Purikura Party!

yanez

Whew! This past Sunday I spent a whole day at Pika Pika in Japantown on a purikura marathon. I arrived at 1:00pm and stayed for six hours while artists, academics, and activists came in to create purikura portraits with me. It was an exciting and exhausting day of starbursts, cartoon cacas, jeweled flowers, and cute skulls.

I’m feeling very confident in my abilities to teach purikura techniques after this weekend. Not guiding aesthetics but navigating the Japanese menus, deciphering the decoration screens, and managing the pressure of the countdown clocks shadowing every decision. Like my other recent purikura sessions I soaked in as much as I could about how each collaborator approached their decoration aesthetic. Below are the spoils of the day and you can really see the spectrum of what is possible in purikura portraits.

Katynka Martinez
Tania Figueroa
Tania Figueroa
Audra Ponce
Audra Ponce
Jessica Martinez
Jessica Martinez & Katynka Martinez
Armand Emamdjomeh
Ana Teresa Fernandez

You can see a bunch of hi-res images from the day at my flickr album HERE. Below is my video documentation of the day set to M-flo’s Dopamine.

Peace,

Rio

From a Different Perspective

yanez

It’s warmed my heart to see posts and photos from The Calitexican and Meligrosa (SMFF Crew!) about our recent adventures. I adore both of these amazing women and it’s kind of fascinating to see myself through their cameras. I’m so used to documenting the purikura art making process and it was unusual to see the events unfold from another’s perspective. I’ve really been digging the photos Meli and Melyssa have been posting. Check out some highlights:

I can’t wait to have another adventure with the SMFF Crew!

Peace,

Rio

My Mission Launch Party Report-With Podcast!

yanez

A dream came true for me this weekend with the launch of My Mission at Artillery Apparel and Gallery. A lot of amazing people came out to support the book, Mission Loc@l, and my work. My humblest thanks to Amanda Martinez, Ivan Lopez, and Alexa Treviño for making the night an incredible event.

In attendance were three of my favorite homegirls with the last name Martinez: Allison Martinez, Amanda Martinez, and Katynka Martinez. I took the opportunity to record the latest episode of my podcast and ask them about the art of being Martinez and their thoughts on the event. Give it a listen below!

Careless Whispers Episode 3

Peace,

Rio

Podcast Episode #2: Tequila Backwash

yanez

It seems like I’ve had audio on the mind a lot lately. I recently appeared on KPFA’s Radio 2050, conducted an interview for the SFAC’s podcast, and have been keeping the company of Radio DJs Rosi Reyes, Ms. Margarita, Victoria Z, and DJ Aztec Parrot. Taking inspiration from these amazing friends of mine I have been making short recordings documenting conversations and my recent adventures.

Tonight’s episode of my as yet untitled podcast reveals that I know nothing about booze. Listen and find out what happens when Ms. Margarita pours everyone a glass of $500.00 tequila and I proceed to down it as a shot.

Tequila Backwash

Peace,

Rio

My Mission Launch Party

yanez

You’re invited to the launch party for My Mission, an oral history and map project produced by Mission Loc@l and  illustrated by Rio Yañez. Copies of My Mission will be for sale along with Mission Loc@l t-shirts, buy both together for $20.00 as part of a package deal.

Food, Drinks, and Music! Empanadas from Chile Lindo!

Stop by and purchase your very own Mission Loc@l t-shirt!

WHERE: Artillery AG
2751 Mission St. SF/CA (Between 24th and 23rd)
WHEN: Saturday, September 11th, 2010
7:00 PM till 11:00PM

Hear Rio Yanez and My Mission Editor Amanda Martinez discuss the project on KPFA’s Radio 2050, hosted by DJ Aztec Parrot.


