INDIVIDUAL PRINTS

In the beginning, there was darkness and in the primeval waters floated Cipactli. The story of creation for the Mexica people begins this way, very similar to different traditions where the earth is dark and formless. This image is the moment of creation where the primordial forces of creation begin to shape the earth from the body of the beastly crocodile creature, Cipactli. You see Black Tezcatlipoca, the smoking-mirror, offering their foot to lure Cipactli in and his brothers begin to shape the earth on his body. The rough scales become peaks and valleys, its eyes and tears are rivers and lakes, its mouth is a cave, an entrance to the underworld. When Cipacltli shudders, the earth quakes and moves. Creation stories set the stage for the narratives that follow. The Mexica see creation as an act of sacrifice and the earth a living creature that they have stewardship over, not dominion. They are charged with maintaining balance and harmony on the earth by showing respect to the forces of creation.

Uranium mining on Diné and Havasupai lands in what we call Arizona has killed generations of First People. Mining and transportation of uranium poisons the well water, animals and people. On October 1st 2018, a final decision by the US Supreme Court upheld the ban and refuses to listen to an appeals from the mining companies. Although, we celebrate this triumph, mining companies have refused to adequately remediate inactive mining sites that continue to expose First People to toxic uranium dust.

Linocut printed on Rives BFK
Limited edition of 35
—-
Paper Size: 10 x 15 in.
Image Size: 8 x 13.5 in
2018

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 8 x 12 in.
2017

Self Help Graphics & Art is a non-profit arts organization that I have been volunteering for almost 10 years. They are credited with bringing Día de los muertos to Los Angeles in 1973 and every year they have been charging an artist with the task to create a commemorative print. Like any organization, they have gone through trials and tribulations in the past years but they have secured a new space in Boyle Heights, the neighborhood I grew up in.

Serigraph on lasercut Blacktop French Paper.
---
Limited Edition of 65
Dimensions: 25 x 35 in.
2013

To justify war, St. Augustine wrote that the sovereign ruler of the state has the authority to wage war and that those subject to the authority of the sovereign are duty bound to fight in the sovereign's war, even if it is unjust. Further, he went on to say that God has perfect justice to direct those wars to be fought. It seems that the tenets from a Doctor and Father of the Church of the days of early Christianity are still in use today to justify wars abroad.

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 6.75 x 10 in.
2004

Tumbling somewhere between a small town in México and the City of Los Angeles, are the skeletons of those who traverse borders. During the Día de los muertos, the dead are said to be allowed to cross the divide between the living and the dead to join their loved ones in celebration. How then will such a scenario play out for the millions of people that have loved ones on both sides?

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 15 x 11 in.
Image Size: 10.75 x 7 in.
2006

Woodcut printed on Rives BFK rag paper.
Limited edition of 5.
---
Image Size: 13 x 37.5 in.
Paper Size: 24.5 x 50 in.
2003

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 24.
---
Paper Size: 10 x 20.5 in.
Image Size: 3.5 x 15 in.
2010

Flying over the Castillo de Chapultepec and a Mexico City skyline complete with the volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Itzaccihuatl is a skeleton wrapped in the fiery shroud of a comet while it is observed from the Old Observatory by a smaller skeleton with telescope. This print was commissioned by typographer Oscar Yanez for his typeface Calavera which was produced by his type foundry, Cocijo Type.

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 15 x 11 in.
Image Size: 10.75  x 7 in.
2006

Frida Kahlo in her diary noted that she felt that she embodied disintegration. Her dying wish was that her mortal remains be cremated. During the cremation, she was dressed in a huipil dress and laid on the gurney to the oven. Diego in his memoirs would comment that, "As the cries of her admirers filled the room, a sudden blast of heat from the open incinerator doors caused her body to bolt upright. Her hair, now on fire from the flames, blazed around her head like a halo. Frida's lips appeared to break into a seductive grin just as the doors closed."

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Image Size: 10 x 14.75 in.
Paper Size: 14.5 x 20 in.
2003

Linocut printed on Rives Lightweight eggshell rag paper.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 5.5 x 7 in.
Image Size: 2.75 x 2.25 in.
2004

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 8x13 in.
2005

Reduction linocut printed on Stonehenge white paper.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 7.5 x 7.25 in.
Image Size: 2.65 x 2.65 in.
2017

Linocut printed on white Stonehenge paper.
Limited Edition of 60.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 5.7 x 8.1 in.
2013

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited Edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 7.125 x 10 in.
Images Size: 4 x 4 in.
2012

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited Edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 7.125 x 10 in.
Images Size: 4 x 4 in.
2012

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 7.5 x 10 in.
Image Size: 3.5 x 3 in.
2005

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 7.5 x 11 in.
2013

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 22 x 14 in.
Image Size: 18 x 8.5 in.
2012

Woodcut printed on Arches cream paper.
Limited edition of 35.
---
Paper Size; 11.25 x 15 in.
Image Size: 6.3 x 6.4 in.
2008

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited Edition of 35.
---
Paper Size: 11 x 15 in.
Image Size: 5.5 x 8.75 in.
2015

Toypurina was a a renowned and respected Tongva/Kizh/Gabrielino medicine woman. In 1785, she would join the plot to rebel against the Spanish and destroy the San Gabriel Arcangel Mission.

Reduction plate, 4 color woodcut printed on Somerset Velvet paper.
Limited edition of 30.
---
Paper size: 11 x 14.4 in.
Image size: 5x9.5 in.
2014

Linocut printed on Rives BFK.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 15 x 22 in.
Image Size: 8.75 x 11.2 in.
2016

Linocut printed on Guarro cream rag paper.
Limited edition of 50.
---
Paper Size: 14.25 x 11 in.
Image Size: 11 x 6 in.
2014