Three Year Update

It’s been a while. What’s happened?

Partnered with Broadway Video’s Mas Mejor web channel and lived my dream to work as a writer/director/animator/editor to make 11 videos. A pilot is out there in the universe and I got my fingers crossed.

Also, I got to visit Europe – finally! – and got to see Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, and Tuscany. Saw enough art that I got eye-nauseous. Participated in a few art shows. Took trips to Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Guanajuato. And I got to learn After Effects and Character Animator.

I’ve also been working on a new project that I’m really excited about. I think this could be the best stuff yet.

First Half of 2014

I won first prize for the Northside in this year’s Neighborhood Film Project with Easter in the Park with Ernie. This will be my final year participating. I had a great run and even Lebron couldn’t threepeat, so, in a way I’m better than Lebron, right? I’ve had fun making these short films and being in this contest really gave me the focus to step up my game. Thanks so much to San Antonio’s Department for Culture and Creative Development for the opportunities.

 

All of San Antonio is enjoying the Spur’s championship summer. This city doesn’t realize how lucky it is. If you are a San Antonio teenager, you don’t even remember when the Spurs weren’t amazingly good.

Anyway, enjoyed this team and enjoyed watching some of the playoff games with old friends and with my father.

Designed the graphics for the Maverick Music Festival.

I saw Phil Collins at the Alamo.

Participated in a show in Mexico City at Three Walls at Centro Cultural Border. Much thanks to curator Michele Monseau… I’m a traditionalist in the sense that I believe that fine art is first and foremost visual and this show gave my eyeballs their fill, so perfect for DF and its baroque-to-postmodern maximalism.

Also, If I hadn’t said it earlier, it’s our plan to live somewhere else for at least half the year.

Wish I had remembered to take pics BEFORE we ate the food…

I got a chance to design the poster for Booker T when they played the Empire Theatre in San Antonio this April. I was able to take my dad, who loves soul and R&B to the show. Good times.

Fun Machine reunited for two shows this March. I got the drum set back in playing condition and after lots of editing to the song list, we were playing at Hi-Tones and El Sapo in Austin during SXSW thanks to organizers Orlando Torres and Mike Thomas.

From the band we opened for,  the very talented Eros and Eschaton summed up our experience going into this

“The first band, formerly Fun Machine (hey, we know all about cease and desists!), now AM Transistor Ghost, open the night. Orlando tells us how they used to be a band 16 years ago, went their separate ways, and reunited to play this show, practicing for 6 hours just that morning after their Moog came out of the shop. They were awesome.

Ill fated? I guess. Shaky performances? Well, I hope no one knew the difference. Better if I hadn’t done it? In retrospect, probably. But it did one thing at least. I won’t be thinking to myself “it’s too back we can’t get the band back together” when I hear a drum part I’d like to play. What I really want is to be where I was 15 years ago. Time has passed and things aren’t the same. This is both sad and freeing. I’ll put my dream of rock and roll drumming down, along side comic book artist (8th grade), lawyer (junior in college) and fine artist (three years ago).

Want to buy a gold sparkly drum set?

Second Half of 2013

I feel the the second half of 2013 went on until about a couple of weeks ago. The actual second half of 2013 meant a newer, better car, newer, better job and trying to get a newer, better home. The house only happened in the middle of February, when we finally sold our house in Lavaca and our move into our new home and I couldn’t be happier about the all the upgrades.

The process of selling the house was more grueling that I had ever imagined. We were under contract FOUR different times. As we were going the up and down the rollercoaster of “we’re outta here!” to “will we ever get outta here?” there were things that were making our time there…uhh…challenging? Crazy neighbor. Possum home invasion. Bitterly cold winter. But, all’s well that ends well. We love our new home, it’s got a back casita that I’ve set up to be my design lab and music studio. The only sound we hear in the morning is the chirping of birds. Whatever struggle that we went through on the homefront, it’s made us that much more grateful for what we have now. Also the woman who owned this house left a fully stocked wine fridge with vino over twenty years old. May God bless your soul, Josephina. Your spirit is keeping watch over this special house and we’ll do our best to take care of it.

Fall semester was light on the visuals, but deep on the heavy thinking. Corporate Marketing was about as tepid as it gets, but I wound up really getting into my Postmodernism class and working out my brain in a way that I hadn’t in over twenty years. It was a class in which our assignments were essays, so not much to look at, except our last project, where I got to use parts of the essays that I had written throughout the semester and some of my clip art collection.

