May 1st, International Workers' Day

May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in most countries. The United States of America and Canada are among the exceptions. This despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the USA, linked to the battle for the eight-hour day, and the Chicago anarchists.

May 1, 2006 is a Day of Protest: Fight for Immigrant Rights!

Join immigrants and supporters to make Monday, May 1, 2006 a national "day without an immigrant" Anti-immigrant politicians and hatemongers call immigrants "a drain on society" - they try to pass repressive legislation like HR 4437 and encourage groups like the racist "Minutemen". But immigrants contribute billions to the economy and receive few benefits in return. We will settle for nothing less than full amnesty and dignity for the millions of undocumented workers presently in the United States. Let's show the government, corporations and racist politicians that a powerful, united peoples' movement has the power to win Civil Rights, workers' rights and make history. No business as usual on May 1!

in Chicago: May 1st Immigrant Worker Justice March Monday, May 1, 2006, 10am.
Starts at Union Park (Lake/Ashland) Ends at Grant Park

entorno opening @ polvo

see more images from the opening here:
http://polvo.org/april28/index.htm

my new future project

video installation of people's perspectives:

Step 1: Strapping a small video camera to a subject's forehead and having him/her walk around the block. The camera records from their perspective what they look at and how they interact with the situation. This is repeated with more subjects of various heights.

Step 2: Using digital video software to edit and placing all scenes on one screen in grid format(total of 16 scenes playing simoultaneously and looped, 4 rows by 4 columns). By editing and doing some scenes shorter that the others, each scene will not take place at the same time so each timeline will be slightly different.

Step 3: Projecting the final video onto a huge screen or using a large monitor. Another option is to do an installation of various monitors, stacking them and each playing one video.

Several years ago I did a digital print dealing with "empathy" and I imagined what a couple in the past(circa early 1900s) would be thinking about on certain days and I then recorded the imaginary thoughts along with old photographs to create a print. Well for this project I will be working with the present and people that I know using digital video to record their experiences at a certain time and location. We live inside these shells(bodies) and I am curious to experience at least visually how it would be to be inside another body and seeing the world from another person's eyes.

Saturday afternoon

I spent some much needed time with my family today. We celebrated 2 birthdays: my younger sister Roxanne and my 7 year old nephew Jaime. The weather was excellent, sunny and in the 70s...good enough to be out in the yard cooking!
see more pics here

Glass Curtain Gallery opening April 13, 2006

I was in this art show organized by Jesus Macarena-Avila of Polvo and it was a huge success considering it was on a thursday afternoon. We had Amistad Car Club members bring their low rider cars and do a show right in front of the gallery. I also ran into people that i have not seen in many years; a blast from the past! All of the artwork shown is of very high quality and these artists are some of the best artists of latino origin doing awesome contemporary work. Several curators from the MCA(Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago) were there, so it was cool that they made the time to check out the show.

Check out the web page here: http://polvo.org/romantico.htm
and the direct link to the images here: http://polvo.org/romantico/index.htm

(A) MEXICAN r4WB1t5 macro.Fest

see some images from this event sunday april 9, 2006 @ polvo
and check out a video: 3.4MB quicktime

abstract paintings

this is my latest series. I do a lot of abstract work aside from any new media junk. It sometimes feels good to just sit down to use conventional materials. I guess i am a modernist at heart.

video from the opening last night

see video HERE