Mail Art

I remember as a kid, I always wanted a pen pal. I had no idea how to get one and neither did my parents. The thought of exchanging thoughts or experiences with someone on the other side of the city, state, country, or world seemed so exciting. And there's just something so fun about making or writing something specifically for someone, sending it out there into the big wild world and waiting for a response. And when you get that return package, its like a mini-Xmas. It really brightens the day, knowing someone out there is reaching out to you too. It was in this spirit that I created a drawing specifically for my mail partner. I thought it important to try to draw something plucked straight from my imagination. I wanted it to be an odd thing to find in the mail box. So I drew a picture of cyclop clouds crying/raining blood on a swallowtail bird. I used bright, candy colors to keep it happy. I kinda wish I had taken a picture of it now, but at the time it was important to me that it exist as a one-of-a-kind creation. I guess I felt somehow intuitively that the temporal nature of a piece of mail traversing space and time seemed to call for it. But now I don't know, I was kinda fond of it...

Radius Performance

Shadows in Flight
Video
1'06"

Ah, yes...the Radius Cafe. I dreaded the thought of performing "art" in front of a bunch of strangers. I guess I'm just not that brave...and to be honest, I couldn't think of anything to do that seemed remotely interesting to me, much less anyone else. So I was really glad to have the option of making a video. I knew I wanted to keep it in the spirit of performance so after kicking around a couple of ideas I finally decided to perform shadow puppets of birds in flight and juxtapose my performance with documentary imagery of the real thing...birds in flight (thank you prelinger archives!) I layered the imagery together so as to make them seem they were happening concurrently. I also added some subtle color in the background, taken from my color theory class's nebula color installation, which happened to work perfectly, suggesting shimmery landscapes beneath my shadows. I am happy with the result, although after seeing some of my classmates' performances that night I felt a little regretful that I hadn't performed it live along with them. But just a little...I think I did my fair share as an impromptu accordianist. If you were there, you know what I mean.

Landscape

Stratum detail

Stratum
12" X 48"
Collage

When I think of landscape the vastness of space comes to mind. I think of something so huge, so grand, something that dwarfs one with its sheer immensity...almost incomprehensible but as an indivdual living here on this planet, something one can directly relate to. We humans walk in the fields, swim in the oceans. We draw our sustenance from the landscape, growing crops, building shelters. Gravity holds us hostage to it. It is inextricably connected to human life. Without its gifts we would die. And yet we, small as we are in comparison, have a tremendous impact on it. We pollute it with non-biodegradable materials, releasing toxic chemicals into the air, spilling oil in the water, killing precious species and vegetation, and essentially killing ourselves as well. This piece "Stratum" attempts to express the vastness of the landscape, albeit, in a somewhat abbreviated manner...ideally, the piece would wrap around the entire wall, or perhaps even an entire building. I included a layer of human activity, specifically people painting the landscape because I wanted to show the beauty of the landscape and people respecting it. I hope it illustrates the inspiration the landscape can provide for not just artists, but anyone with a soul.

Derive

For my derive I took to the streets of downtown San Antonio one evening and walked from Broadway to the River Walk, armed with camera in hand, hungry eyes, and a willing hostage, er, I mean, friend. I frequently walk around downtown because I work in the area but usually I'm just thinking about getting from point A to point B, looking at all the crazies milling about or watching out for psycho motorists or horse-drawn carriages out on the prowl. So for this assignment I tried to take notice of all the things I normally don't look at. There are a lot of interesting architectural details on the buildings downtown, such as gargoyles and faded signs. I came across one building that apparently used to be the Frisky A-Go-Go club, though you wouldn't know it from its current state of neglect. I walked past the Traveler's Hotel looking like a total tourist, taking pictures of anything that seemed remotely interesting to me. Slowly the sun began to set and neon lights began to shine. Party time! Downtown San Antonio, like most major metropolitan areas, has an abundance of colorful lights, beckoning the adventurous soul to come bask in their energy. Many unusual sights abound such as plastic indians and hidden rain forests...you just gotta know where to look.

Mandala

This is the first mandala I've ever attempted. I'm not really sure what its supposed to be. It looks like the inside of an eyeball or a jelly fish wearing a doily, perhaps. It was a little hard to get started at first. Didn't really know what I wanted to draw but then I just jumped in and started doodling, not thinking too much about any particular end result. My pen took a journey through scribbles and circles spiraling across the page til confronted at bordered areas of harsh jagged strips, barring the way.I lost myself in the process of making marks, dots and lines and before I knew it, the hour I alloted myself was up. I was rather pleased with the final outcome, although I guess I could have made the circle look more, well, circular.