Creatively, I’ve been writing scripts for an animated show that I’m going to pitch in 2014. It’s been equal parts creativity and mechanics. New show ideas along with actually learning how to write a script. It’s based on the Ernie and Patsy characters I’ve been playing with and uses the family sitcom format. There’s been a dialogue between the mechanics of building sets and a narrative and the ideas that come out of this process. All a complicated way of saying that when I place them in the living room I built from scratch, I start getting ideas of what they are going to do and say. I could fill this post with screen captures of what I’ve been developing, but I’m trying to save it until it’s ready to go… Hopefully by next post I’ll have two (three?) short films. Here’s the rough draft of the opening credits:

MUCH MORE TO COME!!!!

First Half of 2013

This post is going to divided up personal/grad school/work work.

I was honored to be selected as first place for the West Side category as well as Best of Show for the San Antonio Dept of Culture and Creative Development’s Neighborhood Film Project.

Why all the animation in the past couple of years? It’s not that I think I’m a great animator – I know my stuff is very DIY. It allows me to engage in media in ways that I can’t with painting. I don’t need to reference popular culture from the sidelines. I can, in a very small way, be a part of popular culture. Also, I can distribute online instead and have more exposure.  Why not live action? Fine art has spoiled me to the extent that I want to call the shots and decide what suggestion I use and which I don’t. Because live action requires so many people to complete – actors, producers, assistants, lighting people, sound people –  compromise is necessary and I don’t have the clout to be an auteur. Also, animation is free. Even painting in your garage costs money in materials. (Side note: when I do paint and make a mistake, by first instinct is to hit command-Z. Which is fine, except there is no command-Z in real life…)

School is going great. Two more down this past semester. Here’s a process book I did to document the work for one of the classes.

And these are the spring shows I did the graphics for that opened at the Witte :

And, of course, the Dinos….

Once again, thanks to my wife. Without her I could not have done all this. I should give her screenwriting credits for everything I do but doesn’t have the chiflada gene and wants no part of it. And I love her for that too…

The Second Half of 2012

The second half of 2012 was really busy. Aside from the two animated shorts I had previously posted, I began working towards my Masters in Communication Design this past fall. The twice weekly trips to San Marcos have been tough, but when I’m in class I know that this is the place I need to be for the next stage.

I’m not going to post pics of my homework. However, one of the most surprising and gratifying parts of my classes this fall has been the amount of drawing I’ve been doing. Not observational drawing, which I’ve always been pretty good at, but drawing from imagination for thumbnails and roughs. I never felt better about getting an idea out with images that I have through these classes, even when I was taking those semesters of drawing and painting in college. These are just some thumbnails and roughs that went towards the final product and, since I always find sketchbooks more interesting than finished paintings, I posted a bunch.

 

 

Because I was fully engaged in school, I had to turn down a lot of other opportunities, both social and professional. One that I couldn’t help but take was Public Art San Antonio’s X Marks the Art. I used cut vinyl to produce this piece about the history of San Antonio. It took a lot of research to tease out some interesting facts and quotes that I thought would look good and be interesting to the tourist as well as the local San Antonian.

Work at the museum continues, with back-to-back-to-back shows. Here’s some pics for a couple of them.

I finally made Art News. But as a graphic artist for this ad, which I thought was a good symbol for my new professional direction from fine to graphic. Most of these art magazine ads have their own syntax. Very restrained and not at all like ads in other magazines.

It was the new year and wanted to do a 2013 movie. Just 30 seconds, I’m hoping it’s one of many.

The end of the year saw the completion of our first year of marriage. It’s been great and I look forward to many more years of love, friendship and laughs with my wife. It was great to take some time off and enjoy each other after both of us being so busy. And the tangerines from the tree in the backyard were plentiful and sweet.

Summer of Meaningful Distractions

This has been the summer of meaningful distractions. I don’t think there was a project that I didn’t at least consider applying for. I know that I won’t get this time when graduate school begins this fall, so I’ve done my best to try new things and challenge myself with things that I probably won’t get the time for in the fall. It’s felt like one chapter closing with another one soon to begin.

Two weekends ago I participated in South Texas Underground Film‘s 72 film project. A short film based on a random drawing of a genre and a loteria card. So I made a coming-of-age movie based on #22 La Bota. I was very proud of the result. I’ll probably collect these shorts I’ve been making and shop them around at some point.

I work on a short film remake project. The deadline was pushed a couple of weeks, so I’ll be refining in a little more. It is a new take on one of my favorite comedies of all time. It will probably be in the next post. Here’s one of the backgrounds I’ve been processing in Photoshop:

I participated in the SA Film Festival, where I screened Ernie Takes the Long Way Through the South Side and I ❤ SA through a special presentation of all the finalists of the Texas Monthly Where I’m From contest from last year. A nice mention of the screening in the San Antonio Current.

My sister and her family left to live in California a week after we returned from Mexico, leaving us fairly heartbroken. We miss her so much and hopes that she returns soon.

