They Are Us

I’m having an art show!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art Exhibition at GR2

They Are Us – New Work by Ako Castuera

April 7 – May 2, 2012
Opening reception Saturday April 7th 2012, 6:30-10pm

GR2 – 2062 Sawtelle Blvd LA, CA 90025 www.www.gr2.net 310 445 9276

It’s my first solo show.  I’m pretty stoked!  

Clay

I made this thing:

clay is so fresh.

A couple years ago I learned how to dig up and process wild clay from Christopher Nyerges, who teaches things like how to identify plants and make fire out of sticks, string, batteries, etc. I hope to always classify these skills as recreational novelties, because I never want to be in a situation where I have to make a figure-four deadfall to trap a squirrel so I can eat its tiny flesh.

On the other hand, I want to use clay every day. I love every step of this process, which begins with a walk in the foothills of Sierra Madre, Ca:
I locate some red clay, dig up some chunks, and carry it home.

Then I dump the chunks of clay in a bucket, breaking them up with my hands and sifting the rocks and plant debris out of the mix. I used a regular sifter from the market.

After that, I lined a colander with some cotton rags and put it over a bucket. The wet, sifted clay was poured into the colander and took about a week to drain to the the consistency I wanted to work with.

The wild clay can be mixed with commercial clays. I have been mixing it with Laguna brand B-mix (cone 10) at a percentage of 50/50. At 100% the natural clay is beautiful, but cannot be fired at cone 10. It’s lovely in pit fires though, for folks with gumption and firewood.

Some finished work:

Water Paints

The year of the dragon is upon us. Here’s a watercolor I did for Giant Robot’s Year of the Dragon show.

for Giant Robot show

This is a painting from last year:
And here is a painting that is not finished:

Ancient History: Adventure Time Art show

It was in April at Nucleus Gallery in Alhambra. Here are three of the pieces I put in. I gotta look for the Wizard Battle concept sketch too.

The Barker. Watercolor, a tiny one. It’s from a part that got cut out of the episode “Go With Me”.

Title? Another tiny watercolor not from any episode, just for fun. The beast is based on a post it drawing I did to mark my progress/ count clean up pages.

Monumental Friend. Watercolor… Not from any specific episode, just something fun.

The Rising Fall. Realized I had never posted this image in its entirety.

This one is from April’s Giant Robot show. Watercolor, pencil, gouache.

Dino X-ing.

Yaya! I’m so pleased to be in a show at GR2 with Yellena James and Elsa Mora. Saturday, April 16 (#1 friends Bday) 2011. I’m looking forward to meeting them and seeing amazing work at the opening.

FOR MORE INFO: http://www.gr2.net/

Also, on the same night: Nucleus Gallery will be hosting the opening event for The Adventure Time Exhibit! I’ll have something in there, and I think my co-workers are going to make it a knockout as usual! The only thing not rad about this is that it’s on the same night as the GR opening across town, so I won’t be able to make it.
MORE INFO: http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/297

Year of the Rabbit

Every year Giant Robot celebrates the Lunar New Year with a show of art featuring the animal of the eastern Zodiac. This year is RABBIT!

Rising Fall (detail)

detail from one of last year’s watercolor pieces. I’m very happy that this one has found a special home with a loved one. Someday I have to photograph the entire piece with a better camera, or tile the several scans I took of it before it went up.

Another Day

“Don’t Be Alarmed: New Work by Kris Chau and Ako Castuera” opened in October at Rowan Morrison Gallery in Oakland. Many, many thanks to Kris, Narangkar and Pete, and to Rob, who made it possible for me to get this show up and keep my marbles from spilling out of my head. The piece below is titled “Another Day”. It’s a watercolor.

And another watercolor, from which the detail in the post below was culled, Titled “Exploso”

Someday I’ll tile the scans so I can post this one in its entirety, but for now here’s a detail of “The Rising Fall” (watercolor).

Don’t Be Alarmed (2)

Detail of my painting for our show.