"OCTAHEDRON!"

"OCTAHEDRON!" Saw this creature at the Island while fishing this morning....

Yet another of the Russian Fireworks series! This is the latest work, done for my brother Jerry, who actually is an air force pilot who flies this actual C-130. The russian text spells out his name (largest firecracker) and the header says "Sanchez Fireworks!" This work was custom made for him...hope he likes it!

"Weed-Whacker" Firecrackers 1976

Yet another firework label done! Gonna start selling high quality post card prints of all my works for 5.00 bucks each...signed!

My latest work! Influenced by vintage firecracker lables from around the world...most notably Russian Fireworks. Expanding this series in the next few days and well see where it goes!

A couple of more pics of my students works. The first ones are contemporary works that feature actual instruments that project the boarder violence through music called "Nacro Corridos". The student wanted to reflect the bloodshed that has been spilled throughout Northern Mexico and how some local musicians have been inspired to write songs that narrate the life of drug cartels and their episodes. In the past few years, there have been a handful of well known musicians, like John Sebastian, that have been killed for such songs that paint a "negative" view of the drug life or songs that make reference to musically bash certain cartel groups, which we all know will probably kill you. The black guitar depicts a story of one such event that happened in a cantina in Reynosa. The student was interviewing a musician that has to put his life on the line every night in order to make enough to survive and has seen his share of violence, be it with drugs or guns...he wanted to capture the testimonial not through sheer paper, but with a guitar in order to make it more "realistic" for the reader/viewer. The black and white photos were also taken by one of my students that has raised the thought of inner, personnel struggles that teens usually face alone. They may look positive and outgoing from the outside (hence the all famous happy face) , but they are being tormented by many factors, eventually becoming so great that one takes his/her life as a way of escaping themselves. Yes, those are real razors!!

Current student I.B. art 2011-2012

These are random student works from my senior I.B. classes. They touch many sensitive topics from drug violence, rape, extreme beauty, to teen prostitution. These are only a few of the hundreds of wonderful pieces that my students are creating for their senior exhibit in the spring (a requirement for all 98 of my students to officially graduate!). What I'm most proud and amazed of is these students have only had art for a little over a year and a half! They sure have been working hard to get some work that has something honest and important to say as opposed to traditional high school work that does not let you stretch too much into some of these real-life topics. It's not the most technical in terms of application, but I think these works all have a distinctive style that does not require "flashy" skills that sometimes can visually over burden the work and lose its message in the process. I'll post some more this week...so enjoy, and don't hesitate to comment!

Rebuilding identity.

During the course and the topics covered thus far with race and culture, I began to question my cultural contributions within my work. As I observed and self-assessed my paintings, they did not really have that cultural connection to my Hispanic background. Is this bad? am I too late to address this within my work? Do I have to? As with Emma Amo's artwork, she truly found her purpose and identity as an artist, a female black artist, later in her life after much experiences in London and New York.

I was wondering to myself what hints of culture are embedded within my work? Does my work look Hispanic enough? Does it need to? I don't know, but what I do know is several of my pieces have a strong emphasis on the supernatural like this painting titled: "Bocaccio's 2000". It was inspired by a local folklore tale, "Dancing with the Devil", which was originally documented in Juan Sauvageau cult classic, "Stories that must not die", truly an amazing book of old urban legends from deep South Texas. The original illustration by Roel Montalvo is inserted as a playing card the Devil is holding. I wanted to pay homage to Mr. Sauvageau for indirectly giving our community a book that represents the richness of our heritage and culture. The writing over layed throughout the painting is actually the original story from the book. I took the incentive in writing it in spanish because that was the original format the story was first told among the community years ago. Now that I think about it, yes, some of my work does have a hint of cultural identity... I think I'll further develop a series of related stories about Dancing with the Devil and maybe video tape an elder telling his version and interpret that within my work. good ideas.

There other paintings/illustrations are also an extension to my interest in vintage art. Truth be it known, I am also an obsessive collector of all things old. Most of my collections revolve around old vintage toys (still in the box), vintage Hallowe'en postcards (specifically the Rafael Tuck & Sons editions dating back over 100 years), Vintage posters from Mexico and France, old russian military watches, and and very expensive and rare comics. I have been collecting for over 7 year now and save up money now and then to purchase something that I find has value, not only in monetary means, but a value in my life and art. It fuels my creativity when I have something very unique which gives me that inspiration to study it, feel it, absorb its past magic to produce artwork that I feel has the same attributes and aesthetics.