Later in July, my wife and I spent a week in Mexico. Amazing, awesome, perspective-changing, as always.

Last Mexico trip, I wrote blogs. This trip I made a magazine.

And a short movie.

In July I participated in artslamsa‘s Bring On the Bad Guys event. It was live painting. I’ve never done anything like it before. The crowd was nerdy,  young and very helpful. Nothing like the cynical, suspicious folks of my generation. Still not sure if their good-natured optimism will start the revolution, but that’s just my generation’s cynical, suspicious nature coming out. The theme was bad guys, so I painted a Dr. Doom, Boris and Natasha, Cheetah from Superfriends and three roaches from the old Raid commercials. I had to stop when the sun went down. I thought there would be enough light, but there wasn’t. Luckily I work quickly and even at 80% completion, they looked pretty good. (Though, not in this early photo.)

Thanks to Mary Cantu, I was asked to produce material last June for the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. It was a cause near to my heart, they were great to work with, I was please with the material and I hope to work with them again soon.

On June 8 the Main Plaza Conservancy‘s Cine Mundo presented a screening downtown of all the finalists for San Antonio Neighborhood Challenge 3.0. I was honored to be selected as Audience Choice winner. Thank you Main Plaza Conservancy.

During the Spurs playoff run Popovich was coming up with catchphrases every game. I made T-shirts out of one. There would have been more if we just made it to the Finals…

It looks like the tangerines will be plentiful when they ripen. Last year they began ripening around the time of my wedding, so I think that tangerine jams, cocktails and maybe some way-out glazes or sauces might be the theme of the anniversary/Christmas party in a few month.

Springing Along

Busy busy.

On April 21st I was awarded top honors for the Video Jam. (The first of the CAM events that got rescheduled because of rain.)

I was invited to participate in a show in Dallas called Active-8 that featured artists all over Texas. I went up to Dallas on April 28th with my wife. It was great to meet other artists that were thinking along the same lines across the state that would normally never meet each other. I showed some found photos and an iteration of my evolving art video.

Here is the group of artists in the show. All worth Google-ing.

Luminaria finally happened on May 5th. I was situated next to the Magic Theater, where I projected a video in ten parts. I scaled these quick, fun animations for the attention span of the viewers and it was great to see people stick around for the entire cycle. I would be very pleased when a group would pass by and a word or image would capture the attention of one of them and they’d get hooked and make the others stop and they’d get hooked, too. What went over best, though, was the animation based on the illustrations of my personal hero Jose Guadalupe Posada set to the music of Mexican favorite Jose Alfredo Jimenez, specifically El Rey, which is the My Way of Mexico. People were dancing, yelling, making videos of the video.

Some dancing going on here:

I had given a presentation at the first PechaKucha and was glad to design the graphics for this upcoming PechaKucha on the 24th. I put together a few Japanese robot models from kits, so the instruction that I got from those became my inspiration.

I was invited to be a part of show that happened last Saturday, DuChampions of the ReadyMade at LoneStar Studios. Found art? Yes indeedy. I selected a collection of clowns that I had found at a thriftstore about 15 years ago. They were made by middle schoolers, I’d guess in the 70s. Each compelling in their own way.

Also an assortment of small sculptures that were a meditation on a couple of the seven deadly sins channelled through a Pop Surrealism.

And I found out last Friday that I’ve been accepted to grad school at Texas State University. My formal training in my chosen field (really what I feel is my calling) has been limited to just a handful of classes at San Antonio College, so I’m thrilled to being learning more my craft and being around other designers.

Coming up: NOTHING. I’ve been going full blast for the past two years. I’m going to take a break, recharge and enjoy some time with my awesome wife. And watch Spurs games with some other basketball experts. GO SPURS GO.

Nice Write Up

Graphic designer wins in Southside category at film competition

By Kiko Martinez

Robert B. Gonzales doesn’t think of himself as a filmmaker.

As a self-taught graphic designer living on the South Side, he’s used to creating inventive logos and marketing materials for organizations such as the Museo Alameda and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Currently, he is a graphic designer at the Witte Museum.

“I’m just a print guy, not a motion guy,” Gonzales said. “But I always have five or six ideas in my back pocket.”

One of those ideas was to take his skills as a graphic designer and create an animated short film for submission into the San Antonio Neighborhood Film Project 3.0 sponsored by the Office of Cultural Affairs and the San Antonio Film Commission.

Gonzales’ film, “Ernie Takes the Long Way Through the South Side,” was recently awarded first place in the Southside category.

The animated short follows Ernie, his wife Patsy, and their twin granddaughters as they drive to Ernie’s cranky mother’s house in their Astro van. They pass the time by embracing the rich history of the Mission San José, King William District and Blue Star Art Gallery.

