Apr 30, 2008

My voice will be in the Whitney Biennial!

Photo This Saturday, May 3rd in San Francisco, I will participating in a group interview about Art and Activism. Other featured panelists are Claude Moller (San Francisco Print Collective), Juan Fuentes, Susan Cervantes (Precita Eyes), and Nancy Hom. The interviews will be conducted by Robynn Takayama. Neighborhood Public Radio will be broadcasting the interviews live at their installation in the Whitney Biennial.

Here are details for the full event:
SATURDAY: MAY 3; 1 - 5pm
40th Anniversary Bash: A half-day celebration featuring the 40th anniversary reunion with founding members of the program, a fair of arts organizations, one-on-one “doctor sessions,” plus a “speed dating” session matching up artists with neighborhood organizations.

SomArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan Street, San Francisco
Light refreshments provided by the Women's Collective at La Raza Centro Legal

Performances and Other Activities
Interviews with Neighborhood Arts Program veterans, an audio/visual archive viewing station, performances by Danza Azteca Xitlalli, Troublemakers Union, youth performers from the African American Art & Culture Complex, and more.

Here is a photo of my piece on the Market Street Kiosk.

Apr 29, 2008

Bay Area folks - hear me tonight on KALW

KALW 97.1 FM Tonight 9pm: Is it possible to make it as an artist without selling out?  Hear a conversation about money and art featuring Marga Gomez, devorah major, and Favianna Rodriguez recorded at San Francisco’s Neighborhood Arts Festival. 

2439166131_d7540c1190

Apr 22, 2008

Posters for Immigrant Rights - we need your help

Artemio_rodriguez Attention Art Lovers,

We need strong and pro-immigrant art to confront the multitude of images of disempowerment given to us by our daily media - and I need your help to do this.

I am asking for your support in the production and distribution of FIVE empowering posters. This support is crucial in order to place them into the hands of hundreds immigrant right activists around the globe, and the thousands of people they help organize.

We need to create some powerful art to inspire and mobilize communities around these very issues. Five artists will create five oversized posters around the issues facing immigrants today. We will print EACH poster in a run of 5000 via offset and freely distribute them to the organizations attending the gathering. The posters will reach cities around the globe, so that we may introduce new and inspiring concepts about what it means to be an immigrant in the 21st century.

YES! We need posters for today’s immigrant rights movement!

Read my full letter and view artist samples by clicking here.

Donate via paypal by clicking here.

Artwork by Artemio Rodriguez, who will be involved in the project.

An artist that inspires me

Roman_mask

I just found out about this artist, William Wolff, through my friend, Art Hazelwood. My work resembles his... in a way.

Apr 13, 2008

Fellow activist and torch bearer, Marjora Carter, removed after display of Tibetan Flag

Majoracarter Majora Carter was one of two people at yesterday’s Olympic torch relay in San Francisco to unveil a Tibetan flag while she carried the torch. Read her statement here.

The Olympic Touchcapades left Paris and continued along the San Francisco waterfront. It was the second day here of a huge outpouring of support for Tibet and international call to action. Which included a  Golden Gate Bridge banner hang!

We were a little surprised around here yesterday to learn that our beloved Sustainable South Bronx founder and ED, Green For All co-founder, and MacArthur "Genius Award" recipient, Marjora Carter, agreed to be an official Olympics torch-bearer. Today in San Francisco, Majora had direct action and solidarity with Tibet in mind. She is FIERCE!!! Watch this video (click here). Thank you Majora for representing so hard!

But take a look at how she is treated afterwards. It happens fast and this video is not the best angle.

Apr 07, 2008

My first time in Prison

Efren_kid During my time in Michigan, I have had the opportunity to learn about the case of Efren Paredes, Jr., a Chicano that has been unjustly locked up since the age of 15. Efren, a former high school honor student from Berrien County, was  arrested at the age of 15 and sentenced to two Life Without Parole sentences and one parolable life sentence.  He remains incarcerated and just turned 35 this April 4th.

I met a woman who works with in the prison where Efren is incarcerated, Maria Zavala - who invited me to come speak at the prison about my political art at the request of Efren. I gladly said yes. One of the issues I am passionate about fighting is this country's racist and unjust prison system, which locks up so many young brown and black men. It is a racist and extremely flawed system that incarcerates
1 in 9 young Black men in America. The figures are also high for Chicanos/Latinos.

Efren was accused of murdering a grocery store manager and robbing the store in Michigan on March 8, 1989.  There were no eyewitnesses to the crime.  The murder weapon and vehicle used to commit the crime were found in possession of the perpetrators who admitted guilt in the crime, yet he was still convicted of the same crime. There is overwhelming evidence that the  case was based on judicial, prosecutorial, police misconduct, perjured testimony, the jury foreman a co-worker of the victim's aunt by marriage, and the testimony of co-defendants who plead guilty to the same crime in exchange for lenient sentences. You can read more about Efren's case and support his case, visit his website: 4Efren.com

It was my first time visited a prison. The only time I have been locked up have been for protests, and that has only been for 4-8 hours. I must say that I was nervous - Nervous because of my own preconceived notion about what prisons are. I was cleared for the visit and after the standard searches, I was inside a gym. I had been asked to give a presentation about my art, about the role that my art plays in building a more just world. The group who I visited is called LASSO, Latin American Spanish Speaking Organization. The group's president is Efren and they bring in speakers about once per month.

