My art project, Adapta Project, is collaborating with Art as Authority and putting on a show at 4 Walls in North Park for the seventh anniversary of Ray at Night. The show will open from 6 to 10 p.m. next Saturday, Sept. 13.

Our artist, Alfredo Guiterrez is a guy who grew up doing some of the best graffiti on the streets of Tijuana.  Now he’s a graduate of architecture school and his work just keeps getting better and better.

For more info on Alfredo and some of his images, click below:

José Alfredo Gutierrez Jimenez

(Tijuana BC., 20 january 1982)

Self taught painter majored in architecture from the Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana 2007. In is most important shows there’s “Banner contest” in the San Diego international airport where he was a selected winner, “Bienal Nacional Miradas”, with and honorable mention in both, 2004 and 2006,selected in the “Bienal de las Americas Rafael Cauduro” Tijuana BC Mexico. Represented by the gallery Masquerade in the “San Diego Art Walk”, 2005, “Tijuana Crude” in the Ex-Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara, Jal. and Palacio de la Cultura of Tijuana, 2007.   “Publico/Privado” in La Caja Galería, Tijuana, 2008. “San Diego Art Walk” San Diego, CA. 2008.

Has participated in several courses that include: sculpture, art installation and architecture perspective, in the studio of the teacher Eduardo Cooley, 1993, drawing with Mtra. Martha Álvarez, 1995, photography with Architect Francisco Cuevas, 1999, Perspective with Architect Lopez Lopez, 2000, Art installation course “INSITU” with Maestra Betsabeé Romero, 2003.

Course of “Promocion y gestion Cultural” being given by the Centro de Humanidades Tijuana, approved by CONACULTA.

Was given the grant by the Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes in the program Jóvenes Creadores, FOECA 2007. with the project “Landscapes of War”

Represented in Tijuana by:

www.lacajagaleria.com

Alfredo Gutiérrez:

the emigrant over the city

The images of the Tijuana artist Alfredo Gutiérrez are composed by lines of a narrative. The work captures the reflective moment of a trip. The history of each one of the personages dissipates in a landscape that becomes diffuse while the image of the man is extended and it is clarified. On the background is the plot, and we can only guess by reading the man. The traveler moves away of the city landscape to reiterate that the moment has arrived from a separation. Separation that, according to the forms, seems to have always existed.

The man, evident protagonist of the stories, is in a clear superposition of the chaotic urban landscape. What is behind him is what it is being erased by the city in witch he lived. But although the human figures contrast in color and forms with the city background, demonstrate a existential reality that is compared to the urban reality. , Man and city, thus dissenting seemingly and color, reveal similar characteristics of wearing down. The city and its man - the unique one- seems to be in the same emotional state. It could not be of another way; behind it is not the city, is the history of that man in the city.

In these works, Alfredo Gutiérrez - whom to his twenty-four years he owns already more than a twenty individual and collective exhibitions in the Tijuana /San Diego area -uses techniques like aerosol, acrylic, oil sticks, pencil, markers and collage to construct the urban landscape, and oil to construct its personages. With that it calls “contrast between order and chaos, figure and abstraction” demonstrate, the distinction between man and city, the common sensation to the inhabitants of the polis: the split. An ambiguous split in which the man knows inhabitant of his space while he is perceived so distant to this one as a stranger. As if only through the images it was included in the landscape. It would seem that the concrete – as a difference to the soil-rejects him. That its roughness, ready to be fused with nature, would not take place in the city.

Although the city is Tijuana from where this young artist realizes his creation, its work does not take exclusive reference to this space. The marginal zones of this city of the north, with the characteristic homogeneity that gives them that layer of dryness that covers them, are of easy identification in the pieces of the painter; also it is the traveler or emigrant, iconic personage of the border zone. There are, in addition, elements that seem to suggest North American urban landscapes, area that also comprises with the mobility of this artist. Even so the structure of its images includes more than one locality. Each one of its cities is any city. And their characters, those men marked by time, the dust and the crudeness of life in the city, correspond to almost any nationality.

The representation of the city by means of the commutation and collage of materials - present in the work of Gutiérrez- they are characteristic of the art of the region, nevertheless, the esthetic of its work does not share similarities with the Tijuana artistic stereotypes. Its piece “Towards the decay” could be forced to enter the call of Chicano art, but at the time of contextualizing it within the rest of the work, any regionalism dissolves, being united to a speech more universal than it is evident in other paintings. Alfredo Gutiérrez is not representing only one city or its structures. Either a man of an ethnic group or its customs. He realizes an existential investigation: the one of the human condition in front of the city, the traveller before the phantasmagoric city that threatens to swallow him. Only that, very unlike the speech common in which the city prevails to the man, in the work of Gutiérrez the man dominates the city. Their characteristics and their figure stand out in the opacity of the large city. And the man who arises from that way is the solitary man. The one that has separated himself from the masses. Who pauses his trip to reflect. One that the city wears off, but doesn’t break. A man not common between the light multitude.

