About a month ago, on a routine trip to Flax in San Francisco with Rene, I bought myself a sketchbook. The last time I had bought a sketchbook was when I needed a dedication book for my Eddie Guerrero Day of the Dead altar in 2006. I realized that the art that I had drawn for my comics is terribly disorganized and not well kept and I thought having a solid central book to contain my new work would be exciting.
Things didn’t exactly work out as planned. I’m starting to realize the limitations of the bootsy-ass printer/scanner that came with my computer. It prints great but the scanner bed is too small for my sketchbook. I was still able to scan two of my drawings and color them in Photoshop as a late night escape.
Mariela
I drew this portrait of Mariela very loosely and inked it using a set of pens I’ve been meaning to use. The result is something I’m very happy with, it’s simple and reminds me a little bit of Nancy Hom’s work.
King of 24th Street
This second piece is much more in the style of my comic strips. I’ve been thinking a lot about Jughead and my strong identification with him lately. I think the whole crown motif is really appealing to me. The background is my Photoshop freehand take on the infamous Chinese Food and Donuts on the corner of 24th and Mission. I love their food, especially the Egg Foo Young, but you need an iron stomach to digest most of the menu options.
Born and raised on the mean streets of San Francisco's Mission District, Rio Yanez is a multimedia artist, photojournalist, and gallery curator. He has a degree in photography and media from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (Calarts).
In addition to being an artist, Yanez also dons a Mexican Wrestling mask and assumes the identity of El Rio. As El Rio he fights in the name of equality for Latinos and against foes who want his casket closed. El Rio has appeared in video, photographic, and comic book projects as an avenger who "Never kills for the thrill but cuts for the cause."
The life of Rio Yanez has been largely shaped by his experiences as the only child of two semi-famous Latino artists and growing up and finding love in the Mission District. Other Wonder Years style moments in his life have included being robbed at gunpoint inside a McDonalds, getting drunk for the first time under the tutelage of artist Chynna Clugston-Major, the first time he kissed the love of his life, and winning a freestyle rap battle in a crowded Detroit nightclub (okay, maybe not that last one). His favorite artists are Jaime Hernandez, Nikki S. Lee, Shizu Saldamando, Pierre et Gilles, and Daino.
Having dodged more bullets than Neo in The Matrix, much of Yanez' work is a meditation on the urban Latino experience . His latest project is a series of photographs entitled Ghetto-Lomography. The images document the cause and effect of gentrification in the Mission District with a Lomo Fisheye camera.
Yanez has exhibited at Galeria de la Raza, the Mission Cultural Center, and the Richmond Health Center. His most recent curatorial project was Color Exchange a collaborative exhibit featuring contemporary artists from California and Tokyo's Tama Art College. He currently works at the South of Market Cultural Center and is on the photo staff of the bilingual newspaper El Tecolote.
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