Hola Indio Cross Border Collaboration

Recently I was invited to participate in a promotional event from Vice Magazine and Heineken to promote Indio beer in the United States. The whole project is pretty amazing and consisted of 8 artists from all over the US linked up with 8 artists from Mexico to create a collaborative painting. (There were also collaborations with American and Mexican musicians creating a collaborative song. These musicians then performed at an event in 5 major cities while our work was displayed in the venue.)

The blank, unstretched canvas was first shipped to the artist in Mexico and, when completed, it was shipped to an artist in the US. I was partnered with Luis Enriquez, aka Smithe. My partner and I exchanged a few emails in order to discuss what we wanted to do. Other than that, I had never met this artist nor had I previously seen his work. It was an interesting process working remotely with someone on a collaboration. I wasn't sure if the painting would work out since we didn't have much contact AND our two styles were so different. I am pretty happy with the result.

In addition to making a collaborative piece, Vice also shot artist profile videos of each artist. I was interviewed in my studio and talked about my work and how I handled the collaboration. We were then filmed at the venue stretching and hanging our artwork. These videos will appear on Indio's Facebook page soon.

What an experience!

The final piece.
"El Abrazo" by Jhina Alvarado and Smithe
I think it worked out well considering our very different styles.

This is what was shipped to me.

Mine and Smithe's painting displayed next to the collaboration piece from SF artist
 Ben Needham and Mexican artist Seher One.