to the strokes.

● Roberto Gutiérrez's "East L.A.-Cesar Chavez Ave. & Lorena St." is a detailed, colorful depiction of life on that corner. There's an electricity to this almost-cartoonish piece that shows a day in the life of the working men and women in East L.A. There are tree trimmers, haulers, musicians, grocers, gardeners — a packed picture of the folks who make the neighborhood alive and thriving.

Tucsonan's artwork in other gallery

At Mesa Contemporary Arts, you can leave the vibrant street life of "Papel Chicano" and step into church.

At least that's what it feels like in "Mysterium Fidei," a gallery full of the works by Tucsonan Daniel Martin Diaz.

A strong Catholic and a self-taught artist, Diaz incorporates Christianity, the Latin language, Kabbalistic symbols, folk art and images from deep within him to create works that are a little Old World, a little surreal, a little religious and very original.

His depictions of the ecstasies and agonies of Christianity — of faith — are compelling, intricate, mesmerizing and disturbing.

His execution is sublime, his imagination limitless.

There are twisted snakes with a human head, blood dripping from disembodied limbs, eyes starring out at you from the most unlikely spots. Hieronymus Bosch, you've met your match.

It's no wonder that five of the works (which top out at $5,000 in this exhibit) were sold before the show opened officially.