Efren_current I talked to a group of about 40 black and brown men, some of them serving life sentences. There was a group of Raza who did not speak English and were newly arrived immigrants. One thing I was proud to see was the fact that there was unity between the black and brown prisoners. You hear so much about the racial divides in prison, but it is quite amazing to see how these two groups have come together. I am aware that Efren has been instrumental in this unity.

During my career as an artist, I have spoken to many, many folks, all over the world.... many students, ranging from elementary to high school to college. One thing I have to say is that a lot of these brothers in prison are well educated in terms of radical political history, history of people of color in this country, socio-political thought, and progressive politics.  They clearly are studying many of today's most pressing issues, such as the war, gentrification, the class divide. When I talked about my work, I discussed themes of globalization, corporate irresponsibility, etc. and they actively listened, nodding their heads. They were keyed into what I was discussing, and I could tell that many of them are active learners in these areas. They knew and understood our people's political history and they could draw the connections between then and now. One thing I also was able to talk was about gender and sexism, particularly what I face as a woman of color. I wanted to really present some radical notions around gender and women's liberatio. I have to say that my nervousness ended within the first 5 minutes, and I felt very happy to be there. I was no longer scared, but rather, I felt blessed to have the opportunity to speak to the folks that are forgotten by our society and locked up, many unjustly. My presentation lasted about 45 minutes and was followed by a Q&A.

I spoke with Efren for a while following the presentation, and I was amazed by his energy, his spirit that is, and his intelligence. He is a sharp individual, I can see why he was on the honor roll. You can check out Efren's blog and his Facebook page. He is fully digital. Yes, even behind bars, Efren is able to communicate with the world. My heart tells me he and I will one day be at at cafe talking politics and art. I visualize that and I am hopeful that he will be released.

ALSO, to my great amazement, Efren contributed some funds to my Immigration Rights Poster Project! You can read about it here. He is officially the first donor of the project.

Efren, my fellow blogger/activist, you will be reading this soon, and again, I want to say that I stand in solidarity with you. Thank you teaching all of us how to be free, in the true sense of the word - even when you are not physically free.

.....A truly transforming day in my life - April 7, 2008

Updated on 4/14/08 - After I wrote this blog, Efren wrote a blog post of his own. You can visit his post by clicking here

Apr 06, 2008

Video I made about MSU

Slide02

I made this digital video letter for my friends and loved ones, but then I decided to share it with everyone. It's pretty cool, my first time "animating" my images. The song is called "Burning" and is by The Whitest Boy Alive. Over and out from Michigan State University...

CLICK HERE TO SEE IT. I had it on You Tube but it made it too fuzzy. The file is 3.5 mb.

If you prefer the bitty You Tube version that you can see it here.

Apr 04, 2008

Working on a new piece...

I am at MSU, in my temporary office, working on a new linoleum cut, which I hope to print tomorrow. The piece is of an immigrant child, staring out into the fields, thinking to himself... "Quiero Ser Artista" (I want to be an artist).
Quiero_ser_artista

"The time is always right to do what is right." -MLK

40 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and this nation lost one of the greatest leaders for peace and justice that we have ever known. Here's a clip from one of Dr. King's most powerful speeches against the Vietnam War, appropriate for the war times of today.

Murakami at the Brooklyn Musuem

Murakami is AMAZING! Check out images from his show at the Brooklyn Museum. click here

Apr 02, 2008

I am in Michigan doing an Artist in Residence

Dsc_0447 Just arrived yesterday to Michigan State University, where I am doing an Artist in Residence for two weeks at the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. I was invited by fellow artist activist Dylan Miner. Dylan is a contributing artist to my new book (co-edited with Josh MacPhee) Reproduce & Revolt. At MSU, he is core faculty member of Chicano/Latino Studies, as well as the American Indian Studies Program.  Below is a piece he made about my beloved mentor and inspiration, Carlos Cortez. He also wrote a fabulous paper about Carlos' art and politics in which he explains "Cortéz Koyokuikatl’s life-long working-class engagement with the visual arts has finally gained mainstream Latina/o acceptance.  Yet ..in all their celebratory praises, (this) does not fulfill the radical goals of Cortéz Koyokuikatl.  On the contrary, these  examples simply confine his art and politics, by way of their placement within Latina/o museum spaces, to a certain museum-going sector..."   Right On Dylan - well said! (download the full essay)

Muerto_2 It's interesting for me to be back in a college environment. While I have done a number of lectures all over the country, especially in the last two years, it has been over 7 years since I lived on any kind of campus, surrounded in what can be called "dorm" life.... it makes me feel a bit out of place. I enjoy the new experience of course, but even when I was in college, I lived in a Chicano coop, never in a dorm or in a large institutional setting. I can see the breadth and size of the university, there is certainly alot of money and priviledge in the high education institutions of this country, particulary the larger ones (I'm not including city colleges of course). I even reflected for a moment on the food in the cafeteria, most of it produced and supplied by corporate America. What are we feeding tomorrow's leaders: coke, pizza, nabisco cereals, processed meats... it's no wonder that faculty and professors all over the country are fighting their universities in trying to implement "eat local" programs. Corporate America is everywhere, even in the cafeterias of our schools.

