I have been selected to be part of 2012 Luminaria. I’ll be doing an animation that I think of as a motion collage. It will be bold and graphic and absurd. I should be done with it in the next couple of weeks.

I found out last week that I Heart San Antonio got accepted into the short film competition of Cinefestival 2012, but what I’m really excited about is the film I’m doing for 2011-2012 Neighborhood Film Project. I take my characters around the Southside. I’m really proud of it and I’ll be posting soon.

I made a very short video for an artpace blog about love.

And on the subject of love, I’m as grateful as can be to my new wife. She’s really the best.

This fall I was asked to participate in Guadalupe Cultural Art Center‘s By Permit Only Show.  I played with the form of the Mexican oilcloth and subverted to create this bright wallpaper. The traditional flowers and birds combine with worms, maggots, mosquitos, grasshoppers, larvae and flies. I was also asked to speak at an artists panel. Much thanks to Patty Ortiz.

I worked again with Blue Star Art Center to create graphics for for their annual Arts and Eats fundraiser. It’s always great to work with them. I’m pleased they asked me back.

I was asked by curator and artist Angel Quesada to participate in their Drawn Out Death exhibition in  Talento Bilingue de Houston. I entered this fun, quick piece called “The Voluptuous Horror of Mictecacihautl”

I also participated and designed the program for Super Combo Platter, an exhibition of San Antonio artists that was held at Texas A&M University at Commerce. Thanks to curator and artist Nate Cassie.

I studied a lot of bad menu design to eventually do my own bad menu design for this show.

I sent an application to do some public art for the Mission San Jose river extension. Nothing will probably come of it, but I did propose this metate recliner to lounge by the river…

I took a short vacation with my fiance to West Texas. A welcome get-away.

While I was there, I saw that Texas Monthly featured I Heart SA in their December issue. I always got the feeling that if it was up to Texas Monthly and not some panel of judges, that the short would have fared a little better. Not complaining though. They just seem to like it extra special.

Before I forget, a couple of loose ends about this project. I made some business cards to hand out for the film, also with fake production company info on the back…

Also, I saw that it was also resonating online with some people, which was very gratifying. (From Here, To Sunnydale… And Back Again.)

I’ve been getting to know my niece better the past few months…

Designing at the Witte Museum still continues on…

Along with a LOT of home improvements at the house we bought this summer, but that’s for another post.

The LAST design project of this year? Probably the invite for our Christmas Party/Housewarming/Celebration of Having-Gotten-Married-a-Few-Hours-Earlier. A very small thing. (Real Catholic Ceremony with Big Reception planned for the First Half of 2012.)

I’m absolutely thrilled and incredibly lucky to be with this amazing, smart, sarcastic, strong, grounded woman. Every project I’ve done for the past year has had her input. When I complained about the museum’s insistence on using a blue-footed bird for their Darwin show, she threw her hands up and said “Just put the damn bird on his head.” And now her idea is a huge banner on the side of the museum. When I needed help wheatpasting an underpass, this schoolteacher was my partner in crime to help me carry buckets and document everything. With every project she’s there for feedback and suggestions. And that’s just her influence on the art/design stuff I post in this blog.  She’s the best and  I can’t wait to take the rest of this ride with her.

My short film, I Heart SA, was second runner up in a field of over 100 entrants. It was my first short film ever, done for a budget of exactly $0, beating some other fine films by pretty smart people. So, I’m feeling pretty good. The other contestants were very gracious, but thanks to the voices, Mike Pena, Rebecca Johnson, Erica Gonzalez and most of all Sarah Fisch who was at once both more aggressive and amicable than me when it came to the Editing and Marketing of this short at the fest. She deserves her executive status when it comes to the company.

Me complaining, as per usual:

Sarah Fisch scripted this one:

You put a paper napkin on your face. You put on glasses. You’re paperfacing.

Just trying to start a meme, y’all.

The night itself was a blast. Lots of people got good, cheap stuff. Interesting things when out to good homes. The room was very lively. Sometimes as an artist you get to see people’s expressions change to your work. It’s a good thing and reminds me why this stuff I do matters. Even if it’s a yard sale.

i heart SA from Robert B. Gonzales on Vimeo.

I little Tex Mex taste of San Antonio. A love note to my hometown. I hope some of the judges get it.

I’ve been doing more stickerbombing on the bus.

I’ve been doing work for Stars and Garters Burlesque and had a blast doing their drawing sessions with a live pinup. I mean model.

Mark Jones and I continue to write reviews for different movies as SA’s Siskel and Ebert. Then I imagined what if we gave our opinion on different things.

I’ve working on finishing up some of the work that Chuck Ramirez didn’t get a chance to finish, like the University Health System. It’s been great to work with Jill Giles and Henry Estrada, who are handling the other components for this project.

I was honored to be selected First Place (Open Category) for the design contest for the Tejano Conjunto Festival. Here’s a detail:

I gave a talk as part of the inaugural night of Pecha Kucha in San Antonio. Pecha Kucha is a series of lectures that happen worldwide. The format of these lectures is 20 slides at 20 seconds a piece. It makes for lively lectures. The crowd was great and I was proud of the lecture.

I submitted a small piece for Say Si‘s Small Work for a Big Cause.

I did the graphics for San Antonio’s 2011 Contemporary Art Month. This was another one of Chuck Ramirez’s projects that I was honored to continue. I will forever be grateful to him and will try to make the most of very opportunity I am given.

The client that purchased a print of my Luchador piece gave me a pic of the piece in place. I’m always curious to see what my work looks like on someone’s home.