The man that Alfredo Gutiérrez builds in his pieces is more solid and strong than the cities he inhabits. He is the man who, like an artist, has taken the determination to mold itself and not to be molded. It is possible to even identify in the expression of his personages, the majority of them of outpost age, the characteristics that draws wisdom. This man is not property of the large city. He is the emigrant. one that is constructing its home in its person. For whom the only architecture that is possible to keep is the one of his bones. In their trip, the city and its buildings become, time and time again, in metaphors of the past.

Photo courtesty of Eduardo Garcia

It was at a gallery show — photos I think — at a cultural center in Tijuana.  After the perusing and wine drinking was done, a group of musicians took the stage and started stomping, playing miniature guitars, singing story-like songs in turn and keeping rhythm with what looked like a jawbone.

It was love at first listen.

I later learned that the style of music was called Son Jarocho, traditional music from Veracruz, Mex, and I’ve only had the chance to listen to the music one more time after that first experience, so let’s just say I was more than a little excited when I heard about the second annual Encuentro de Jaraneros event happening in this week: Sept. 4-6, in various locations throughout San Diego.  The official press releases are below, in both Spanish and English:

2nd Annual SAN DIEGO ENCUENTRO DE JARANEROS September
6th, 2008 Festival of traditional son jarocho music
from the Mexican State of Veracruz

Linda Vista, CA: Bayside Community Center will host
The 2nd Annual San Diego Encuentro de Jaraneros. The
festival will consist of traditional son jarocho
music with special guests, workshops, and lectures.
Guests included are Ana Zarina Palafox of Mexico City
and Los Cultivadores del Son of San Andrés Tuxtlas,
Veracruz. The encuentro is co-sponsored by the
Department of Liberal Studies, MEChA, and the National
Latino Research Center at California State University
San Marcos, and is made possible in part by a grant
from CSUSM Arts & Lectures and the generous support of
the Bayside Community Center.

THURS, SEPT. 4TH 6-9pm
Performance & roundtable discussion
Cal State University San Marcos
Commons 206. Free admission.

FRI, SEPT. 5th 5-8pm Workshops
Zapateado Dance, Jarana
string instruments, & Décima writing.
Bayside Community Center. $10.
(all ages welcome)

SAT, SEPT. 6th 12-3pm Workshops
Zapateado, Jarana, & Décimas.
Bayside Community Center. $10.
(all ages welcome)

SAT, SEPT. 6th 6pm to 8:30pm Main Event: Concert &
Community Fandango
Performances by: Pa? Sumecha (Mexicali, Baja
California) Tenocelomeh (Los Angeles) ?Son del Centro
(Santa Ana, CA) Enanosón (Valley Center, CA) ? Soneros
de San Diego, California
Bayside Community Center Minimum $10 Entrance
Donation. Children under 12 free.
(all ages welcome)
*All proceeds from this event go directly towards the
establishment of a son jarocho educational program at
Bayside Community Center.

For more information contact Bayside Community Center
2202 Comstock St Linda Vista, CA 92111@ (858)
278-0771,
or Eduardo García @ (858) 336-5626 (email
pezalado@yahoo.com)

PARA PUBLICACION IMMEDIATA

Para mayores informes:

Eduardo García,
tel. (858) 336-5626
pezalado@yahoo.com
Bayside Community Center
2202 Comstock Street
Linda Vista, CA 92111

2° ENCUENTRO DE JARANEROS EN SAN DIEGO
Festival de son jarocho tradicional del sur de
Veracruz

Linda Vista, CA: 2° ENCUENTRO DE JARANEROS EN SAN
DIEGO
Festival de son jarocho tradicional del sur de
Veracruz. El 2° Encuentro de Jaraneros de San Diego es
patrocinado por el Liberal Studies Department, MEChA,
y el National Latino Research Center de la Universidad
Estatal de California en San Marcos, en parte con
fondos del programa CSUSM Arts & Lectures, y se
realiza gracias el apoyo generoso del Bayside
Community Center.

