Happy Father’s Day to one and all. Love you Dad!
The Art of Ferry Gouw
After reading recent posts at the Mad Decent blog about Major Lazer I’ve become totally enamored of the art of Ferry Gouw. He’s been doing the visual branding for Major Lazer which so far has included album covers, promo graphics, and music videos. On Gouw’s website he describes himself and his work as:
I was born in Indonesia but I’ve lived in London for the past 10 years. I did Art & Design BA at Central St Martins, n did my Masters in Filmmaking at London Film School. I read comics, sometimes try n make em. I make n watch films. I also make music with my band Semifinalists.
Check out some of my favorites below.
Animated gif love!
and finally this dope Yelle piece. I would kill for a print of this one:
If your haven’t seen it already here is the video Gouw directed for Major Lazer’s Hold the Line:
Peace,
Rio
Melanie Cervantes and Dignidad Rebelde
I got a chance to hang out and interview artist Melanie Cervantes about her work, opinions on Post-Chicano art, and her upcoming exhibit Dignidad Rebelde – Art in Action at Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco. The video clip above is Melanie talking about the exhibit. The opening reception takes place tonight and I’ll be there in full force to support it. Come by and say hi.
THE INFO
Contrabando (Smuggled Goods) is a fresh new three-part exhibition series that invites individual artists or artist collectives to “move into” the gallery space to create a dynamic studio and public meeting place. Part 1 will feature Dignidad Rebelde, a Bay Area artists/activists collective composed of Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes. Based out of a print collective in Oakland, Dignidad Rebelde is committed to producing and distributing screen-printed political posters and fostering a resurgence in the screen printing medium for social change.
Exhibitions Dates: Sat, June 20th – Saturday, August 15th
OPENING RECEPTION
Date: Friday, June 19, 2009
Time: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Location: Galería de la Raza
Street: 2857 24th St
City/Town: San Francisco, CA
The Unbearable Silence of Sabrina Perez
My most recent Blu-Ray purchase has been the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I’ve been really digging the series and I think Summer Glau is a brilliant actress in it. As much as I like the series it’s hard to turn a blind eye to the monolithic portrayal of Latinos throughout the first season. Every single Latino male has been shown to be a lying, backstabbing cholo. I mean that literally, our ONLY onscreen depictions are as ruthless cholos in the show. The message of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is clear: Latino men are good resources for illicit goods and contraband but can’t be trusted. Even worse, all but one of them ends up killed by the end of the season. There’s only one Latina in the first season and her role in the show is just as simple but her context is a lot more complex.
The most fascinating aspect of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is the presence of Chola; a (what else) chola who comes to the aid of Sarah Connor on multiple occasions throughout the first season. Chola is no ordinary chola though, in the first season she is totally silent and easily the most mysterious figure in the first season. There have been a lot of discussions online speculating that Chola’s stoic silence means she’s a terminator. In the commentary track of the season finale the episode’s Director implies that Chola is not a terminator by stating her motivation is simply to “avenge her homies.” Ultimately her silence serves to exoticize her. A silent, nameless Chola is more mysterious than Sad Girl talking about what nail salon she got her ghetto claws done at. Chola is the twisted, idealized antithesis to the portyals of Latinas and Black Women on reality television shows: silent, friendly, and doesn’t react to or question the violence around her. It’s different, I’ll give the series that much, but just as harmful and stigmatizing.
Chola is played by actress Sabrina Perez. Looking at Sabrina Perez’ IMDB page reveals that she’s been cast in five roles thus far in her career. Three of those five roles don’t even give her a name and simply refer to her as the archetype she portrays; they speak for themselves: Chola, Gang Girl, and Assassin.
The question is: Are Latino and Latina performers who continually play these roles victims or villains? Is Sabrina Perez simply paying her dues while following her dreams to be a successful actress or is she a “Good German” not willing to question the implications of the roles she takes? At what point do we hold performers accountable for taking the meager roles that are offered to them by the mainstream entertainment industry?
The only other critical writing I’ve been able to find on Chola is this insightful post by a writer that goes by FengLiAn. I really am enjoying Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and I do hope Sabrina Perez can break through the glass ceiling she is being crushed against, for the sake of everyone stigmatized by her roles if not her. Keep ya head up Ms. Perez.
Peace,
Rio
9th Anniversary
Today marks nine incredible years of love, lovin’ and everything in between. When we met I had just turned 20 and Mariela was 19 years old; we were both students at CCSF. Now we’re both 29 year olds navigating life as professionals in fields that we both feel passionate about. *Whew* the times they are a changin’! As Nelly Furtado once said, my love grows deeper every day.
