September 19, 2009 – Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking

Today is my Dad’s birthday. True to form he’s working a full shift at SOMArts and then going to an event for a exhibit he’s curated at the Mission Cultural Center…and then finally going to his joint birthday party with Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Carolina Ponce De Leon. Never a dull moment, and that’s what’s kept him so young.

I recently did a search on Flickr for “Rene Yañez” and came across a lot of images of my Dad that I didn’t know even existed. My favorite was by Ricardo Vinos; a photo of my Dad shaking hands with the legendary Robert Crumb as I look on in the foreground. The photo was from Project X: The Artists Talk Show, a theater based talk show that my Dad produced and starred in where he would interview artists and have live performances. His most memorable interview subject was R. Crumb and I’ll never forget seeing the two of them together on stage. We’ve both come a long way since that night in 1990, and I can’t wait to see where this adventure together will take us next.

Happy Birthday Dad,

Rio

I’ve been sitting in front of my computer editing down the hundreds of photos that I shot the other day with model/artist/curator Rachel-Anne Palacios. She was our model for this year’s Day of the Dead show announcement and graphics. There will be more to come from the shoot but I’m really excited about it so I thought I’d share at least one image.

Our photoshoot started at SOMArts and after a couple of hours we piled into a car and traveled to 16th and Mission to take some more shots. I shot this video of Rachel as were on our way. Check it out:

One of the potential things to wear that Rachel brought to the shoot were an amazing pair of limited edition Frida Kahlo Converse Chuck Taylors. These rare Chucks in her collection are the real deal, part of a series of Frida Converse shoes that she purchased in Mexico City. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to take some photos, I don’t think I’ve ever been so envious of another person’s shoes before. More info on the Converse HERE.