Sketch for Org SOA Watch

This woman is an interpretation of the Mayan Goddess Ixchel. She is the goddess of child birth. She has always been shown to have a snake on her head, representing rebirth and death. Similar with other indigenous goddesses from the Americas the snakes hold an important role in relation to the earth, life, and death. This in my way is a reclaiming of our histories within the Americas. She is that rebirth of our unison that the "Americas" once had. She is Lady Liberty, she is Coatlicue, she is Pele, she is Ixchel, she is Tonatzin. Her head is adorned with different forms of plant life, representing peace, and the fight for life as many plants do when faced with extreme environments. The Americas are filled with these extreme environments, and we will not go any where, but fight together to live. Her tattoo is a play on the classic love graffiti/tattoos that countless of lovers have written & carved on surfaces since the start of time. We fight, argue, spill blood, but in the end we are together for forever. North + South "por vida", for life.

Warriors Vest Complete

Big thank you to Randy & crew at Fresthetic for a successful show and the homie Rico for modeling my vest. Bowie knife Dundee style.

More Recent Work- In Progress

Illustrations done in the last few months. In progress works.

"Come Out to Play" Opening Fri. 10th 2010

All artists will be creating/altering a leather vest for this "Warriors" themed art show. Come out next Friday and see what the artists (including myself) have created. Thank you.

Come Out to Play
Opening Night Friday Sept. 10th
7pm - 10pm
Sept 10th - Oct. 9th
@ Fresthetic
560 Grand Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
w/ DJs Mike Rivera & DJ Clear

"Waaaarriors, Come Out annnd Plaaaayy"

Hey friends. I'll withhold the boring "I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in a looonng time, wah wah waaaa". Whatever. I've been a lazy Latino bastard. Anyways, here are some photos of the new project I am working on.
Next month our good people, Randy Q at Fresthetic in Brooklyn (Williamsburg) will be curating an art show themed after the classic Brooklyn film, "Warriors". I don't want to give away too much, but I feel like it's gonna be fresh. I'm pretty hyped about my own idea, hopefully I can pull it off with the time I got. Along with some sketches of some ideas are some images of Maya sculpture, a huge inspiration for this piece.

My New Hero: Martin Ramírez

So other than my contribution to the AfroPunk Festival the other week (see posting below), I've been on a hiatus from my art. I think its good to take a break and seek out inspiration for new energy. While in my favorite bookstore in the city I came upon a newly arrived art book about the artist Martin Ramírez (1895–1963). An amazing artist from Mexico that came to the States "from Mexico in 1925, Ramírez was institutionalized in 1931, first at Stockton State Hospital, then, beginning in 1948, at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, near Sacramento, where he made the drawings for which he is now known." (Wikipedia) He was self-taught who spent most of his life in mental hospitals, diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic.
To me this is an amazing story, a brown man migrating to this country to work then ends up mentally ill, stops speaking but was able to create these beautiful works of art. A big part of me finds things like this very interesting, how the human mind works in relation to art. How the human spirit can travel through the hands (or however you create) carrying with it memory, pain, love, etc and many times with the artist not being conscious that they are doing it. He may not be new onto the scene, but he is new to me, so I wanted to share with others who haven't been blessed by his art.

Afro-Punk Festival 2010

Here's my piece that I painted at this year's Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn. We had 2 days to paint a piece themed on "animal revolt". I chose to create a piece based on the spirits of animals during life and after death. Mixed in there is the image of Coatlicue, the Mexica Goddess of earth, life, and death.

I'm pretty proud of this piece (especially because I had to rep for the whole TYS crew solo!) and also really trying to get back to the power of the basics, eg. primary and secondary colors. I used spray paint, latex paint, Sumi ink, and graphite pencil.