Miriello Grafico

Dr. Lakra and Pedro Alonzo at The Logan

Jaime Rojo & Steven Harrington, co-founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com ,wrote about it this way:

Last night, The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego (MCASD) courageously opened the dialogue and its arms to embrace the chaos of the evolving street art scene. Smartly and incredibly in this city that has been described by Shepard Fairey as conservative, the installation is citywide and outside. It’s geographically expansive scope underlines the shows’ commitment to street art as a movement and may represent an important turning point in the recognition of it in the American public sphere. Naturally, much art is displayed in doors, which always begs the question, “Is this street art too?”. Well, no.

The urban environment of an industrialized world is home to the majority of the planet, so naturally the vernacular of graffiti, advertising, graphic design, photography, signage and all other visual communication has become fair game for the street artist. “Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape” is curated by Pedro Alonzo and it’s variety of artists well represents a freeze frame in the current scene. Not all of the artists are strictly street artists, and many began in graffiti but few have participated in a group show that has this much sanctioned access to public space.

The Logan building got called into the show after touring curator Pedro Alonzo through Barrio Logan and talking about the long-standing and essential tradition of street art native to the Barrio. “It would be a mistake to bring artist from around the globe to San Diego  and not recognize the founding fathers of this movement.” we said.  Pedro replied by sending Oaxaca, Mexico tattoo artist Dr. Lakra to art-out our building – The Logan. All of it happened in less than a day. The lift arrived, The Doctor blew-in, climbed on and painted non-stop for hours. A phenomenal work ethic and talent. In the end, he’d brought to life on our north wall, three of his hundred of tattoo sketched he carries around with him.

Dr Lakra's tattoo sketches

Come by and see what the Doctor created. Or take the bike tour of all the installations. And don’t miss the inspired show at downtown’s MCASD.  And the MCASD has people joining as members now that have probably never breathed their air before. Pedro did La Revolucion right.

The Doctor at work

My Barrio Logan friend Sean Kelley from Set and Drift has a lead on a Kluge letterpress, just like our friends at Grafica Fidalaga use in Brazil. Now we need to secure a space, the heavy equipment movers and…

Cool video of the boys at work: Grafica Fidalga

BARRIO LOGAN DESCUBIERTO is a visual celebration of the working waterfront Hispanic neighborhood in San Diego, called Barrio Logan. The 88 page book is a graphic expose of the visual richness and unique creative energy of the community, featuring details of murals, typography,  sign painters, activists art and general community visual richness.
The book is designed by the team here at MG, led by Lauren English, many who have been active in the promotion and celebration of the community and it’s passionate and active creative members. The book contains a listing our neighborhood discoveries of cool, including artists, restaurants, activists, cafes, place we as designers have discovered and wanted to turn others onto.

While many work so feverishly to be wealthy, then build a fence around the property and never come in contact with the real world, the Barrio stands for the opposite. It’s a place where people share their feelings, their color, and eccentricities. The pathway to riches very much depends on how you define the riches. – RM

Preview the complete book at  http://www.miriellografico.com/mg/barriobook/. The book is available from that link for about $68.  That’s the publishers price, but they do a decent job. (We’ll even customize it with tipped-in found objects from the streets if you want to bring it in.)

Viva mejor.

When Miriello Grafico moved to Barrio Logan in 2007, it was to become a part of an authentic, emerging and vibrant community. And there are no regrets. Quite the opposite. It’s been an electric few years being a part of a community hungry to be better understood and more appreciated for what it is. A visually rich place that makes you kick yourself whenever your out without a camera by your side. A place where you see families actually walking and holding hands.

So when my friend Enrique Limon from Riviera Magazine stopped into MG this week to compare cool Barrio-finds, he one-upped me with his report that there’s now a winery starting-up in the Barrio. Time to give the Barrio Logan Winery and Enrique Limon their due. (We’re heading down to meet Juan and his Nebbiolo.) Here’s Enrique’s scoop:

Hush-Hush Crush
An industrial warehouse just a stone’s throw away from the Navy Exchange complex and surrounded by auto mechanic and upholstery shops, is about the last place you would expect a budding winery to be housed. Just don’t tell that to 62 year-old Juan Díaz; who with a zest for life and a need to help out his community founded Barrio Logan Winery . Located in the back of Díaz day operation -a construction products testing and inspecting center- it’s the up-and-coming hood’s best kept secret. “I wanted to help out local barrio charities, but didn’t have any money to donate, all I had was my wine,” he recalls. “Then a little light when off in my head…it was one of those 2am things.” The result –thanks in part to his Valle de Guadalupe imported Vitis, is a winning sulfite free/organic combination whose sales have already helped organizations like the Urban Corps and the César Chávez Service Club .