6 de septiembre 2008 de las 6 a las 8:30 de la noche
? y luego sigue el fandango ?
Bayside Community Center
Donación mínima $10 a la entrada. Menores de 12 años
entrada libre.
Todos los fondos reunidos en este evento van
directamente al establecimiento de un
programa docente de son jarocho en el Bayside
Community Center.

Invitados Especiales: ? Ana Zarina Palafox (México,
DF)
? LOS CULTIVADORES DEL SON (San Andrés Tuxtlas,
Veracruz)
Presentaciones de: Pa? Sumecha (Mexicali, Baja
California)
? Tenocelomeh (Los Angeles) ? Son del Centro (Santa
Ana, CA)
? Enanosón (Valley Center, CA) ? Soneros de San Diego,
California

TALLERES Y OTROS EVENTOS:

JUEVES, SEPT. 4
Presentación y mesa redonda.
Cal State University San Marcos
6 a 9 p.m., Commons 206. Entrada libre.

VIERNES, SEPT. 5
Talleres: Zapateado, Jarana y Décimas
Para todas las edades.
Bayside Community Center. 5 a 8 p.m. $10.

SÁBADO, SEPT. 6
Talleres: Zapateado, Jarana, y Décimas.
Para todas las edades.
Bayside Community Center. 12 a 3 p.m. $10.

Para mayores informes: Bayside Community Center, tel.
(858) 278-0771, o Eduardo García,
tel. (858) 336-5626 (correo electrónico
pezalado@yahoo.com)

This just came from the Schools for Chiapas camp, a nonprofit based in San Diego that helps build schools in rural southern Mexico:

“Violent Escalation Raises Fears in Chiapas
On August 29 and 30, 2008 Zapatista small farming families once again faced a serious escalation in the disturbing pattern of violence which has swept Chiapas in recent months. The latest attack by armed paramilitary forces occurred in the autonomous municipality of Olga Isabel and resulted in the wounding of 43 year old peasant Mariano Pérez Guzmán. Click here to read the Spanish language denunciation published by Zapatista officials in the caracol of Morelia.”

I’ve heard  the scene in Chiapas described as surreal:  Peaceful indigenous farmers living and working in villages below while armed military men watch over them from the surrounding hilltops. Why? Will indigenous people ever be left alone?  We here in the United States made sure we destroyed  our native people’s so-called rebellious spirit by putting them on crappy reservations and cramming limitless wealth into their pockets via casinos and legal gambling. Ug.  I’m not sure which scenario is worse: The one in Chiapas and Oaxaca or the one right down the road at Viajas or Barona.

“Streaking” by Kinsee Morlan

Ah, Labor Day.  What was once supposed to be a highly charged political day meant to commemorate the historic struggle of the working class has become a day of laziness and lethargy (the real Labor Day, of course, is May Day, but Congress wanted the U.S. collective memory to forget about all that history and never, ever protest working conditions or poor economic situations again; so instead, they gave us Labor Day, a meaningless day off).

But rather then lament the lost sense of proletariat camaraderie, I went camping. And watched my first and last-ever bullfight at the only remaining bullring in Tijuana. And went bowling at Mundo Divertido. And played dominoes while sampling things like burnt-milk, avocado and horchata-flavored ice cream at a Tijuana spot called Tepoznieves.

Now I’m nice and tanned dark brown, relaxed and ready to start the rat race anew. This weekend, I was reminded of the mysteries and secrets of northern Baja California.  And the wonders — holy moly — the wonders included a man who’d built himself a garage full of strange flying contraptions.  Take a look:

The flying thing became one of our favorite pastimes as we enjoyed the beaches of La Fonda. Another form of entertainment came when the sun set Saturday night and the pop-pop-pop of firecracker after firework began.

It’s funny; not only can you still drink down here, you can zip around on your ATV, light off a few Black Cats and sip on a Tecate on most Mexican playas.  And the U.S. is supposed to be the home of the free?  How many of you had to sneak your beer to the PB or Mission Beach this weekend?

Suckers.

The vendors do get a tad intrusive — you can only say “no, gracias” so many times before your feigned cordiality turns to lightly veiled annoyance — and one t-shirt may or may not have been stolen while my friends and I frolicked in the ocean, but all in all, I’d have to say that Mexico is about a gillion times better in terms of being the perfect backdrop for a stress-free, beach-camping getaway.

And guess what, scaredy-cat gringos?  Not one of my friends was raped, beheaded or fucked with by the federalis. Amazing, huh?

Not really.

Your fears of Mexico are unfounded if — and I feel like a freakin’ broken record while typing this — if you aren’t connected to the drug cartels in any way.