Dsc_0430 Moving on to a brighter theme, in the past two days I have had a great time. I taught some monoprinting on my first day (yesterday). All of it was very manual of course - we didn't get a press in our class until today, and that was thanks to the fabulous Dylan Miner and Ernesto Mireles (thanks, Carnales!). I started with monoprints because I wanted to start with something very loose to get students feeling creative, without boundaries that is. One thing I learned in Mexico City, was that you can make art, even when you have no tools, you can make something out of nothing. And monoprinting is precisely that, making something out of nothing, using what you have, your fingers, your left over scraps of paper, whatever you find, you squish it onto your paper. I didn't start monoprinting until recently, and I was surprised at how free it made me feel. Very different that the but-fit registration process I have to follow with silkscreen. Here are some samples of the stuff we made.
Dsc_0450

Dsc_0449

Dsc_0452

Dsc_0431

Photo above: Students busy at work printing

I have to say that I absolutely LOVE my Chicana Sisters. It is amazing to me that in every corner of the world, you will find some politicized Raza women, who are ready to support you and to breDsc_0442ak bread with you. Yesterday. I was able to meet some sisters that run CLU - Chicanos & Latinos United. One sister, Adriana, had actually reached out to me a few months back and had requested that I send her some posters so that she could distribute. When I walked into the Chicano Latino studies department, I saw so many of my pieces on their walls, reused to make flyers for student meetings and protests. Here is a photo of all us chilling at the office. ((From left to right: Estrella Torrez (Dylan's partner), Esmeralda Perez, me, Adriana Abundis, Sara Vitale, and Dylan's beautiful hijita, Mexica)) The black and white poster is a replication of one of the pieces I did with my two fellow artists, Jesus Barraza and Estria Miyashiro.

The highlight of my evening was meeting the fabulous Chicana artist and GENIUS (Recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award), Amalia Mesa-Baines, who was doing a guest lecture that evening. Amalia has been involved in the Chicano art movement since the 1960s and is best known for her installation work featuring altars and ceremonial themes. The driving force of her artistic vision is what she terms the "feminine Rasquachismo or Domesticana... that is simultaneously contestatory and passionately affirming of our histories as women and our situation of struggle." Here is a picture of Amalia and I, a little blurry but I don't mind. I was SO inspired by this woman because she still has her political ideology intact, despite her fame and her status. She is a very conscious mujer and someone who has now become a role model for me.

Dsc_0441

Mar 29, 2008

Celebrating 40 Years of Neighborhood Arts

Nap_final_favianna

I just completed a poster for the Neighborhood Arts Festival, which will be turning 40 this Year. This piece was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission. The way I developed this piece was to start with a monoprint. The background is a close up zoom of a monoprint I did in Green and Yellow Hues. I then drew the characters individually and then developed the final composition.

In 1967, a group of artists and arts activists brought a radical notion to the San Francisco Arts Commission: fund artists and arts organizations to work in neighborhood and community settings. The program was called the Neighborhood Arts Program. Its tagline was, “Nurturing arts for and by the people where they live and work.”

To honor the 40th anniversary of the program (now called the Community Arts and Education Program), the Neighborhood Arts Festival will feature a series of free events showcasing the dynamic artistic and cultural legacy that defines San Francisco neighborhoods today. The festival takes place in venues throughout San Francisco that honor the past including San Francisco State University, International Hotel

Manilatown Center, Glide Memorial Church, SomArts Cultural Center, African American Art & Culture Complex, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, and the Bayview Opera House.

The event will take place April 21 - May 3, 2008. Expect two weeks of musical performances; a reading with San Francisco literati, including poet laureates past and present; lively panel discussions; and even a speed dating session matching up artists with community organizations.

Featured Neighborhood Arts Festival events include:

The Money and the Madness: Is it possible to make it big as an artist without selling out? Individual artists discuss the pros and cons of accepting public and private funds.
Wednesday, April 23; 7 - 9pm
International Hotel Manilatown Center
848 Kearny Street, San Francisco
*** I WILL BE PART OF THIS PANEL

Poetry Potluck: A reading by Neighborhood Arts poets, San Francisco’s Poet Laureates, and today’s poet activists. Curated by Janice Mirikitani and Roberto Vargas.
Friday, May 2; 7 - 10pm
Glide Memorial Church
330 Ellis Street, San Francisco

40th Anniversary Bash: A half-day celebration featuring the 40th anniversary reunion with founding members of the program, plus a speed dating session matching up artists with neighborhood organizations.
Saturday, May 3; 1 - 5pm
SomArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan Street, San Francisco

All Neighborhood Arts Festival events are FREE and open to the public.

For more information, click here

Mar 27, 2008

The Personal is Political: Event @ Commonwealth Club, SF

Commonwealthclub_pic This past Tuesday, March 25th, I participated in a panel, "THE POLITICAL IS PERSONAL: Contemporary Women Artists and Political Expression," which took place at the Commonwealth Club.

