Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking

This Saturday, Feb. 12th I’ll be participating in a benefit for my good friend Dolores. I’m donating several prints for a silent auction in the hopes of raising enough money to reunite Dolores with her family in Mexico. Dolore’s story can be read here: www.indiegogo.com/dolores

Here’s the details from my homegirl Maya Chinchilla herself:

Instead of a birthday party this year with your help I am throwing a fundraiser for Lolo and her family to reunite with her 4 brothers and sisters that were kidnapped from her mother 34 years ago. This is the only thing I want for my birthday so please help make my wish come true! For more information about their story go here: www.indiegogo.com/dolores

So far for our silent auction we have:

-Warriors tickets donated by Lisa Marie

-a print and several goodies by artist Rio Yañez

-3 life coaching sessions valued at $100 each by Carmen Iñiguez & Colibri Coaching

-Burlesque class or performance at an event by Cherry Galette

-A meal for two at Lubaos Supper club donated by Irina Contreras and Nico Dacumos

-Dvds of the films ‘Pura Lengua’ and ‘Viernes Girl’ directed by Aurora Guerrero

-A dozen LadyCakes Cupcakes made by Anayvette Ladycakes Martinez

-An hour long Reiki Session with Michelle Wallace

-4 passes to SF MOMA

-A date with Dorothy Martinez, Sarah Guerra or Javier Hurtado!

* ANd special Guests!

We will have yummy apetizers and we will be selling Sangria and asking for a $5-20 donation at the door. Please invite your friends and we are still taking auction donations and any other offerings you can think of!

I also did the art & design for the flyer. Here is my portrait of Maya and Dolores on its own:

Peace,

Rio

Hey everyone! I am on a major time crunch to get some art work done and I’m in slight haze from being awake for 48 hours but damn if I don’t feel excited and inspired. Things are coming along great with my collaboration with performance artist Mayra Ramirez. Here are some more images from the series below:

Peace,

Rio

Life is crazy, life is great. I’m sweatin’ some major art deadlines right now but I continue to be inspired by good friends and good parties. I’m still smiling wide from my recent co-birthday party with my homegirl Katynka.

True to our hype, Katynka and I came through with our Veruca Salt and Doctor Who costumes.

To see a buncha photos from the party see my album on flickr HERE.

Peace,

Rio

Guest post by Cindylu:

I’m jealous of Rio. Today, he gets to say he’s 31. I’m counting down the days until I can say that. Yeah, I know I’m not your average woman.

I’m obsessed with the number 31. I take photos of it when I see it randomly on a bus or sign. I make a point of noting it as a hash tag on my Twitter feed when something is #31ftw (for the win, e.g., my favorite baseball player Andre Ethier hitting 31 home runs in 2009) or #31fail (e.g., Justice Sonia Sotomayor getting 31 nay votes in her Senate confirmation). My friends and family don’t get it, but they still send me photos when they spot a 31.

The truth? I don’t really get it either. My affinity began late in high school. That was when friends started teasing me about my many crushes and I eanred the nickname “31 Flavors.” I didn’t mind it, after all, I was born on the 31st of August. Soon, the nickname became part of my first email address.

All the photos? That didn’t begin until I bought a digital camera. I went out to lunch with my ex-roommate at a diner. We ordered our food and the cashier gave us a number for our table. I had to take a picture.

Soon, I was spotting it around school, LA, in my travels and so on. I made more pictures.

I just kept taking pictures, but for the first time I really stopped to think about what 31 means and why it’s awesome. Some reasons why:
Continue reading “31 Today” →

My year has kicked off to a busy start. As the last days of my 30th year on Earth count down here’s a short recap of my recent adventures.

I toured the Mission and took 3D photos with Ms. Sarah Guerra.

Holy shite! We came across the demolished remains of the 24th and Mission bus shelter. The word on the street  was that a MUNI bus crash straight through it. No one knew if there were any injuries or fatalities.

On El dia de los tres Reyes Magos I ventured to the home of the Martinez sisters to have some dinner and learn about new traditions. Having not being raised Catholic the whole idea of baking a cake with a plastic Jesus figure in it blew my mind. When cutting a piece of the cake I ended up sinking the knife right into the legs of little hey-seuss. It was sacrilicious.

The Martinez sisters also had the most amazing, truly Post-Chicana, nativity scene in their kitchen.

My collaboration with performance artist Mayra Ramirez is going strong. I was privileged enough to see her make snickerdoodles while dressed in full breezy homegirl gear.

On New Year’s Day, me and the crew celebrated the birthday of Ms. Katynka Martinez. We started with some homecooked pozole at Rosi’s place and then head to Playa Azul on Mission Street in the midnight hour.

Did you know the mural at Playa Azul depicts a gory feeding freezy teeming with crimson mouthed sharks? It’s fucked up! Chomp! Om nom nom!

Peace,

Rio