"And we still move on" prints *SOLD OUT*

Just got the prints in the mail and they look great! 12x18 lovees for those lonely walls, now to finish signing them... Thanks to all who bought them, It means a lot

By the way just framed and hung mine ;)

Gay means happy

A few weekends ago I had my toy signing at this years Designer Con and it was also my first Con as well. I was a little nervous in the beginning but chilled out after a bit... as the day went by I got to meet more artists and started to mingle with people in general.

I was surprised to find out that there are, in fact, gay artists in the toy art scene. I'm not talking about customizers, people doing production pieces, or doing their own thing... I'm talking about the low brow/urban vinyl toy scene, etc. It was definitely an empowering thing to see, something I never really knew existed in this world.

Where am I going with this?

I've been told in the past that my personal life is a mystery. People know Project Detonate, but no one really knows who Yosiell is. Occasionally, I'll overhear speculation about whether or not I'm gay, and who I am is a big part of what I do. I'd like to set the record straight... err, whatever.


I came out to friends in 2001... pretty late in life, but in a Puerto Rican Catholic household that shit does not fly well. I grew up where being macho is the norm and gays go to hell. Even back East I didn't feel completely comfortable expressing who I was. I guess I was just halfways out... for example my old job, working in the beer industry where it's all titties and brews.  I wasn't sure if they would be keen about knowing that I'm gay.  Maybe it would have bugged a lot of the guys there (it was a predominately male atmosphere)... maybe not.


As I progress as an artist, I want people to see my work and know who I am. It wouldn't feel right shrouding any part of me behind a concern of losing friends or family. I see my fellow LGBT artists out and proud, doing their thing to the fullest... and I'm proud and happy to be doing the same!

Release and Signing

Just a quick update that I will be doing a signing for the release of my figure Poison Sweet at this year Designer Con at the Happy Panda Booth #112 at 12:00pm.. if you are in the Pasadena area make sure you come out.. should be good times!

G1988, 941 Geary St, & Space Gallery

This Saturday a bunch of us went into the city for a few shows, well actually it was one, but we ended up finding about two others as we were there..now before I get further into this post, I'm not really here to review shows...just want to post about the evening in general sooooo, The first was a three person show with Jeremiah Ketner, Yosuke Ueno, and Ewelina Ferruso...I got to see Jeremiah Ketner's work in person for the first time well actually all three artist's work for the first time, I couldn't get over how Jeremiah did all the cross hatching technique with a single brush, My friend and I swore it was a fan brush haha, definitely time consuming, but well worth it...Ewelina's work was very detailed and I'm bummed that I didn't get to take pics, as the evening progressed I got caught up talking with people which lead to no photos..but needless to say her work was amazing, such detail for such small paintings that were encased in shadow boxes with the title of the paintings engraved on gold plaques...Then there was Yosuke Ueno and to be honest I liked all three artist that night, but Yosuke's worked really grabbed me, such innocence and dreamlike feel to his paintings I literally kept going back to stare at them through out the night...He definitely got the gears going in my head to further develop and push my style more..here are a few pics of the show....

Yosuke Ueno

Anne Frank's face is on the right side...a reoccurring theme is his works

the one on the left was my favorite

Swan, another reoccurring character in his works

My favorite out of Jeremiah's work that night

Jeremiah Ketner

The next stop was 941 Geary St...I think this is a fairly new spot and the gallery is HUGE! and the place was packed, definitely a different vibe and crowd than the earlier show...It was the opening for Glen E. Friedman "F*uck all that" which consisted of photos from Glen Danzig, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys and well you get the gist..Some solid photos and the back wall had collabs between him and Shepard Fairey..for those who don't know about him do yourself a favor and check him out! 

Glen on the far left signing a poster

Packed house

Shepard Fairey collabs

Bad Brains and the Beastie Boys

and the last show was Bad Dads over at LoPo gallery...this was a show tribute to the films of Wes Anderson..many artist like Munk One, Caia Koopman, Zoltron, Dave McDowell just to name a few participated in this show...so much good work so I decided to take a few pics of my favorites

Caia Koopman

Dave McDowell

The many faces of Bill Murray

Halloween

These people mean business

It's electric boggy oogy oogy

Tables are being thrown.. kinda like a domino scene in an Ice Cube video

What's that? wait I can't hear you

Ah so today is Halloween and I will be off to hang out with a few friends to watch some horror movies...so getting caught up in the spirit I had the idea of maybe buying a Ouija board and using that as my canvas? not sure that was a great idea so I canned the whole thing... but as I was doing my research I stumbled upon a few seance pics, some with Ouija boards... I gotta say those old pics are really creepy looking, but cool at the same time nice eerie feel to them.. so I decided to post a few of them up.. who knows maybe my next solo maybe along the lines of this whole theme? hmm I may have to look into that some more because I for sure am getting some awesome images in my head as far as paintings and instillation goes.. we'll see

Possessed Icing Head Sicklings

So getting over a slump after being in bed for a week after the move to my new place in Oakland... I have finally finished these new icing head sicklings..possessed that is.. right in time for Halloween..they are going for $55 shipped in the US and go live tomorrow at 12 (PDT).. so head on over to the shop tomorrow and pick these little dudes up...they are five of them and one with the moldy version chase... they will be blind box, in the sense that I will pack them up and then randomly place the shipping labels on them...In the meant time I am prepping for my first toy signing at this years Designer Con in Pasadena which I am very excited about...Poison Sweet will be released that day so make sure to come out if you are in the LA area...should be good times! after that I will be busy prepping for my solo show in DC at art whino which will be my first solo show using my real name, but more to come on that later...

Later better than never?

So a lot has been going on but I will leave that for another post...they will consist of my new apartment, my figure release, new works, and pulling my back with the move BOOOOO! but on a side note..I was in my first SF show (well first show actually living in the west) the opening was last week, but you can view it here some solid pieces are up... you can still view the show in person at Double Punch Gallery ..ok off to some more bed rest!

PS a hot bath with epsom salt does wonders!