The event was organized by the California Chapter of ArtTable to celebrate March as the Month of the Woman, to acknowledge the 2008 presidential election, and to contribute to the current global re-evaluation of the legacy of feminist art-making.I was honored to present with other fabulous woman artists, curators, and cultural workers. The breadth of work encompassed a range of artistic practices, from activist performance and public interventionist tactics, to documentary filmmaking that exposes government censorship/ persecution of artistic expression, to collaborative projects that dramatize the economic consequences of globalization.

The program opened with a keynote speech by performance artist/choreographer/ dancer Aleta Hayes of Stanford University. The Panel Discussion consisted of visual artists:

Lynn Hershman Leeso, an artist who has worked extensively in photography, video, film and installation. She showed clips of an upcoming documentary film about Feminist Art.

Elizabeth Stephens Check out her project, Love Art Lab, about an artist couple committed to doing projects that explore, generate, celebrate and glorify love. Each year they orchestrate one or more interactive performance art weddings in collaboration with various national and international communities, then display the ephemera in art galleries.

Stephanie Syjuco, an artist who is participating in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts exhibit, The Way we Rhyme. In her artist statement she writes, "I have focused my work on issues of “illicit capitalism”—bootlegs, knock-offs, and the reworked commodity..."

International Museum of Women curator Masum Momaya was also present. Jessica Hough, Director of the Mills College Art Museum, moderated the program.

This event coincided with exhibitions of work by contemporary women artists at several Bay Area venues including Mills College Art Museum, New Langton Arts, Queen’s Nails Annex, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the International Museum of Women, which collectively re-consider the legacy of earlier feminist art making.

The picture above, from left to right: Jessica Tully, Stephanie Syjuco, and myself.

Mar 14, 2008

Yes, I am still on this 80's kick

I had committed to naming all of my 2008 pieces after 80's songs and that has been going well. I have been hanging out with a photographer who has inspired me to be more open about my own photography. One thing I am really into is photography that would lean more towards eroticism. This is something I have been experimenting with. This particular piece contains the lyrics from the song BLUE MONDAY by New Order.

Experiment1

Mar 10, 2008

decolonizing creativity

Ewocc_postcard

Ewocc_poster

I designed this new poster last month, in February. I have had a few commissions this year, and the work has been so much that I can barely keep up with my blog. Please excuse the delay. This poster was a commissioned for the 23rd Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference (EWOCC). EWOCC is recognized to be one of the longest running conferences in the nation that addresses the needs and concerns of women of color. The conference brings together cutting edge women of color activists such as Angela Davis, Elaine Brown, Cherrie Moraga, Gina Palcado and Chrystos with Bay Area community leaders and academics (especially students) to discuss and strategize ways of impacting the current issues facing women of color.

12For this particular piece,  my task was to explore the theme of creativity by focusing on art as an expression of a woman's life and identity. I wanted to show women in different disciplines as well as the woman activist. I brainstormed about the idea for weeks, and then, one night in bed, I decided to mirror the theme in the adjacent poster, developed by a Cuban artist whose name escapes me at the moment. This poster was developed for International Woman's Day.

I decided to create a piece that essentially held the same posture, but with different scenarios and different items in the woman's hands. I opted to photograph myself in different clothes and accessories. Sometimes I wear glasses, sometimes I don't. I pulled out my hat and my bandana. That day, I had a few visitors from Los Angeles, so I was able to stay pretty still while being photographed by my friend Yem. I could have never done this piece alone, the pose would not have been as exact.

I was so happy with how this piece turned out, that I decided to also make it a silkcreen without the text. Instead, the text I will use is by Amilcar Cabral, "Culture contains the seed of resistance which blossoms into the flower of liberation.”

Here are some photos from the event. Special thanks to Zelideth Maria Rivas for getting me these photos and for inviting me to develop the art for this year's conference.

Img_0129
Img_0127

Mar 09, 2008

AGAINST THE GRAIN: An Artist's Survival Guide to Perú

I will be interviewing Peruvian filmmaker, Ann Kaneko, this Friday, March 14th, on KPFA's 94.1 Hard Knock Radio. Even if you are not in the Bay Area, you can download the show afterwards by clicking here.

Ann Kaneko is a filmmaker and artist committed to exploring and presenting the diverse experiences of people outside the mainstream. Fluent in English, Japanese, and Spanish, she recently completed this film with the support of a Fulbright Fellowship. We will be discussing her film, AGAINST THE GRAIN: An Artist's Survival Guide to Perú, a 65 min. documentary in Spanish, English, Japanese and Quechua. For every artist, the need to create and be heard is as basic as food and shelter. But what happens when you live in a country where the state clamps down on free thinkers, forcing artists to censure themselves?

The film will be playing at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival:
4:15 pm, Saturday, March 15, 2008
Sundance Kabuki 4
1881 Post Street (at Fillmore Street)
San Francisco, CA  94115

Synopsis: In 1989, Alfredo Márquez used an image of Mao in an artwork. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. For every artist, the need to create and be heard is as basic as food and shelter. But what happens when you live in a country where the state clamps down on free thinkers, forcing artists to censure themselves? Four Peruvian visual artists, including Márquez, defy this tyranny through their work and ignite change, challenging ordinary people to speak out. These struggles and commitments raise the question: Is freedom of expression a right or a privilege?