The dominant feature of this piece is line. Put a pen in my hand and give me nothing better to do and this is what I tend to come up. Tedious patterns serving as some sort of strange channeling of anxiety...remnants of my awkward, bored adolescence, spent sitting at IHOP, 2 in the morning, sketching. Didn't know I could bring it all back again just by drawing nothing in particular.

"Self-Portrait in Triplicate"
Digital Photograph
6" X 13"

This is a photograph of myself triplicated, my back is to the viewer and my reflection in the chrome material is distorted, reminiscent of a fun house mirror. The intention of this piece was to present myself in three different aspects: pretty, ugly, and incomplete over three periods of time, simultaneously. The reason why I am facing away from the camera is because I wanted to explore the idea that it is impossible for a self-portrait to truly represent a person in their entirety. As artists, we pick and choose what qualities about ourselves we want to show the world in a self-portrait and must sacrifice and omit things for the sake of unifying the composition or for the sake of satisfying our vanity. I chose to show my face in the fun house reflection because I don't think it is possible for anyone to fully and completely know anyone else, we can only know certain facets or sides of someone, therefore, our impression of someone is always distorted in some way. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a dark side or a hidden side we never knew existed and find it shocking or bewildering, but even then, one has to wonder what else is lurking beneath the mask. We all wear masks and play different roles in relation to different people: child, sibling, parent, lover, friend, enemy, employee, student, etc. Additionally, as we age we grow and (hopefully) evolve. The personality is not a fixed entity but rather an amorphous, shape-shifting illusion, constantly in flux. So who you were yesterday is not who you are today... and you may be someone new tomorrow. This self-portrait was a vain attempt to address all those things. (Vain! Ha Ha, Get it?Lol...Ok I'll stop now.)

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Yay! I finally got this thing to upload...took forever.
So...check it out. Behold the fruits of my labor!

Still Life

video

57 seconds

This video is comprised of mechanical and non-mechanical toys set in motion against found footage backgrounds of landscapes and city-scapes. By overlapping imagery I was able to construct surreal realities for these objects normally only possible within the imagination. I was intrigued by the notion of inanimate objects being mechanically animated either through my manipulations of their internal mechanisms or through my manipulations of their interactions and placement in space and time. The phrase "still life" inspired within me the desire to give these objects a sense of "life" and also illustrate various aspects of life such as birth, childhood, work, religion, and death. The toys that I used present these symbolic ideas in a light, humorous way as if to say life is a game and question the notion of free will as well.

My visual alphabet consists of items I found scattered around the house. Basically I just looked around and drew things in my immediate vicinity. These first three, A, B and C, came from my bedroom. A is for Ashtray, a frequent companion as I tend to chain smoke when I'm up late at night reading or drawing. B is for Buddha who sits on my bookshelf and C is for Cat, a ceramic figurine who hangs out down the shelf from Buddha. These are all very rough, fairly quick sketches because I waited til the last minute to do them. The majority of my alphabet was drawn out of order chronologically but this strip is an exception. I was curious to see if there was any progression from A to B to C but I really can't tell.

I found interesting juxtapositions occurred sometimes between certain objects that ended up next to each other like in this strip of H and K. H is for Heart, which was based on an old tarnished heart pendant with an interesting embossed pattern. And right below it, I drew a few Keys for K. At first I wasn't aware of it but after awhile I realized that keys and a heart go together in a sentimental Valentine's Day kind of way. The phrase "keys to my heart" comes to mind. It's funny the way your subconscious can sneak up on you, almost as if your inner self knows things and drives you to do things before your outer, consciously thinking self can catch up.

Franco Mondini Ruiz

"Matisse with Menthol"

A visit to Franco Mondini Ruiz's house was like a trip to eye-candyland for a child raised on food stamps. Ceramic, smoking monkeys hung out next to pink flamingos while kittens lounged luxuriously around a grand cage of birds. The entire environment was a beautiful mess of decadent, baroque frivolity, part Warholian Factory, part Renaissance workshop. Franco was very generous and candid with his knowledge of the artworld and shared his dirty little secrets about the unspoken hustles he has incorporated into the pursuit of a successful career. He has made an art of marketing his art to the right people, the rich people and yet at the same time the mass-production of his pieces with the help of his assistants keeps it grounded in a pop sensibility. Franco mixes high and low elements with a sharp sense of humor to create clever, witty pieces that speak on many different levels.

Franco is an excellent businessman who has thought up many innovative ways to make his dream of being an artist a reality. It was very inspiring to see a successful artist living the life I'm sure many of my fellow students and myself included aspire to. Of course he put us all to work, giving us a taste of what it feels like to be a cog in his money-making machine, and in exchange he collaborated with us on a piece. Very clever...But he paid us kindly with enchilada plates and beer. Yum yum, thank you Franco.