You see, even the most gangsta of Mexican ganstas these days seems to want to do his part in getting tourism back on track. One of my friends — a journalist who’s heading off for an Iraqi embed in the next few days — assured me that a few of his sources who know how the cartel operates said if they find a U.S. I.D. on someone, they back off, partly because they don’t want to deal with the DEA and partly because they want the tourist economy to go on smoothly like it did 10 years ago. That way, they can operate below the flow like they did back in the glory days.

After camping, it was off to the bullfight where my adrenaline started pumping hard and fast before I even stepped foot inside the ring — some asshole Americans tried to cut in the long ticket line, and if there’s anything that pisses me off it’s that bigoted sense of entitlement.

“A la fila, la fila, la fila,” the crowd would yell in unison to the swarm of stinky buttholes who kept trying to creep their way into the line. “Culero, culero, culero!”

But one guy was pretty big and from the U.S., so he ignored the people’s taunting and tried to con a guy wearing a “Bigg Nigg” Oakland Raiders jersey to buy him and his buddies some tickets so they didn’t have to wait in the long line.

“Why don’t you wait like the rest of us?” I asked, tapping him on his pudgy shoulder.

“What?  I’ll even buy you a ticket if you want,” he said, annoyed, “just chill out.”

I didn’t chill out.  Instead, I made sure the rest of the line saw what he was trying to get away with, and a few yells and yanks later, the jerk was gone.

So, yeah, my adrenaline was pumping while my bf and I climbed our way to the top of the sun section inside the ring, near the corner so our flesh didn’t completely burn off our faces (seats in the sun were 2×1: A deal that’s not easy to resist). The first fight was already in progress — we walked in right as the picadores came out on their horses ready to stab the poor bull in the neck so the matador would have even a chance of winning.

The crowd booed.  I gasped. The bull got stabbed repeatedly in the neck.

I’d love to go into all the quirky and strange traditions that I learned about that day, but the long and the short of it is this: Bullfighting is a vicious sport steeped in cultural traditions that, once upon a time, meant a whole lot.  Now — aside from those who actually take the time to learn about the traditions — it’s a spectacle watched by Bros who say things like, “that dude needs a bigger sword” or “nice pink socks” while slamming Sol and cheering wildly anytime anything — the bull, the matador, the picador or the picador’s horse — gets injured.

Six bulls were slaughtered on Sunday, by the way.  But the guy sitting next to us in the bullring told us we had nothing to worry about.

“They send the meat to the Tijuana jail,” he said.  “It’s gross and tough because of all the adrenaline in the meat, but they send it to the Tijuana jails and the prisoners eat it.”

Huh.  Interesting, but for some reason, it didn’t make the slaughtering or the constant teasing and harrassing of the bull any easier to handle.  I think I’ll stick with bowling:

Tijuana conceptual artist ERRE and his wife Coco hosted a pretty phenomenal art show in their studio last Saturday night.

You can see pictures of the show here.

My favorite part of the show?  The mixed-media works of Jaime Ruiz Otis, the puzzle works by Gabriel Boils and the creepy blue gnome installation upstairs (I hate to admit it, but I’m not really sure which artist was responsible for the gnome).

ET IN ARCADIA EGO
23 de agosto a 12 de octubre 2008
Tanya Aguiniga
Gabriel Boils
Ron Clark
Marcela Guadiana
Jaime Ruiz Otis
Marco Rios
Rosha Yaghmai

Inauguración Sabado 23 de agosto, 7-10 PM
Opening Saturday, August 23 from 7-10 PM
Horario / miércoles a domingo 12 – 6 PM
Hours / Wednesday to Sunday 12 – 6 PM

Alfredo’s work pretty much speaks for itself.  His solo exhibition opens tonight at the ICBC, Palacio Gobierno in Tijuana from 8 to 10 p.m.

You can check out more of Alfredo’s work on his MySpace page.

This time, the Reader’s cover story isn’t about violence in Tijuana, it’s about drugs.  There are no official stats in the story, just a book and an author who assumes tons and tons of people are crossing the border to buy pentobarbital, a drug used to commit suicide.

The journalist did go to two pharmacies, so it must be a trend worth writing about, right?

Inside La Casa del Tunel

As an official member of the media, I’m not supposed to get personally involved with things that are going on in the city.  Thank Jebus I don’t work for one of those old-school dinosaur papers who don’t understand!  On my weekends, I’ve been meeting with COFAC discussing the opening of a new art center in my old ‘hood, Colonia Federal.