Spanning two decades of corrupt governments and inept leaders, this film tells the story of four inspiring artists: Claudio Jiménez Quispe flees his home in Ayacucho because of insurgency with the Shining Path, a Maoist rebel group. He chronicles this violence in his retablos, traditional wooden display boxes. Alfredo Márquez, active in the 1980s underground punk scene, produces bold, political images despite four years of unjust imprisonment. With the downfall of former president Alberto Fujimori, critics targeted Japanese Peruvians like Eduardo Tokeshi, yet he reaffirms his identity through a series of red and white Peruvian flags. Natalia Iguíñiz provokes the Catholic Church and the socially conservative middle class with controversial images that challenge gender and class. Each artist teaches us what it means to persevere and make art in a country like Perú.

Highlighting amazing contemporary Peruvian artwork, this film combines gritty Super 8 with raw verité footage. It also features music by iconic Peruvian bands, Leusemia and Uchpa, and Los Angeles indie rockers, Pilar Díaz and David Green, of los abandoned.

Feb 26, 2008

Your heart is the size of your fist

I have not blogged in over one month, wow! Amazing how fast time flies. I have been occupied with other matters - a book deadline, new posters, a growing company, the craziness of living life. I have lots to share about the last month and all the events I have been participating in. This week marks the completion of a book I have been working on with Josh MacPhee for over 3 years. It's called REPRODUCE & REVOLT, a graphic toolbox to be launched into the hands of political activists all over the world. The book will contain over 600 new and exciting high-quality black & white illustrations and graphics about social justice and political activism for activists to use on flyers, posters, t-shirts, brochures, stencils or any other graphic aspects of political campaigns. All the graphics will be bold and easy to reproduce, in addition to being royalty-free/creative commons.

It has been such an honor to work on this book. It has caused me many a sleepless night, it has been my torture for a long time, but I love working on it. I love to know that it will change the landscape of political graphics for decades to come. I think about Rini Templeton a lot as I work on this book, one of the biggest inspirations in my life. It has been a hard February for me, emotionally, physically, mentally, and yet it has been a month of big demands on my time - that is the case for this book. It is a labor of love without a doubt. I sometimes feel extremely exhausted from the sheer hours of work that go into something like this. And this evening, as I was struggling with the last leg of this book, I saw this piece and it made me remember why I do what I do. The piece is by an artist named "Pure Evil."

Pureevil01

Jan 08, 2008

My Abuelita on the side of a building in Los Angeles

I am participating in an exhibit at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, and they are using a piece I did about my grandmother on the side of their huge building. I am really proud to have my abuela featured and celebrated in this way.
Banner_common_ground_002
I created this piece to commemorate the life of my grandmother Lucia Cardenas, to honor her struggles as a single mother, a woman of color, and an immigrant. My grandmother had three children with a wealthy light-skinned man in Lima, Peru. As the daughter of a black woman, my grandmother was marginalized by my grandfather's family and deprived of the right to raise her own children in her own home. My grandfather's family took her three children to live in an affluent setting because they believed the boys would be better off. My grandmother was poor, unmarried, and husband-less. When she and I spoke of her history, she would share with me her anecdotes of how she would go daily to wash her son's clothes, sow the holes in their socks, and be a mother to them even when she could not live with them. In honoring my grandmother I also honor the thousands of woman of who have given everything for their children. Sadly, my grandmother lost her son to alcoholism when he was a full grown adult. I depicted her screaming to the night sky from the pain of losing her son. The image on the left is a portrait of my abuelita in her later years.

In January of 2004, she was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. I took some time off from work to help take care of her, and the process of seeing her leave was intense for my family and even more intense for her. I watched as she weakened and I realized that thousands of people all over the world die to the disease that they know very little about: Cancer... a reflection of man's destruction of the planet, the contamination of our drinking water, the lack of access to healthy food, the pollution of our air, the violation of nature for profit. My grandmother never really understood why she could not get better. She did not understand why she was dying of unnatural causes because in her childhood, cancer was not an epidemic.

I dedicate this piece to the mothers of the world who fight for the well-being of their children, even when all odds are against them. I dedicate this piece to the victims of cancer and to the families that care for them until the end. I will never forget the final seconds of looking into my grandmother eyes before she parted, and thanking her for her lessons, for her love, and for her strength.

Jan 06, 2008

Working on a new piece in Mexico City

I started working on a new piece at El Faro this weekend. I am about halfway though the process but you can check out how the project is going. Big shots out to the Taller Xolotl for being such great hosts.
Check out flix

Here is how my piece is going so far:
Mex_city23

This is how we expose the screen:
Mex_city24

This is me with my screen as it dries in the sun. I am posing like my little character on the screen, although he is upside down.
Mex_city34

Jan 03, 2008

In the Valle de Anahuac

Mex_city20_3 It's my third day in Mexico City and I feel like its been a week. The city is located in the Valley of Mexico also called the Valley of Anáhuac, and it was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco. The city was built on a lake! It's not wonder the Cathedral is sinking, and requires injections of cement so that it does not sink too deep.