To commemorate the occasion I created the above graphic. I’ve also been experimenting with animated gifs recently in Photoshop. The images below represent my first baby steps in making my own animated gifs. They’re labors of love that will give you seizures if you stare at them too long. Enjoy!
Peace (and love),
Rio
Comics of Anniversaries Past
To mark every anniversary Mariela and I have had, I usually make some sort of graphic work for Mariela to commemorate the occasion. To be honest, each of those graphics from anniversaries past have fallen into the category of “old work” that makes me cringe when I look back at them. I’m really happy with my recent work but now my art from the recent past is not holding up like it once did.
Regardless of how I feel about my graphic work I am still really proud of the various comics I’ve done to commemorate our love. Below are a few highlights from the last two years
Be awesome to each other,
Rio
Ask a Chola at the Chicana/o Biennial
The opening reception of MACLA’s Chicana/o Biennial was a great success.Thanks to all my peoples who made it out. To see my photos from the event click here.
Once again the info on the show is…
2009 Chicana/o Biennial
Exhibition: June 5 – August 8, 2009
Address:
510 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
tel: (408) 998-2783
fax: (408) 998-2817
Gallery Hours:
Wednesdays & Thursdays 12 noon —7pm
Fridays & Saturdays 12 noon—5pm
There’s an artist talk that I’ll be a part of on Friday, August 7th at 7:oopm. Hope to see you all there.
Peace,
Rio
The 2009 Chicana/o Biennial
A print of my most recent portrait of Ask A Chola will be included as part of the 2009 Chicana/o Biennial at MACLA in San Jose, CA.
Exhibition: June 5 – August 8, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday June 5, 8:00 – 10:00pm
Book signing: Friday June 5, 7:00 – 8:00pm
Join us in celebrating the second publication of the A Ver: Revisioning Art History series, highlighting the artistic contributions by Yolanda M. López.
Artist talk: Friday August 7, 7:00pm
Join selected artists for a gallery walkthrough and an engaging conversation about their work.
MACLA
510 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
tel: (408) 998-2783
fax: (408) 998-2817
Gallery Hours:
Wednesdays & Thursdays 12 noon —7:00pm
Fridays & Saturdays 12 noon—5:00pm
Chic et Artistic and Dan Black: Symphonies
I just discovered this mind blowing song by Dan Black about 20 minutes ago I’m super excited to be writing about it. This joint is going to be my song for the summer. I ran across it on Big Stereo and wanted to chime in about it. The video is directed by french art team Artistic et Chic and does a great job of capturing the aesthetics of so many films, posters, and album covers. Seeing the Blade Runner bit might finally convince me to go in drag as Pris this Halloween.
Symphonies isn’t available for download yet and Black’s album will be out later this month. Until then there is a free official download of Passion Pit’s remix of Symphonies HERE.
The song is actually an extrapolation of Notorious B.I.G.’s Hypnotize. Dan Black originally produced Symphonies as a cover of Hypnotize entitled Hypntz. To download Hypntz follow this link. I prefer Symphonies, it’s strong enough to stand on its own but Hypntz transforms Biggie’s original song into a grand sorrowful epic. Check it out!
Chic et Artistic also produced a handful of animated gifs for Dan Black that are doing their part to reclaim the animated gif. Check out their clever work below:
Peace,
Rio
A Salute to Knives Chau
At the moment, Knives Chau is my favorite fictional character. I’ve been reading the Scott Pilgrim books (in reverse order) and I’m totally taken with the series. As much as I identify with Scott Pilgrim (and his task of beating up his girlfriend’s evil exes) I’ve got a special place in my heart for Scott’s jilted tenderoni Knives Chau.
Knives represents Scott’s one act of cold hearted cruelty, their relationship and Scott’s decisions are part of what makes the series of books somewhat realistic, complex, and very interesting. I’m convinced the series will become bibles of hipster masculinity and Scott Pilgrim will be the new hipster male ur-type.
In the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie Knives is being played by Ellen Wong. Above and below are images from Director Edgar Wright’s Flickr page of Wong as Knives. I’m totally ready for this movie. Tenderoni ahoy! Mariela will probably kill me for saying this but Knives is at the top of my names list for future spawn. Knives Yañez has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
To see Ellen Wong in action as Knives Chau you can skip to the 1:52 mark on the video below.
You can make your own Cubeecraft Knives Chau toy by printing the image below and assembling it by following the instructions included.
Last but not least here is a free download of Knives Chau Luvs LCD by Blackball False, Truth! from their album I Prefer Hello. To download SAVE LINK AS.
Peace,
Rio
Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking 