Rio Yañez

Hot damn! Guillermo Gomez-Peña and la Pocha Nostra just formally launched their official site for their collaboration with photographer RJ Muna at: http://www.pochanostra.com/photoperformances/

I’ve written about Muna’s work with La Pocha Nostra before and have sat in on their shoots. Guillermo always seems to round up an interesting cast of characters for each of his shoots and I’m proud to say that my Dad is usually a regular. My favorite of the recent sets on the site is Nighthawks Remix, photographed at my favorite bar the Rite Spot. Check it out at:  http://rjmuna.com/2009/nighthawks/

One of the photos features Rene throwing down in an arm wrestling match with James Luna. Get ‘em Dad!

Also in the mix is my homegirl, the talented and beautiful Jocelyn Superstar. What can I say? Ms. Superstar makes being a visual artist look good and peep game on her crafted sunglasses.

Check out the further adventures of Gomez-Peña and company and tell ‘em Rio sent ya!

Peace,

Rio

I’ve been asked by various people about how to go about having an exhibit at SomArts. If you’ve always wanted to create an exhibit at SomArts here is your chance:

Power (and Funding) to the People! SOMArts Cultural Center Seeks Proposals for The Commons Fund & Curatorial Residency

San Francisco, CA, January 11, 2010 —SOMArts Cultural Center Executive Director Lex Leifheit announced today a new source of support for artists and curators—The Commons Fund and Residency. With support from the Fund, up to six curators each year will receive free exhibition space in the SOMArts Main Gallery, and those living in San Francisco are eligible for financial support to engage the Bay Area’s many cultural communities, expand their practice and turn vision into reality.

Leifheit commented, “the SOMArts Main Gallery was founded by San Francisco Art Institute graduates as an alternative venue for unique and non-mainstream work, and 30 years later we are still an essential large-scale venue for any artist or curator who wishes to engage the Bay Area’s cultural communities. By creating the Commons Fund and Residency, we are expanding our commitment to artists during a time of great need, and encouraging their continued work of fostering a vital cultural life in San Francisco.”

At press time, SOMArts had secured resources for up to six individuals or organizations to receive the following: financial support consisting of a curatorial stipend and materials reimbursement ranging between $500 and $1,000, a month-long exhibition in the SOMArts Main Gallery, technical assistance, and marketing support. Leifheit said they were still actively pursuing individual donors and like-minded foundations.

Why “the commons?”

The term “the commons,” conceived of for this program by SOMArts’s Curator & Gallery Director Justin Hoover, refers to a space that is shared by the community as a whole. SOMArts is committed to supporting artists at all levels of development and reflecting San Francisco’s citizens in the service of its mission: to promote and nurture art on the community level and foster an appreciation of and respect for all cultures.

How can artists find out more?

SOMArts is hosting a q&a as part of its Community Support Board meeting on Tuesday, January 19 at 6:30pm as well as two online live-chat sessions—January 20 at 8pm and January 29 at 2pm. Artists who would like to speak one-on-one about their proposal can visit the SOMArts gallery and administrative office on Saturday, January 30 from noon to 4pm. SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan St. in San Francisco.

The deadline for proposals is Wednesday, February 17, 2010. All applications must be received in the SOMArts office by 5pm.

Get the full details and application here http://blog.somarts.org/post/183689254/the-commons-fund-curatorial-residency-2010-call-for

Peace,

Rio

The unthinkable has happened, Rio Yañez is turning 30! Come celebrate his Birthday this Saturday, January 9th! There will be plenty of art on display, good food to eat, and Beatles Rock Band to play. Since Rio is desperate to cling to his youth, he is making his party a Scott Pilgrim themed birthday celebration. Please come dressed as your favorite Scott Pilgrim character. For More on Scott Pilgrim check out my old posts HERE and HERE.

Hope to see you all there!

WHAT: Rio’s 30th Birthday
WHEN: Saturday, January 9th 2010, 6:00pm – 11:00pm
WHERE: SomArts
934 Brannan Street (between 8th and 9th)
San Francisco, CA 94103

10. Rediscovering Purikura

9. Getting to know April Flores

8. Starting the Bloody Swans with Mariela and Carina

7. Seeing Girl in a Coma at SomArts

6. Collaborating with Maya Escobar

5. Starting my own comic strip with Mission Loc@l

4. Having my first solo-curated exhibit

3. Having a Mural at Galeria de la Raza

2. All the kisses I’ve enjoyed. What are friends if you can’t get a little tipsy and make out with them?

1. Seeing Mariela graduate with her Masters in Social Work

Things have been so crazy and hectic, yet wonderfully productive the last two weeks. My new collective the Bloody Swans recently launched our website at Bloodyswans.com. It’s a collaborative photo/make up art project with Mariela and our best homegirl Carina. We’re in the process of editing and preparing our photos but you can see a few raw photos on the site. I also put together this video of Carina with my vast sunglasses collection using warm-up photos we shot during our first session.

Speaking of Carina, she and I made this video Christmas card secretly behind Mariela’s back on Wednesday. Like a lot of my recent work it takes inspiration for Jim Mendiola’s video for Girl in a Coma’s Static Mind. Merry Christmas!

Lastly, I’ve been doing some work with Mission Loc@l. Here’s this rcent video featuring myself and the lovely Amanda Martinez reporting on the Mexican Museum’s Christmas Traditions of Mexico exhibit.

Merry Christmas and Peace,

Rio

Damn, it feels good to be a Chicano nerd today. After William Nericcio at Tex[t]-Mex pointed out a recent article discussing the depictions of non-White video game characters I got really depressed thinking about how underrepresented Raza are in nerd-related genres. Let’s face it, the only Latino actor with any real sci-fi or fantasy cache is ol’ crater-face Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Battlestar Galactica). That’s why it was such a big deal for me to see Culture Clash’s Herbert Siguenza in the recently released Ben 10 Alien Swarm. Herbert plays Validus, the movie’s main villain.

What’s so revolutionary about it is that he plays a contemporary Latino character. That may sound basic but it’s actually incredibly rare. If a Latino actor is given a role in a sci-fi or fantasy genre movie they usually play non-Latinos (see Christian Serratos as Angela in the Twilight films) or they play Latinos in a context where race has a different meaning or is irrelevant (see futuristic franchises like Star Trek). In Ben 10 Alien Swarm, Validus is a contemporary Latino character that is not deprived of the context of being just that. To be clear, Validus makes no profound statements about being Latino. He’s just a character with a Latino name and a Latina daughter, who happens to be a powerful super-villain.

I’m no expert in the Ben 10 mythos but here is a basic recap of the events of the movie. Spoilers ahoy!

In the film, Victor Validus is a former scientist gone rogue. In trying to prove to everyone that sentient alien microchips are a threat to the Earth he becomes taken over and possessed by them. His body gains the ability to reproduce the chips and he controls them like a giant swarm of insects (hence the Alien Swarm in the title). Validus plots to take over Earth by spreading his swarm far and wide using a shipping company to literally send them across the planet.

The bulk of the film has the main character Ben and his sidekicks trailing Validus and battling swarms of micorchips and possessed humans along the way. There’s a subplot about Validus’ daughter Elena (Alyssa Diaz) reaching out to Ben for help to save her father and Ben’s friends not trusting her. The final battle of the movie has Ben and company discovering Validus in a warehouse hooked up to a machine that helps him reproduce the alien microchips (see photo above). Ben uses his watch-like alien device called the Omnitrix to shrink down in size and battle the Queen of the aliens inside Validus’ body.

Ben 10 Alien Swarm is out on DVD and Blu-Ray, but that’s not all. Behold, there is a Validus action figure. It’s a part of the Alien Swarm Movie Set 1 figure pack and can also be ordered through amazon. Can you think of the last time you saw an action figure of a Latino character?

Orale Herbert!

Rio