So I'm on this thing.. I'm on it and I'm in it .. who's behind it?? This is pretty exciting stuff cause now I can just ramble on and write about my work or cupcakes and it won't be tucked away away somewhere like in myspace. If this goes well I can see giving up the myspace crack altogether.. people need their space.. I guess, but how can you quit crack?? This reminds me of when I used to have a deadjournal.. R.I.P dj ...I'll never feel so "underground" again. Being back home in Miami puts me back in touch with the elderly.. and by that I just mean my grandparents. Today I took grandma to pledge and get her citizenship "diploma". She was so lost. I had to tell the guards she had Alzheimer's disease and I needed to be her guide. Becoming a citizen (KANE!) is such a strange and almost comical process. Well I could just about laugh at anything (especially myself)...but seriously, you get little american flags, you're in a giant room sitting shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the world and you watch a video of Pres. BUSHwacker telling you how impressed he is that you passed the test and all this other shit he's reading from a teleprompter followed by a video of sweeping views of the U.S. landscape, close-ups of smiling kids, people of different races and such while listening to the song "Proud To Be An American". I think the most disturbing part is all the military references ... seeing my grandmother pledge to take up arms if necessary and protect the nation... the whole ceremony seems like a really empty ritual to me ...." I swear I will protect this abstract entitiy I call the United States "... or am I really saying ... " I will protect whatever government happens to be in power because they might offer some kind of protection to me ". I don't want to sound ungrateful, but there are many factors that have contributed to my life here in the U.S. and I can't just generalize like I'm being told I should... I see through the cheesy intentions to make me feel patriotic and shout out "Sieg Heil" to the flag. I almost feel sorry for the people that buy into that flag-waving america vs. the world shit. I feel sorry because they don't know any better. Then again, we all have to buy into someone's story... so how do you choose?
Here's part of my story.
...more of an attempt.
I would like to explain through this site my fascination with things that are hidden, ambiguity and metamorphosis. My work has been compared a lot to Salvador Dali with reason. My dad was my first influence but Dali was my first favorite painter. I'm still discovering new things when looking at paintings I thought I was familiar with. In a sense that's what I hope to accomplish... works that refuse to be easily understood or pigeonholed and that with time, will evolve into diaries that other generations will read and perhaps better understand or misunderstand ha!
I decided to get things started with a drawing I did my freshman year of College at Art Center. This one is titled " my friends and I are not superheroes" and is basically a drawing of the 4 original roommates in the Fall of 02. Pasadena, CA. I'm the freak with the muscles, behind me is Edgar Cuarezma ( GRRR), then the lovely ms. Jane Kim and to the right my best friend since highschool David Olivera. Too many adventures to mention ... but... this drawing is slightly prophetic. David jumping on a paper boat made out of a letter from his gf (La Domi as he would call her) with a tidal wave about to hit is symbolic of what happened in his relationship later on. The tire marks on Grr's face are a reference to getting run over by a car when he was a kiddo. Jane and I always fucked with him cause he loved to sleep ( I do too!!) and David would call him the gentle giant. Well here he's in a trance watching sheep bounce on Jane's head ...trying to reach his favorite dream state, dreaming of sheep with hats labled LuLu...a reference to his love at the time. As for me I'm just some weirdo trying to be the captain of my own mutating body and mind, floating like a balloon... as for Janey, well only she knows.
7 comments:
Reina,
so glad you finally get a column. If there were more people with your wit in the newspaper, i may have actually read something other than the comics in these last 20 years of my life. anyway, glad your sharing. Im a fan.
Smashed peas,
Hope
Haha..........you've finally realized that blogspot is ten times better than myspace. There's no bullshit here plus you constantly get to update your page with art and other re-dick-you-less things.
Velcome.
R-E-I-N-I-E-R
sup palindrome...check out my blog lolz :P
Yes yes yes. You're the first one that caught on to my little play on words. Everyone else just thought I'm illiterate and couldn't spell Kitchen right, and yes you hit the nail on the head.
I feel like my art used to be something completely different and Art Center slowly but sure molded me into some sell out artist that makes pop pieces. That piece was just me exorcising my demons. I decided to do the most trendy cool pop art piece I could think of and get it out of my system.
Time to get back to my roots.
mr gamboa doing the dawm thing, keep inspiring the world with a balance of talent and organized madness. -leo
doing the dam thing! always an inspiration!
-drewski
P.S. No I haven't gotten any postcard from you. WHen did you send it?
I would be glad to pick up your prints for you. Give Vicky my number and have her call me when she receives them and we can go from there. I was supposed to meet with Kent Williams this summer so he could discuss my new work anyways.
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