Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my friends and  lovers! El Rio’s Valentine’s Day Cards are back in the ring to take another swing! This is the 6th year of my cards and it’s turned into my longest running project. Enjoy!

As always, please post these cards on the pages of your online friends, real life enemies, booty calls, baby daddies, friends with benefits, people you’re stalking on facebook, and people you would be stalking on Google + but don’t want to go through the hassle of signing up with a new social network.

To see an archive of cards from years past CLICK HERE.

Peace and Love,

Rio

In four hours I will be 32 years old.

I’m still gathering my bearings from being in Texas for two weeks but I’m I’ve never been happier to be alive. The love and friendship of those close to me has meant more to me in the last year than it ever has before. Thank you everyone for keeping me inspired and thank you Sarah for all of your love and the happiness you’ve shared with me.

Peace,

Rio

PS. The rumors are true, I have an unruly mustache and beard. See me while it lasts because I’ll probably shave it this weekend.

Today has been a whirlwind day. I spoke at CCA in Guillermo Galindo’s Mexican Art class about my work and being a second generation artist. I was so nervous but it went well!

There’s so much going on that I need to write about but I thought I’d share some images from my final project in my Illustrator class. I’m in the processing of creating text and artwork for a movie review zine in the class. Above are artworks from the movie Serial Killing 101 (also known as Serial Killing 4 Dummies) and below are portraits of Ben Affleck and Parker Posey in Dazed and Confused. More to come soon!

Peace,

Rio

Today and tomorrow only! See Rene Yanez and Rio Yañez make art live! Buy prints! Hang out with us at SomArts Cultural Center and see our new Day of the Dead exhibit!

Life is a little crazy right now but in the most amazing and productive ways. I just posted some photographs of the amazing Mayra Ramirez as part of my yearly Dia de los Muertos photo series. Check out the complete series HERE.

Aside from school, my life has been taken over by the yearly Day of the Dead exhibit that I co-curate at Somarts. It opens this Friday, more info on it HERE.

The great thing about the show is that it will feature Maya Escobar of Escobar-Morales. Maya is my most favorite person in the universe that I’ve never met. Over the last few years we’ve collaborated on art projects and talked endlessly on the phone and now we’re actually going to meet face to face in just a handful of hours. So exciting!

Life is good, busy, and productive. I’ll be checking in soon.

Rio

My humble baby-steps into the world of Flash Animation continue with the beginning of the second semester of my flash class. Here’s some short animation I’ve created thus far in the last 5 days.

Last but not least here’s my first walk cycle test (featuring Eazy-E, natch)

Peaces,

Rio

I recently indulged in some self-portraiture with my new Godzilla 13-inch vinyl toy. Using only my trusty iPhone I shot away, below are the results:

For the record, I used pistil film and the Helga Viking lens.

Peace,

Rio

Here’s my portrait of Amy Winehouse as Anima Sola. It came about after heated discussion and debate between myself, Sarah, and Maya Chinchilla over the pressures of being an artist, wealth, and addiction. You can take home a tortilla print of it at the Apparition of the Apocalypse event at the Meridian Gallery this Friday, July 29th.

For more information on the event: CLICK HERE

See you there, R.I.P. Amy Winehouse,

Rio