Other finalists in the Southside category were Frank Bernal (“Heart of Southtown”), Richard Jemal (“Espiritus de San Antonio”), Sam Lerma (“Flutter”), and Will Shipley (“Mentiroso”).

Gonzales graduated from Alamo Height High School in 1990 and earned two bachelor’s degrees (in philosophy and art history) from the University of Texas-Austin.

He said making his first animated film has taught him how animation can be used.

“I took this project on like a graphic designer and from there I was able to pull out all the ideas, jokes, and characters,” Gonzales says.

Gonzales said a competition like the Neighborhood Film Project is a great way to let everyone know how much pride citizens have in San Antonio.

“If you love your neighborhood, go out and show people,” Gonzales said.

Kiko Martinez is a San Antonio-based freelance writer.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/southside/news/article/Graphic-designer-wins-in-Southside-category-at-3456106.php#ixzz1r50kKK00

CAM Into Spring

This past weekend my animated short Ernie Takes the Long Way through the Southside won the Southside category for the  San Antonio Neighborhood Film Contest.  Thanks to Sarah Fisch whose work was invaluable to get to this point, to Michael Pena, whose acting was the heart of this movie, along with the character’s funniest lines and to Erica Gonzalez, the voice of Patsy, whose support and feedback I am thankful for.

It was a crowdpleaser. I saw this one the next day. I swear I don’t even know this nice lady.

I also found out last week that two of my designs for the Witte were chosen as Silver Medal Award winners in the Texas Association of Museum’s Wilder Awards.

One for my redesign of the Educators’ Guide. The previous design was a bit of a muddled mess on small glossy paper. I made it cleaner and easier for an educator to use, with a full sized matte paper they can write on and keep in a folder. Teachers love folders.

Another was for the marketing campaign for the Amazon exhibition. I remember many nights staying up until 3AM working on a look for this show. Hopefully we’ll submit Darwin for next year. (I hear the company that tours it feels that it’s better than their own material.)

Luminaria was scheduled for the beginning of March, but hasbeen postponed until May 5th due to bad weather on the original date. Just more time for me to fine(r) tune all the material I’ve got for it.

I also participated in Say Si’s Small Scale Work for a Large Cause. A fine organization. For the piece I played around with transfer paper to simulate an old fruit packing crate label. I was very pleased with the result.

And, of course I started playing around with transferring images on other surfaces.

I was asked to participate in a show organized by Phil Luna called Signs at Boneshakers, also last month. Which was great, since I’m always looking for an excuse to produce silkscreens.

Red meat. Red Walls. It’s like the Little Red Barn. Thanks to the crew at KM that showed up.

Cinefestival was a great experience. I plan to submit again next year.

The house continues to be a work in progress.

I painted some marine life in the bathroom. It will totally be redone, so it’s by no means permanent, so I thought I might have some fun with it in the meantime.

Some real texture on those old walls…

My sister spotted this set at a thriftstore for $70. It works well in the back room.

Baby got his first pet, too.

I’m a Video Artist Now…

I’ll just stick with “Visual Artist.” That seems to have worked up until now…

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.

The Last Half of 2011

It’s been a very busy year, especially towards the end.

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.

Austin Film Festival

A very interesting experience. The crowd was mostly-earnest writers and the focus of every panel dealt with writing somehow. I saw successful, thoughtful writers speak in a number of different panels. Saw Elvis Mitchell interview Mr. Pixar. Mike Judge introduce the new Beavis and Butthead. He’s something of a hero of mine. The guy with a day job that does something completely self-directed and creative in his after work time which winds up being his satisfying and lucrative career.

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.

Art Review for Voices of Art

About two shows this past summer.

Two More Short Promo Videos

Not about promotion anymore, just about having fun.

Me complaining, as per usual:

Sarah Fisch scripted this one:

Paperfacing

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

Just trying to start a meme, y’all.

Art Liquidation a Success

Thanks to all who came out for this past weekend’s Art Liquidation. It was a purge that turned into a yard sale that turned into an art show. Thanks especially to Andy Benavides, the heart of an arts community west of Probandt. With Justin Parr, Bill and Sean Fitzgibbons and Gallista all being vital, major organs as well. I owe each of y’all so much and it’s possible that many of these pieces that I sold tonight were either FROM sh0ws for those spaces or were seriously considered for shows there.

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.

Animation for Texas Monthly’s Where I’m From Short Film Contest

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.

Busy-ness

I’ve been keeping busy this year.

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.

The Last Half of 2010

I guess it’s that time of year to look back and reflect on what has passed. This has been a year of amazing highs and also of incredible personal loss. I won’t soon forget the last half of 2010.

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.

Mexico 2010: Mexico City