[spectre] PRESS RELEASE: >panroc - Acamonchi @ Lui Velazquez, Oct 18-30, 2008

[lotu5]

panroc
October 18-30, 2008
Lui Velazquez
Calle José Maria Larroque #273.
2do Piso, Int. 6, Colonia Federal.
Tijuana, Baja California.
Mexico, C.P. 22 300

Opening reception, October 18, 2008, 7-9pm.

Contact: Micha Cárdenas, Curator, mcardenas at ucsd.edu, 619-750-8851
	 Katherine Sweetman, Director, me at katherinesweetman.com, 		
		619-838-7666


panroc is a new show at Lui Velazquez in Tijuana displaying a number of
works never before shown in Mexico from the artist Acamonchi. The work
overflows with the prodigious creativity that Acamonchi's work always
demonstrates, bursting forth with layer upon layer of ideas playfully
expressed in combinations of silkscreening, hand painting and spray
paint. Committed to community involvement, Acamonchi is heavily involved
in the bike scene and offers his skills to other community groups as
well, having long been a part of the fanzine, independent media and
street art movements. I am happy to curate this show of Acamonchi's
work, which engages concepts of reuse and subversion of pop images from
punk rock to advertising and seventies porn, combining elements of
graffiti and diy media making into complex, colorful pieces of art where
cartoon cats and porn stars gaze back at you from their swirl of media,
with brushstrokes hardly distinguishable from screened images. Talking
to Acamonchi it is clear that he has collaborated with so many people,
from locals like Bulbo, Lui Velazquez and Voz Alta to much larger
entities like MTV, yet it is also clear that these engagements come out
of a sense of generosity and a productive social drive to build
community in the San Diego/Tijuana border region. The drive to build
community and create links between separate networks of people, blurring 
the lines of borders and disciplines, is a goal of Lui Velazquez and 
this show continues that trajectory.


About Acamonchi:

Gerardo Yepiz launched the first Mexican Mail Art website in 1995, his
downloadable stencils revolutionized how a generation of young
artists, from Mexico City to Tijuana, used street installation and
graffiti as a critical forum. Known as Acamonchi, a slang term for
piggyback riding in northern Mexico, Yepiz adopted the strategies of
street art as the starting point for his fine art while also
distinguishing himself as a graphic designer working with clients on
both sides of the border including the Nortec Collective, MTV, Reebok,
Vans, Adidas, Pepsi, Warner records, Osiris shoes, Tribal Gear and
Obey Giant. Like his moniker, which, he explains "doesn't really mean
anything, it's just a dumb, silly sounding word," he uses humor to
create graphic works of art that probe serious political and cultural
issues. As hedescribes it, "poster illustrations or stickers are
common resources of visual communication; in the hands of Acamonchi,
and in combination with graffiti tactics, they become veritable
terrorist instruments, and the activity becomes a kind of cultural
sabotage."

Acamonchi began his career in the mid-1980s as part of a
cross-cultural underground scene in southern California and northern
Mexico that was heavily influenced by fanzines and the skateboard-punk
countercultures. Music developed his political awareness, and the
history of Fluxus inspired his passion for Mail Art. His early work
focused on images of the Mexican television host Raul Velasco and
assassinated presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. According to
Acamonchi, Velasco represents the mindless entertainment provided by
the Mexican media. He describes Colosio-shot on live television in
1994, during a campaign rally in Tijuana -as the Mexican equivalent to
John F. Kennedy. Colosio's face is a poignant reminder of political
corruption and Tijuana's notorious outlaw reputation. Acamonchi makes
his point, however, with ridiculous images of Colosio in a cosmonaut
helmet, Colosio crossed with Colonel Sanders, and a "Blaxploitation"
Colosio just to name a few.

Recently, Acamonchi has focused his attention on painting. His densely
layered panels and murals integrate his signature street graphics
-posters, stencils, and graffiti -into abstract fileds of color. In
this new work, Acamonchi experiments with painterly techniques using
aerosol paint, ink pens, and more traditional pigments, Although his
explorations are clearly inspired by street art, his distinctive
visual statements are something new. "Post-graffiti Art," as this kind
of art was called when graffiti artists first began to show in
galleries in the 1980s, does not encompass Acamonchi's strong
affiliation with street art radicalism, and articulate his serious
painterly intent. Once again, Acamonchi is inspiring his colleagues as
he explores new forms of expression."

 From Rachel Teagle, Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ACAMONCHI art studio
New website:
acamonchi-art.com
acamonchi.etsy.com
myspace.com/gerardoyepiz
flickr.com/photos/acamonchi
archivobc.org/?secc=1&letra=Y
arteven.org/profile­/acamonchi
youtube.com/acamonchi06
graffiti.org/acamonchi/

//

Upcoming at Lui Velazquez:

November 1st, My barbarian performs for the Orange County Art Museum
2008 California Biennial

November 21, 22, Dec 5, 6, Lui Velazquez participates in Proyecto
Civico: Dialogos y Interrogantes at the Centro Cultural de Tijuana

December, Becoming Dragon, Live performance in Second Life by Micha Cárdenas

//

About Lui Velazquez, http://luivelazquez.com

Lui Velazquez is an art space for generating dialogs among different
disciplines, practices, artists, producers, curators, and the general
public about contemporary issues from a critical perspective.

This platform facilitates the connections and exchanges between local
and international artists to create a collaborative network within the
San Diego (U.S.A.) and the Tijuana (MX) trans-border region.

[es]

Lui Velazquez es un espacio que se ha caracterizado por generar diálogos
entre diferentes disciplinas, prácticas, artistas, productores,
curadores, y públicos sobre temas contemporáneos desde una perspectiva
critica.

Esta platforma facilita conexiones e intercambios, entre artistas
locales e internacionales para crear redes de colaboración en la región
trans-fronteriza de las ciudades de Tijuana (MX)
y San Diego (E.U.A.).

//

Lui Velazquez is generously supported by a grant from the UCSD Visual
Arts Department.

#

-- 
Micha Cárdenas
social media / performance / public culture

C(a)lit2 Researcher, http://bang.calit2.net
CRCA Researcher, http://crca.ucsd.edu
MFA Candidate, UCSD, http://visarts.ucsd.edu
MA, EGS, http://egs.edu

collective projects:
http://cityheightsfreeskool.org
http://sdhacklab.org
http://circasd.org


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