The official public discourse is below.  Please plan on coming to the public opening on Saturday, Sept. 27!

COFAC Opens La Casa del Tunel: Art Center Sept. 26-28 in Tijuana, Mex.

From Sept. 26-28, 2008, Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura (COFAC) will open La Casa del Tunel: Art Center, an international community center dedicated to promoting and facilitating borderless arts, culture and environmental investigation and awareness. The Center is located 75 feet from the U.S./Mexico Border with a panoramic view of Tijuana and San Ysidro.

The series of opening events will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, with a dedication reception for friends of COFAC and the media. At 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, the celebration will continue with a public reception featuring Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments, an art exhibition examining environmental justice. According to curator Adolfo Nodal:

“[The participants] employ a collaborative process with a multidisciplinary

approach, involving all creative disciplines in collaboration with politicians,

environmental activists, scientists, and community organizers to help

individuals and communities understand and face the challenges of

environmental justice, global environmental degradation.”

The opening will also include a tour of the facility, food from the rooftop café and music on the rooftop performance space and observation deck, green lab and gardens. A Community pancake breakfast and Open House will take place at 10 a.m. the following day, Sunday, September 28, for residents of La Colonia Federal.

More about La Casa del Tunel:

La Casa del Tunel (The House of the Tunnel) is located in a neighborhood of Tijuana called “Colonia Federal,” a place where, within the last five years, artists of all disciplines have congregated to live and work. Originally the area was created to build housing for employees of the Federal Customs Office. During the 1960s, the government channeled the Tijuana River and built the highway to downtown Tijuana leaving only nine blocks of houses that are practically isolated from the rest of the City by the river, the U.S. border, the Plaza Viva Tijuana, and the rapid transit highway which connects with downtown. This makes “Colonia Federal” a space where people live calmly and are relatively safe. There is only one entrance and one exit which contribute to the fact that this area still has a provincial Mexican flavor.

La Casa del Tunel is located at Chapo Marquez 133, Colonia Federal, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico, CP 22310. 011-52-664-682-9596 (from the U.S.) and in Mexico (664-682-9596) walking distance from the Border.

More about COFAC:

COFAC transformed a house with a tunnel and dark past to one with a bright bridge to the world. La Casa del Tunel was built in the early 1960s. Due to the closeness of the border, one of the building’s tenants dug a tunnel (approximately 150 ft.) under the house, from Tijuana to San Ysidro. On July 8, 2004, the tunnel was discovered and all parties responsible were caught, arrested and imprisoned. The owners liberated the building and decided to rent the space to COFAC for the establishment of an international center for the arts. COFAC was established as a 501 (c) non-profit organization in 2003 and is based in Pasadena, California and an Asociacion Civil in 2007 in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. The organization has served and represented the mega-metropolis, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and Tijuana and the international community for the past five years.

More about 2008-2009 programming:

• Citizen Artists exhibition - Sept. 26-Dec. 31.
• “Chora Prints 2008: Nuevos Posters Politicos de TJ a LA” Oct. 15-Nov. 4.

Collaboration between The Studio for Social Sculpture, Self-Help Graphics and

La Casa del Tunel. Two-dozen artists are producing prints about key North

American political issues during the run-up to the U.S. presidential election.

• “Day of the Dead” blessing of land - Nov. 1
• A film program about sustainability - Nov. 29
• Cross Border Poetry Jam in Tijuana and San Diego - Dec. 14
• “La Gran Linea” exhibition curated by Michael Dear - Jan. 15-April 30

Contact Luis Ituarte, COFAC 1st Vice President, at (323) 574-9197 or visit COFAC’s website: www.cofac101.org or email: cofac101@earthlink.net for more information or high-resolution images.

Saturday night, at around 8 p.m., the streets of downtown Tijuana were taken over by a parade of semi trucks protesting the high cost of diesel fuel.

The wailing horns of the trucks could be heard across the city.  It was so loud and constant that, at first, I thought it was a train.  An hour later, I realized that even the longest train in the world doesn’t have a whistle that lasts that long.

In many of the trucks I passed, the truck driver’s family was riding along — the small children had huge smiles on their faces because, finally, they were allowed to pull the good ol’ diesel horn. The drivers, however, were not smiling, likely because they’re worried about feeding those kids while diesel prices soar to $2.50 a gallon.  They blame the government, which owns and operates PEMEX, the only petroleum company in the country.

The deisel convoys are happening in cities across the world.  Just last month, there was a protest in Melbourne.