Mexico City is the most important economic, industrial and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city with more than 19.2 million inhabitants, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the largest in the world. It's also one of the most important economic hubs of Latin America. In 2005, it ranked as the eighth richest urban agglomeration GDP in the world, after the greater areas of Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Osaka/Kobe respectively and the richest in Latin America, in 2020 it will climb to the seventh-largest with a $608 billion placing Osaka/Kobe in the eighth position. That means a higher GDP than whole countries like Sweden and Switzerland.

Mex_city26_2 I spent my adolescence in Mexico City, and it truly shaped the person I am today. I think it has much to do with why I love large, overcrowded cities. Being here forced me to be really sharp about my surroundings, about my daily life, because like in any large city, things move really fast. But here, the disorder and chaos means you have to be especially aware, and ready to adapt.  In 2005, I traveled here to work with the Secretary of Culture teaching a silkscreen poster workshop at El Faro de Oriente. There, I helped establish a sister silkcreen studio to our Bay Area-based, Taller Tupac Amaru. Our sister taller in Mexico is named el Taller Xolotl. My collaboration with a number of printmakers here in the vast city, has led to some of my most strongest work. "Sombra" definitely tops the list. I had to draw that piece in less than 1 hour, because the water pressure in the district we were in kept going in and out, and you always need water pressure to shoot your screens.

Tomorrow I begin working at the studio to produce another round of pieces. I'm carrying almost 80 pounds of inks....ready to get down. Those inks should last about 1 year. Here is a photo of the folks in the Taller.

Large_xolotl

The Angel of Independence, in Reforma
Mex_city28

Jan 02, 2008

I (heart) El Faro de Oriente

I am in Mexico City, just reconnected with my people from El Faro de Oriente. I have so much to say about this place, it's a place in the city where you truly see how art and culture can transform a community. When I am at El Faro, I feel like I am in an artist heaven... so many folks to collaborate with, so many ideas, so many folks making something out of nothing, so much inspiration. For this reason and more, in 2005 I helped establish a silkcreen studio - Taller Xolotl.

To get a sense of what El Faro is like — inhale these photos, watch this video, and hopefully, if we are ever in Mexico City at the same time, I will take you to this magical place like the Faro-Ambassador that I am. This video documents a recent stencil expo.

Photos below by Acamonchi, a visiting artist to El Faro. click here to see his entire photo set
2160699311_f94e149b4d
2161437020_0d3caf2222

Photos below by Faro artist, Victor Abundis. Image by Victor Abundis, a former student of mine.
2015_0225cuadro0002

Photos below by Faro artist, Victor Abundis. Painting by Maria Guzman, a former student of mine.
2015_0309cuadro0035

Dec 28, 2007

My 5 a.m. Rant

It's almost 5 am and I am falling asleep on top of my computer. I'm so excited to be leaving to Mexico City soon. Yesterday, I printed 400 New Year Cards for all the special people in my life.... my familia, my friends, the fabulous people who love my art, the folks who always support me. I printed them on a leterpress and my arms are sore. The holidays are always tough for me, they bring me down. So if you notice a sour tinge in my writing, that's it. It's not supposed to be like this, but I think its the Christmas break is when I have more free time than usual, and I can reflect on all of my shortcomings, like for example, how much of a workaholic I am. I can also think about all the new year's resolutions I try to keep. Like the one where I said I would do yoga once per week. I wish!

Exactly one year ago I was sobbing endlessly under my bed covers because my relationship of seven years came to a close. I remember the shitty Christmas I had that year. Well, one year later, and that black cloud returns, exacly on 12/24. I expected it, but didn't think it would make me so gloomy. So I had to get in my bed, and look at my drawings, the drawings I did over those seven years. All the crazy shit I wrote, I had to reread it to time travel back to that place. And I realized that today, I am in a better place than I was then, only because I have learned many things. Someone once told me that to live, you have to die. It's true, sometimes it takes those broken moments to really make you understand life and to understand what makes you happy and what does not. One thing for sure is that being alone has taught me to really monitor my own time, my own goals, to be my biggest motivation. I have learned also how to make myself happy, which for me is through sitting at a table to do my art, or to stand at a press to print whatever comes out of my head. So, luckily, my gloomy days are now coming to an end as I prepare for the great blessings of 2008. I have started to map out all the dope projects I will do next year, and I had to stop for a moment, and realize, wow, I am truly blessed. I have a craft that makes me happy and that helps me sustain myself, to keep doing what I love. And I can affect so many people through my art, even after I am gone from the planet.

On another note, I was thinking today that all of my pieces in 2008 will be named after songs from the 80's. So here is the first one, I'm starting a bit early. This one is the piece on my New Year card. If you are on my snail mail list, you'll get one in the mail. The title of it is "From the banks of chaos in my mind." Whoever can guess where that line is from gets a free letterpress print. It's from my favorite band that has the name of my not so favorite group of people.

Fromthebanksofchaos

Dec 27, 2007

I'll be in Mexico DF in 96 hours

I'm heading over to Mexico City to hang out with my artist buddies, to make art, and to drink some te-kill-ya (tequila). My friend today sent me some of her work. She is one of the artist I work with when I'm down there, her name is Esperanza Portillo and she is RAD! Here are some of her photographs.

"Esperanza, knock knock, estas ahi abajo?"