Can’t make it to the launch party? You can purchase copies of My Mission at these locations:
Artillery Apparel & Gallery: 2751 Mission Street

Mission Comics and Art: 3520 20th Street, Suite B

Dog Eared Books: 900 Valencia Street

Needles & Pens: 3253 16th Street

De Young Museum Store: Golden Gate Park

SF Zine Fest 2010 – With Podcast!

yanez

This past Sunday I ventured to the 2010 SF Zine Fest in Golden Gate Park’s Hall of Flowers. This year’s Zine Fest had a surprisingly strong Chicana presence: I arrived with the host of  KPFA’s Ritmos de las Americas Rosi Reyes and also in attendance were chola muse Mayra Ramirez, Mission Loc@l Editor Amanda Martinez, my good friend Allison Martinez, and photographer Amanda Lopez. My big purchase of the day was a copy of Isy Morgenmuffel’s Diary of a Miscreant, a collection of her zine simply titled Morgenmuffel.

I also had the debut of my very limited run zine Dulce Beatdown. It’s a sampler of the various collaborations between Mayra Ramirez and I including various photoshoots and purikura sessions that we’ve done together. The title is an homage to one of my favorite pop albums of all time, Belanova’s Dulce Beat.

The homegirl Mayra
Ms. Rosi Reyes

Amanda and Allison Martinez

I’ve also been experimenting with doing field recordings with my trusty iphone. I am for sure a humble amateur when it comes to audio recording and editing but I’m really happy with the results. Here is my first foray into podcasting:

SF Zine Fest 2010

Peace n’ Zines,

Rio

Hella Purikura

yanez

This past weekend Ms. Margarita (AKA Margarita Azucar) and I joined forces like Voltron and created some exciting new purikura art. Below are the results of our efforts; I love her pink wig. Ms. Margarita is such a Chicana super hero.

To see more from my collaboration with Ms. Margarita and all of my purikura photos CLICK HERE.

I also wanted to share recent purikura documentation videos I’ve created. First up is a video documenting the purikura collaboration between Mayra Ramirez and I. This second session features special guest artist Evil Rose.

Next up is a video of my super fun purikura experience with Meligrosa and The Calitexican.

Peace,

Rio

My Mission now on sale at the de Young Museum Store

yanez

Hey everyone! It’s been an amazing weekend for me. I attended the beautiful wedding of my homies Lex and Dan on Saturday and checked out the 2010 SF Zinefest on Sunday. More to come on both of those events soon.

Photo by Allison Martinez

The big news swirling in my head at this very moment is that the de Young Museum store is now carrying copies of the book I illustrated, My Mission. The Mission Loc@l staff and I are encouraging the de Young to stock more copies of the book so if you haven’t picked one up yet and want to support my work the de Young store is a good place to get one. Thanks!

Rio

Support System

yanez

These past few days have been intense and busy. I’ve been promoting My Mission, planning my yearly Day of the Dead exhibit, and balancing other creative projects. Chief among them is my full blown committal to purikura as an art form. Today I spent the early afternoon with Ms. Margarita (AKA Margarita Azucar) for another round of purikura art making. We met up following her radio show on radiovalencia.fm. On our way to Pikapika in Japantown we stopped off at her apartment and I saw something that made me smile so much.

Seeing these two cans propping up a window in Margarita Azucar’s apartment instantly brought me back to my childhood and warmed my heart. Growing up in an old San Francisco Victorian apartment my parents used all sorts of object to prop open our windows. We used books, old toys, Lincoln Logs, and other random things to keep our windows open on a hot day. I’m hella nostalgic right now.

Our purikura session went great! Ms. Margarita rocked an awesome pink wig and busted out with some great poses for the photos, she was truly like a Chicana superhero. I’ll be scanning the photos and posting them in the new couple of days. Stay tuned!

Peace,

Rio

My Mission is OUT!

yanez

My Mission, the book I illustrated, is out!

You can pick up a copy of it at Mission Comics & Art, Dog Eared Books, Needles and Pens, Aquarius Records, and Mission Pie. More stores will be carrying it soon and Galeria de la Raza’s Mini-Tienda will be carrying it for their 40th anniversary show reception.

This is a dream come true for me in so many ways. I’ve worked towards a published book of my work for so long and this is a major milestone in my career. My humblest thanks goes to Amanda Martinez and Lydia Chavez of Mission Loc@l for helping me get here.

Amanda and I taped an interview with DJ Aztec Parrot for Radio 2050 on KPFA 94.1. The show will air this Saturday at 6:30PM. Give us a listen, we talk a little about Mission District history, the book, and play some good music.

More to come on My Mission!

Rio