I started making xeroxed books of my drawings when I was around 17 or so. I didn't really know what I was doing at first, which cost me all my lunch money since the copy machine at school cost 10 cents a copy. It wasn't until I was able to drive and stay out at all hours that I found out about kinkos. I would head there at 2 in the morning and play around on the machines and never pay for a single sheet. The employees didn't care, as they were all college students trying to meet some large copy job deadline behind the counters. I made large posters of my drawings, and thousands of stickers. I stole employee cards and as my skills grew, I would make dozens of books and started selling them. This is all nearly impossible now, as times have changed and kinkos went corporate, putting their foot down on any sort of funny activity and putting a halt on their 24 hour jam.
So I started heading in at lunchtime, when office managers and interns are rushing in to try and make 500 pamphlets or whatever, I go ignored and am able to play again. I feel bad for kids trying to do the same thing in this day and age (though not really, as I am older and fatter and slower, and am still finding new ways to spread my art disease for cheap.)
"W/R/I/N/K/L/E/S" is made up of drawings that were way too large to try and put onto a photocopier. They were scanned on a blueprint drum scanner, then sat on a hard drive, until now.
I screenprinted the cover with the skull ( I based it on a skull from the Mexican bingo game "loteria") and used my government name, at the request of my Father, who was a painter in his youth and signs, "R. Amador" on his paintings.
Sneak-peek of some of the pages.
Mock-up mini, as I can't envision things without drawing them out first.
16 black and white pages. Screenprinted cover on thick Canson paper. Signed edition of 50.
The kind folks at Arte Americas let me use their copy machines last week to put together a zine of drawlings. It's been years since I made a book of drawlings without any sort of planning or theme, or layout before hand. I used my sketchbook from the past year; all the greatest hits and fan favorites; so these pages are filled with failed ideas, sketches for paintings, grocery lists/to-do lists, drawings of dictators, a few jokes, drawings of the downtown Fresno landscape, and lots of other goodies you'll have to see for yourself.
Sneak Peek;
3 dollars each or both for 5. send 5 bucks to my paypal, and i'll send you both plus goodies; obamador@gmail.com
even as i type this i am simultaneously sending harrassing text messages, facebook stalking, watching the screen of the tv i found in the dumpster behind broadway scramble and descramble itself, washing the 20+ pairs of socks ive jacked off into that i had laying around in my room, mashing together everything i can find in the fridge together to put in the microwave to eat as dinner, debating a nap, debating whether to go work on the mural im doing at Iron Bird lofts, debating whether to crack another one off the wrist, pulling ticks off my dog, thinking about getting drunk, reading magazines and rearanging my workspace. I once told a friend of mine that I was really stressed out because of all the work that i had to do, to which she replied "your job is to make art and use your imagination...what the fuck do you have to complain about?" she was right. this is what the past month has produced; -------------------------------------------------------------------- I was the featured artist for April in my buddy Jacob's clothing line/online magazine, Under Republic. It continues to get better and better; both the clothes and magazine features are aging like a fine wine. Jacob is a motherfucker, and he aint playin' around no mo'. This months issue was the best yet, and not just because im in there. theres some good shit in there. check it.
then i got back home, tired and fucking reeking of the most insane fun i've ever had without the use of drugs or alcohol, and when i get back, everyones giving me shit about being some famous artist, or fresnos choice artist, or some bullshit. i dont know what anyones talking about, until Michael from Iron Bird tells me that Im named Fresno Famous' Choice Artist of the year...WTF?
I guess if you whore yourself out enough, and say yes to every job and show that someone offers you, people start believing your art is worth something cause they start seeing it everywhere.
we have included your publications "blood farts in the 559", "all drawings & wratings" and "skull study #7" into our art zines show THANKS FOR SHARING! at D21 Kunstraum in Leipzig. Thanks again for your submission!
printed up these bags today. 8 bucks playa. books are always 5 clams. buy da boaf of 'em and theyre 12 bucks. now dats a deal you can take to tha bank. lug your trader joes free range eggs, home, lookin' like a fuckin' gangsta.
I made the final run of my "nothing too loose" mini-book that i made for the show of the same name back in december. its 24 pages of en-tanglemints, lies, deception, and acceptance. heres what the critics have to say;
"you look like a 16 year old that got hit by a truck" -bobby embry
"you've been washed up for a while now, i just didnt wanna say anything" -christian vargas
24 black and white pages. 2 color hand printed cover. free perfume samples with purchase. 5 bucks from me. get it at my next show, or contact me and i'll get one to ya.
brand new zine i slapped together yesterday for first thursdays. its a mix of some of the new big drawings and some sketchbook doodles. 2 color cover, using my (not so) secret kinkos mixed media techniques. alot of runner drawings. some skull studies. and a review of Transformers 2. kind of. well, really all i did was talk shit about megan fox. 24 pages, 2 color cover. 5 bucks, while supplies last. email me.
Heres a zine i did back in January for "donde esta tu hermana", the three man show I was a part of, along with fellow Broadway Boys collective members Jason Graham and Eatcho, up in Portland. I revamped it for the March Art Hop, and since then I've given away more copies than I've sold, which isn't exactly a bad thing; I made back what I spent. thats the way zines usually go anyways, so im used to it. no biggie. been zine making for almost 10 years now, and it feels like i finally got the hang of this shit. the books 24 black and white pages with a 2 color cover. they're all drawings from late last year and i wrote up the words 10 minutes before heading to kinkos and slapping the thing together. It was originally like a 2 page essay that dug into depression, anxiety attacks, comfort in masturbation, self revelations, finding God in crosshatching, suicide fantasy, and so on. you know, the regular Amador self deprecation with a humourous point of view type writings. But I pussied out at the last second, and decided the essay was a little much, so i dumbed it down, and diluted it-like when you go to your friends house and his mom makes koolaid with only one packet and only 1 spoon of sugar (I grew up with 3 packs and a whole cup of sugar inside a recycled foster farms milk gallon, so when you pour yourself a cup, you didnt shake it well enough,and you get those powderey chunk explosions inside your mouth).
anyways, I'll use the essay in something else later on, and fully illustrate it too. it'll just rest inside a folder on my computer for now.