I did the graphics for my great friend Nina’s project Mixmasters, which brought Austin artists to San Antonio and San Antonio artists to Austin.

The same night of that show, I had commandeered a wall of Fl!ght Gallery and called it Fl!ight MICROGALLERY. A space for SA’s submerging artists.

I helped out artist Pedro Luera for a guerilla art project on the night of Luminaria. It’s a bear trap made for San Antonians who love funnel cake and art. It was really gratifying to see people have a very genuine interaction with this piece, especially as they had just been herded past art that just washed over them.

For Fiesta I created art for the windows at Pearl Brewery. Specifically La Gloria.

And I am currently doing work for Blue Star’s Red Dot fundraiser. When you get a great client that is not afraid of bold work, it can be pretty refreshing.

The challenges of the Witte will never cease. At least they are interesting challenges, most of the time.

Tried my hand at street art at the end of April. The underpass on Nogalitos street has these bas-relief  Alamos that I played around with. These sculptures seem small when you are driving past them in a car, but are surprisingly large.

This past weekend I was part of the Austin half of the Mixmasters dialogue. A lot of fun.

In February, I proposed to the woman I knew I was going to marry early on. (No, not the woman above. That’s the pic that goes with the MixMasters caption.) The person I met is an amazing woman and I am going to be thrilled to be around the person that she is now and the person that she’s going to be. I am very, very lucky.

It’s easy to be philosophical when the hurt of loss is far away, so of course now it’s easy to see that the loss of last year has given way to the opportunities that have happened this year.

In late August I was asked to be part of a show at Blue Star Labs on Broadway entitled “I’d Rather Get Fired Than Quit” that was based on my empty threats to quit art. I was honored to design the silkscreen poster to promote the show. Thanks to curators Justin Parr and Ed Saavedra. Silkscreen printing by the stoic Joe De La Cruz.

My work for the show consisted of a wall-sized collage of the images I have collected and saved in plastic sleeves. Thanks to Joe and Aaron Forland for the help installing. Here’s an article about the artist’s talk.

In September, I had a solo show at Stella Haus Art Space “My Forever is Ending Today.” The works played off the retablo form of enamel on metal sheet. Thank you, Dayna DeHoyos.

I got some stickers made. I’m secretly sticking those around town on busses and Jim’s menus.

In October, I was honored to be a showcase artist for artpace‘s annual Chalk It Up. Without the help of Adam Schwartzman, it would have never gotten done.

Easy come, easy go…

I was commissioned to do a Lucha Libre themed piece for Rosario’s restaurant at the airport. I blew up a small newsprint illustration of luchador that I bought from Culebra Meat Market on Goliad.

The client was thrilled and I was happy. Thanks to Andy Benavides for framing this piece. A few weeks later, a NY’er was passing through the  San Antonio aiport saw it, looked for me on Google and commissioned another piece. I have been having the greatest luck lately this way, for some reason.

I’ve done some decent work  for my employer. It’s design filtered though committee, but I’m pleased with the amount of freedom they give me.

Joe De La Cruz helped with some prints. Lost, but Near.

I also made some car vinyls for myself. That’s Freddy Fender and Cepellin.

I reviewed a movie for the San Antonio Current with my old friend Mark Jones. It looks better in print, trust me.

I’ve started making sounds with the incomparable John Marsalis and his newly purchased Juno 60. Look out.

I was asked to be the graphic artist for Contemporary Art Month.

I reunited with my sister after seven years. It’s been terrific. We picked up right where we left off, like I knew we would.

I also had a relationship finally end and I lost three friends way too early. I’ll miss you Joseph, Regis and Chuck… I think of all of you often.

It’s been an up and down six months, for sure.

Location:Palma,Cuauhtémoc,Mexico

Turning information into something visual is very interesting. Its a whole rich subset of graphic arts.

There has to be some place for the intersection of art and information. I would probably be more likely to engage an interesting chart than a remote piece of fine art.

This Spanish colonial city was founded in the furthest outreaches of the empire.

The cathedral is fine, if a bit rustic.

No shade yet. Gravel makes it look like it look more unfinished than it already is. No restaurants (except for this one that sold the some of the worst bar-b-qued meat I have tasted on this trip) or bars of any kind. One of the least interesting social scenes, as you can tell from the photo.

Let’s hope it gets better.

Mofin: The Fantabuluous Muffintops of Guadalajara.

¡Dejame, Viejita! : An Asshole’s Guide to the Public Spaces of San Cristóbal.

The Complete Book Mayan Sex Secrets. Turtle Feather Jaguar! It will blow your mind!

The Dry, Hacking Coughs of Oaxaca. An audiobook.

br/>I could have stayed more, but I had business I needed to attend to back in San Antonio.

Just an awesome, awesome experience that will take me some time to process.

Practically speaking, it’s been more than 50 days without… Driving. Church’s Fried Chicken. Lone Star. Flushing toilet paper. Doing ANYTHING vaguely illegal. (Have you seen that show Locked Up Abroad on National Geographic???) Being shorter than someone. Speaking much English. Touching another human being. (Aside from brushing shoulders in a bus seat. A strange realization, but true.) I went for about 45 days without any fast food, but I actually had a Big Mac Attack. (And I’m ashamed of it, of course.) Real Tex Mex flour tortillas.

I’m going to do all this stuff this weekend. Watch out.

I NEVER saw an indigenous person that looked like this during my time in Mexico.

I guess if white people want to believe their ancestors looked like Conan the Barbarian, then why bother the pre-columbian folk’s ideas about the past?