1000277381_de51dd6a2d

1478971487_6fe77d6e02

You can see more at www.flickr.com/photos/alyok/

Nov 18, 2007

Six great events in NOV and DEC

Updated_internal_exile NOV 19: [Exhibit] INTERNAL EXILE, from Palestine to the USA to Mexico
A multimedia exhibit connecting the experiences of indigenous people in colonized nations, who, despite separations of great distances, share legacies of survival and resistance against being rendered invisible in their own land featuring Palestinian, Israeli, Bedouin, Native, Chicano and Latino artists:
Tal Adler, Zeina Barakeh, Jesus Barraza, Richard Castaneda, Sergio De La Torre, Hanah Diab, John Halaka, Catherine Herrera, America Meredith, Sean Nash, Favianna Rodriguez, Charlene Sul and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie
Opening Reception: Monday, Nov 19, 5:30 - 9:00 PM @ SOMARTS Bay Gallery
click here to read more

NOV 28: [Party] San Diego Firestorm Relief for the Forgotten - Support the Immigrant Victims of Fire & I.C.E.!
Wed. Nov. 28 at VELVET, 9pm to 2am
DJ Young Deezy, DJ Flava Fav, DJ La Chingona & DJ Max Champ - Spinning Hip Hop, Salsa, 80's & more!
VELVET: 3411 MacArthur Blvd at 35th Ave in Oakland
$5-$10 DONATION @ door
You've heard of the San Diego firestorm. Close to a million residents evacuated. Thousands of homes destroyed. But there is a story that's being suppressed. Immigrants, many without documents or legal recourse, left to fend for themselves in the canyons. Bodies of migrants found charred. People deported from evacuation centers. For more information, read this article
You can also read the report by the American Friends Service Committee, who is the group we will be giving all funds to.

Poster_talk DEC 6: [Book Release & Slideshow] Visions of Peace & Justice
Slideshow and discussion examining the role of political posters and graphics as mass communication tools for social justice movements.
Featuring: Lincoln Cushing, Favianna Rodriguez, Sabiha Basrai & Nadia Khastigar
Thurs. Dec 6, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

The first 50 people to show up get a free Inkworks 2008 calendar featuring one my pieces, Green Is Not White

Taller_tta_show_pc DEC 7: [Exhibit] Opening Reception & Print Sale for the TALLER TUPAC AMARU
This one-of-a-kind  event is an excellent opportunity to shop for unique and original holiday gifts that will inspire your family, friends, allies and loved ones.The sale features hand printed political posters, prints, stencils,t-shirts and more...

OPENING RECEPTION & PRINT SALE: Fri. Dec. 7, 2007 @ 6:00 pm
FEATURING: Favianna Rodriguez, Jesus Barraza, Melanie Cervantes, Tony Carranza, Estria Miyashiro
Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St. Oakland CA, 94607

click here to read more

DEC 7: [Exhibit] Migrating Dreams, Shifting Realities
Opening Reception: Fri. Dec. 7, 2007 @ 7:00-9:00 pm
MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, 510 South First St. San Jose, CA 95113
click here to read more

DEC 8: [Panel] Oakland Arts Activists Talk the Talk
Celebrate the transformation of the Museum -as it goes OFF THE WALL and OUT OF THE BOX!
Young Oakland arts activists discuss the museum’s role in local arts, past and future.  Other programs include a Krip-Hip-Hop Black Blind and Blues CD workshop with Leroy Moore, tactile textiles, and other hands-on activities; spoken word by Avotcja; and a performance by Axis Dance Company, a collaboration of dancers with and without disabilities.
Panel Discussion: Sat. Dec. 8, at 3 pm
Featuring:
Marcel Diallo, Favianna Rodriguez, Jaime Cortez, Keba Konte, Nicole Neditch, and Alicia McCarthy
Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak @ 10th Street, Oakland, CA

Nov 17, 2007

13-yr old Oakland circus performer dragged under car

Charlesportrait06 I read this story about a young performer named Charles Stevison, and was really moved by it. I am familiar with the circus troupe this boy performs in, Prescott Circus Theater, and was sad to see the degree of violence happening in the streets of Oakland, my home. "While walking home from school with a friend, Charles was chased down by a motorist who struck and dragged him underneath the vehicle for nearly a block - all because a kid tossed a rock at the driver's car, police say." You can read the full story here.

Please consider making a donation to this boy's family.
Donations by mail should be made to the Charles Stevison Benefit and can be mailed to the Prescott Circus Theatre, 3864 Brown Ave., Oakland, CA 94619, or to Wells Fargo Bank, 1221 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612.

Nov 05, 2007

Green is Not White! Sustainability through the Eyes of Radical Artists

Greenisnotwhite_2

As the hype over biofuels, renewable energy, and green business strategies explodes, 2008 promises to be a pivotal year for the 'Green Revolution'. Inkworks Press has been a leader in sustainable printing for social justice since 1974. They felt it was their responsibility to help shed some light on this so called ‘revolution’ by providing a forum for artists and designers to cut through the smoke and mirrors and show what sustainability really means for our communities, our movements, and our environment.

I developed a piece for this calendar titled, "GREEN IS NOT WHITE!" In the booming multi-billion dollar "green" market, immigrant workers and people of color are left out of decision making, while working in some of the most toxic industries in the country. Green jobs and healthier communities, can not be just a luxury for affluent whites. They are a necessity for working class people and communities of color.