I will be posting more of my works tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy these images as much as I do. Feel free to post your comments or thoughts of my work or all things nostalgic. Peace and good Vibes. marco.

Here are a couple of images that were inspired by 19th century French carnival posters. Though I've never been to an actual carnival before, (We have a Mexican carnival called Vasquez Extravaganza! that comes rolling around once a year to tantalize the public.) I was always intrigued by the colors, lettering, and images that were used during that era, a lot different of what we have now, which is digital overlays of animals and acrobats with common fireworks in the background. Modern circus companies or owners of them do not value the art of the circus posters like before, settling only for a cheaper format like basic postcards laid out at local gas stations...not very attractive or eye appealing. Again, the nostalgic feel is evident within the work, but most important...it was really fun to do and I'm actually going to expand this series further in the near future.

In terms of Reto-Art, (a.k.a Sonar-Art) these are a couple of images that I worked on over the summer at Junction. They are pretty much heavily influenced by old Russian propaganda posters from the era of WWII. As you can see there are traditional elements and subject matter that you would normally see in original prints. I, along with my illustrator friend Mark Watson, managed to capture the "feel" of these poster illustrations but added our little twist in the text. The image with the Russian deep sea diver, which has always been a fascination of me since a kid with its primitive gear, blurts out "what the fuck is that!" in response to that big organic stem in front of him. Very random at heart, but good design skills, color and composition. The point of these two works is not much the content, but the nostalgic feel of the past and art that was overlooked as sheer political announcements as opposed to carefully crafted artworks. If you try to research some of these propaganda artists who worked for the Kremlin, you will not find a direct artist or source, as they were just seen as "governmental draftsmen".

Lingering Thoughts!

"Enter the Time Machine"

Well, welcome to my first ever blog! I've never created one before nor have been taught how to develop one and was scared to even try one. I guess I've been way too busy at school and the grind of being a parent, with a very curious 3 year old might I add! I also have to admit I have had a phobia of computers for a while, ironic for one who works in the arts. As with my art, I also feel that my work is equaly natural without depending too much on technology to "enhance" my work. Call me old school or out of touch with the times, but maybe its because I'm so facenated with a bunch of retro art form yesteryear, the golden age of hollywood posters, sci-fy fantasy, vintage french circus posters, comics from the silver & bronze age, vintage halloween postcards, ect. I'm really attracted to the raw, sometimes "craft-like" approach to images that are not tainted with academic rules or theories. Most of the reto-art we see are individuals who learned their craft while on the job, exploring, experimenting, investigating new approaches to designing and illustrating dynamic artwork for the public to witness in wonderment. I'm really happy and excited that pop-surrealism is on the rise for many non-traditional artists who have a different outlook of what art is or what art can be. As far as I know, Juxtapose magazine is currently the highest purchased publication for all artists young or old. I even order them for my seniors at out school, being that I encourage them to look up current artists who are making a mark in the art world today. It also helps them develop some confidence that not all high school art has to look ultra realistic, as seems to be the misguided expectation of many art teachers in our region. Overall, they get a chance to glance at the works of such notable and famous artists as Mark Ryden, Alex Pardee, Eric Joyner, Ryan Heshka, Ron English, and countless others. These are just a few of my personal favorites whom I've also feed off from in the past few years. So why retro art? After much contemplation and reflection to my art making, I honestly think of my childhood when I look at this type of art and the best word to describe my overall appreciation of it all would have to be "Nostalgia"; The purpose of looking back at a certain time in ones life where everything just felt right and exciting. Personally, its always nice to jump into your own little time machine in your head and re-experience the things in your life that made you feel alive and good...Now, I don't promote to always visit the past for long periods of time as you may lose focus of your future, its just a way for me to look at images like primitive robots, underwater divers, old machinery, that have facenated me to draw and be creative...hence bring the excitement and youth back to the fold. On a side note, I've always had this theory that active artists live such a long life not because they stayed healthy, but their excitement of creating what they feel. Who wants to die if there's too much fun things to do or make? Just look at old rockers like the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, The Who. I'm sure they took a physical and mental beating with lots of drugs, but what kept them alive and going? The seer love of making and creating music...and that's the truth.

Well without further talk, I wanted to share the progression of some artwork that I have developed (and sweated!) over this past summer and fall and I will give a brief overview of each and what I had in mind.