La Aveja Verde

  La Aveja Verde Contra El Pescado Grande, ink on paper, 2006.

La Aveja Verde Contra El Pescado Grande (detail)

My wife Viviana and I moved to Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 2005 from Fort Worth, Texas, where I had recently completed my Masters in Fine Arts.  A friend of Vivi's worked as an Residential Assistant in the Pratt Institute dorms and let us stay in a room that was being used for storage.  We thought we'd stay a few days, but instead our fist MONTH in New York was spent squatting in a Pratt dormitory while we looked for an apartment to rent.  We had an inflatable mattress, two suit cases and a laptop; the rest of our belongings were in storage in Texas.  

Legitimately staying in the dorms was a group of high schoolers attending an art camp.  Because of the high level of campus security, Vivi and I had to disguise ourselves as high school students in order to get in and out of the place we were crashing.  This for me was extremely easy given my level of maturity and lack of facial hair.  After about three weeks, however, a certain security guard caught onto the fact that we didn't belong on campus. We were almost kicked out onto the street, and would have been if not for the advocacy of Vivi's friend.

We knew nobody, had no family or friends in the area, spent our days searching Craigslist looking for a place to live, running around with real estate brokers, and were running out of time and options.  We began to ask ourselves whether moving to Brooklyn was a wise decision.  So what does this have to do with a luchadore rinding a fish?  Well, to tell the truth, a whole freakin' lot.  This was our first experience together as a family in the Big City, and it only got rougher.  I felt that we were wrestling against something in almost every aspect of our lives.  

As a result of this constant struggle, a character formed who literally wrestled with ideas as I worked out my experiences through painting.  His name was La Aveja Verde, in English, The Green Bee.  He is very insufficiant but tries hard and usually loses to whatever opponent he faces.  He was a way for me to cope with life.  Even making paintings was a struggle for me at this time.  I only ever made three painting with La Aveja Verde. I hope one day to bring him back into the work and, perhaps, to live again in Brooklyn.