Other artists who participated in this project include: Hugh D'Andrade, Josh MacPhee, Doug Minkler, Mona Caron, Jim Swanson & Design Action Collective

I began this piece by talking to some folks at Green Worker Cooperative, and was particularly inspired by the work of Omar Freilla. (you can read an interview here) I also read a great article by Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. The article, "The New Environmentalists: How to Make the Green Movement Less White," was published in Color Lines Magazine in August 2007.

Inkworks developed a statement for this calendar: " Inkworks is a political collective as well as worker run printshop with the goal of being a sustainable project for its workers and the environment. As the concept of 'Green' reaches critical mass and goes mainstream, we want to work with our allies in opening up the debate to include issues such as economic democracy, worker solidarity and the struggles of women and people of color... It is important to be critical of the apalling green washing that is happening around us, but we especially want to place emphasis on the real examples of people struggling for truly sustainable and just ways to live."

You can own this edgy calendar by attending the Green Fest this coming November 9-11th in San Francisco. Visit the Inkworks booth for your free calendar.

I am hoping to post the full calendar here soon.

Nov 04, 2007

The return of the democratic print

Cspjournal07 The California Society of Printmakers just released a their 2007 journal, a collaboration with guest Editor, Art Hazelwood, also one of my favorite political printmakers and fellow Bay Area artist. This issue is truly AWESOME!!! An excellent profile of activism and art - something that will be a key historical piece without a doubt!  Be sure to check out the essays about Graphic Collectives in the Mission, the San Francisco Print Collective, Celebrating People's History, Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex, and screenprinting for billboards. The billboard piece that I developed for Just Cause Oakland is in this issue. You can see the piece here.

In his intro, Art Hazelwood writes, "Every year the California Society of Printmakers selects a  different guest editor who puts together an issue on a particular theme... But there is more than politics that is affecting the way prints are made and presented. Technological changes mean that printmaking as a way of thinking is moving into different realms. The tradition of printmaking is perhaps less in the actual techniques than in the way of thinking about graphic media. When is a car a print, or a tapestry for that matter? The final form that prints take now is not fixed; a billboard, a website, an offset poster, an op-ed piece. The final form of the print, (that for which the print was  made), has moved further down the line towards something else.  And the means of distributing them – in traveling shows at everyday venues, in web site sales, in free distributions of prints on tortillas – push prints into a role it has not played in the US in many years. It is a role that printmakers often speak of, but usually nostalgically as if to say, “We were once important.” But a new activity is in the air. It is being reclaimed – the return of the democratic print."

Click here to download this ground breaking issue! (3.02 MB File)

Help the Forgotten Victims of the San Diego Fires

The recent fires have been devastating for residents of the San Diego County region. Over 500,000 people were evacuated from their residences, leaving many displaced and without a place to turn. In spite of the commendable efforts by many groups, several sectors of the greater San Diego community were subject to civil and human rights abuses. Read AFSC’s preliminary report on the human rights  situation in San Diego (PDF 7.2 MB)

SAN DIEGO FIRESTORM RELIEF FOR THE FORGOTTEN
Support the Immigrant Victims of Fire & I.C.E.!
Wednesday, Nov. 28 at VELVET 9pm to 2am
3411 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA
DJs YOUNG DEEZY, DJ FLAVA FAV, DJ LA CHINGONA & DJ MAX CHAMP
In The Mix! Spinning Hip Hop, Salsa, 80's & more!
$5-$10 DONATION @ door

You've heard of the San Diego firestorm. Close to a million residents evacuated. Thousands of homes destroyed. But there is a story that's being suppressed. Immigrants, many without documents or  egal recourse, left to fend for themselves in the canyons. Bodies of migrants found charred. People deported from evacuation centers. Families denied their fair share of relief supplies.

This Holiday Season, give to those who have suffered the loss of homes and loved ones due to fire and ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement).

All Proceeds will go to the American Friends Service Committee, which has hooked up with the Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales to set up this emergency fund to work directly with the immigrant victims of injustice and fire. You can donate directly here:

For more information, see this article

Nov 03, 2007

Hugo Chavez, President of Peru

This morning in a speech in Dallas, a reporter asked Vice President Cheney about his views on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Cheney responded that the people of Peru "deserve better" leadership:

MODERATOR: Our attention is focused on Iraq, Iran and the wider Middle East. However, much of the world is watching closely Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. How concerned are you about his influence?

CHENEY: We have — I'm trying to think how to state this diplomatically.

(LAUGHTER)

Diplomacy is hard sometimes.

(LAUGHTER)

We have refrained from making public pronouncements about Mr. Chavez — I think, for good and legitimate reasons. He's a — obviously, an individual with his own agenda. And he spends a great deal of his time worrying about us and criticizing the United States.

My own personal view is that he does not represent the future of Latin America. And the people of Peru (sic), I think, deserve better in their leadership.

************

My friend, Daniel Alarcon, sent me this. Jajajjajajajjaja!!!
For the record, Peru’s current president is Alan García.

Oct 25, 2007

Thank you for making my Open Studio a Big Success