His reward? Watching ladies leave kiss imprints in the casks of his not yet open to the public tasting area for good luck, as he sips on a glass of ANP–his trademark Anglicano, Nebbiolo and Petite Sirah blend. “It’s funny–30 years ago they used to kiss me, now they kiss the barrels,” he jokes.

-Enrique Limón

A different version of this appeared in the January issue of RIVIERA magazine. Enrique Limón is a San Diego-based writer and a recipient of the 2009 Academy for Alternative Journalism residential fellowship at Northwestern University.

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Instead of having the circus come to town once a year, what if it was a monthly deal in the backyard of an old house- showing the bizarre instead of the banal? That’s what’s been happening at Bruce Cartier’s Technomania Circus a few blocks from Miriello Grafico, here in Barrio Logan.

Here’s what Cartier says about it, “Technomania Circus is difficult to explain, but easy to enjoy. You never know what you’ll find happening in the Blackyard: blacklight illusion, performance art, dance, puppetry, music, and more. Whatever you find, it’s never ordinary. From our inception in North Park’s Xanth Club in 1999, to a several-year stint in the Bay Area, to the current location at the Center for Amusing Arts in Barrio Logan, we’ve been breaking down the barriers between performer and audience, between culture and crudity, and changing everything you thought you knew about theater in the process. We strive to remain all-inclusive yet retain our edgy and experimental nature.”

I’m making it part of my 2010 entertainment plan. Gotta love the grassroots, underground energy behind it all. And besides I seemed to have outgrown the Barnum’s thing a while back.- RM

Muralists Crol and Werc finish up their latest commission in Barrio Logan.

Take a look at the making and the results at . . . http://www.laentradaproject.com/videos/pared1web.mov

Also check out the La Entrada Project  community arts website to see how the mural tradition is being kept alive and directed to positive outcomes.

The high energy of graffiti artists Crol vs Werc are at it again -painting a huge mural across the street from Miriello Grafico here at The Logan. Not only are they painting a massive piece three stories up, they have also  organized a series of mural painting seminars over the next three months.  Called the La Entrada Project, “A collaborative art project of public art in personal spaces, meant to “actively cultivates the rich arts tradition in Barrio Logan.”

Teaching in the series of mural training are such  long time gurus Mario Torero, Victor Ochoa and people from the Voz Alta Gallery from here in the Barrio. These guys have their heart in the right place and ask little in return. I’m looking forward to all six weekends seminars with these guys learning mural work, silkscreen and . . . – RM

Scheduling a major party on the first day of the stock market’s downturn and the Vice Presidential debates might seem like its own form of social-suicide. Instead, the opening party of The Logan building was exactly what the masses needed. A place to meet, share, commune and understand that we are all in this together. And quite possibly, the innovation and problem-solving skills of the creative community may be more essential to the national dialogue than ever.

Ron Miriello toasted the crowd, “Our shared abilities of creativity and collaboration are fast becoming a new and important currency-type. As the financial markets waver and the myopic drive for individual wealth is paused, there’s an opportunity for the creative mindset and their unique abilities of invention, collaboration and informed risk-taking. The unique abilities of the people in this room are needed at a time like this.”

The celebration brought over 300 designers, architects, politicos, writers, artists and business people together to enjoy an evening in the creative beachhead neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The hosts – Miriello Grafico and LJG Partners – invited friends, clients and community members to a celebration – and celebrate they did. The Barrio restaurant, The Guild, managed the food and Temecula Valley ConVis organized the wines, all offerings from Temecula Valley. The Barrio Logan spokesperson Rachael Ortiz, arts tagger Crol, and the Mariachi Juvenil helped first-time visitors better understand the rich culture and history of the neighborhood. San Diego architects were plentiful, including the designer of The Logan, Jonathan Segal, who created a space where people obviously love to linger, share and invent.

Watch the party video on YouTube created by Jeff Durkin.                                                                        Find incriminating party pictures on Flickr.

The Sanctuary 143 nomadic artist collective opened their Reinventing The Wheel artist installation at Miriello Grafico’s Logan warehouse to over 700 people. “It felt more like New York than San Diego”, “I’ve never seen so many people into an art event in San Diego before”, and “I was blown away to find this level of energy, and in Barrio Logan of all places.”–were some of the comments coming out of the din.

Several artists and bikesmiths, including Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico, contributed to the show pieces, all based loosely on the theme of reinventing- rethinking- the wheel. Velo Cult of South Park San Diego had 100 night-riding bicycle members arrive in mass to swarm the show and further expand the eclectic crowd of artists, designers, politicos, media, kids, dogs and hipsters.

Sanctuary 143 is an artist group, masterfully driven by Sean and Stacy Kelley and Jeff Faeth, with an approach to arts events founded on low egos, true collaboration and hard work. You can see photos of the Reinventing The Wheel event on Flickr.

Learn more about Sanctuary 143 and their next event  at : http://www.sanctuary143.com/category/events/