Ale Bara - News and fun stuff

MUNNY GOES MY WAY

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Vinyl toys have created a revolution, I became part of this revolution a few years ago while living in New York City. These toys are grown up toys, collector items that have been very popular in Asian Countries but it wasn't until KID ROBOT started making their own collections in the USA that the revolution in the western world started. Vinyl Toys are in brief, designer toys, they are beautifully shaped and transformed to reflect each artist's style and point of view. What can I say, I'm a fan of these tiny toys and have started my own collection now.... A few years ago, my roommate Cindy got me a Munny, a do it yourself vinyl toy by Kid Robot, it's like a blank canvas that you can customize and give your own style and it wasn't until two days ago that I finally got the courage to mess with it and give it my style so here's the result!

NEW COLLECTION ¨MUSICAL FACES¨

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:28:00 +0000

I am really enjoying my time in Guatemala, new projects are popping and I'm keeping pretty busy... Some months ago I was invited to participate in the PlayList Exhibition, organized by Revista Capiusa to launch the "VI Festival of Graphic Design Capiusa". The coolest thing is that the exhibitions will show the work of the four winners of the last contests, including me, so we are four Guatemalan chicks showing 10 pieces each. Each piece represents one of our favorite songs and will be shown in 10" x 10" formats... See preview below! I'll be posting photos of the whole collection after the opening!

If you are in Guatemala don't miss the opening, it will be fun!
Place: Galeria Casa Roja
Where: 3era Avenida 6-51 zona 1 (Frente a libreria Fatima), Guatemala.
When: Saturday April 28
Time: from 6pm

MURAL :: DE MI BARRIO A TU BARRIO

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Back in March I took a trip to Costa Rica to check out all the art and design festivals and one day I stumbled upon the crew from "De mi barrio a tu barrio" project. This project, sponsored by the Goethe institute from Germany aims to support street art in Latin America and together with German Painter Jim Avignon is touring some countries and painting murals with local artists... So I met Jim and Ben in Costa Rica and showed them my portfolio...they loved it and invited me to be part of the project in Guatemala so I returned a bit earlier from my trip in Costa Rica to be part of this amazing project... So along with 12 other artists from Guatemala we started to paint a 150mt long wall in the Historic center of Guatemala from March 18 to March 20...three full days of hard core painting and we finished!!!

Guate + Arte = paz (543), the aim of my mural is to encourage people to express themselves through art and to make street art part of their life instead of seeing it as a bad thing related to gangs. We all need some art in our lives and if we learn to appreciate it and embrace it, changes will happen in our community, good changes, changes of peace. Mas fotos aquí.

DESIGNERS AT FID 2012 IN COSTA RICA

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:29:00 +0000

One of the things in my "To do" list of this year is to sketch more so while listening to a lot of creative people at the international Design fair in Costa Rica I started sketching the speakers and here are the sketches... Enjoy!

HAND PAINTED BAGS

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:45:00 +0000

I am working on a new project with a new brand of soaps and for Valentine´s day they will be giving 12 gift bags hand painted by me!

Markers over canva.

ACRYLICS VRS DIGITAL ::FAMILY::

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:19:00 +0000

This year I don't know why but I lost the taste for digital artwork, I'm still going to do my commercial illustrations digitally but for my artwork I refuse to do any more digital pieces. Call me nostalgic about painting by hand but there is something beautiful about how a painting looks that I just can't find in digital prints. Every stroke of your brush has a story, every mistake, every fix up, every color and every line. I still like digital illustrations but as the concept goes, illustrations are just not the same as fine art and this is why this year I'll explore my painting side a bit more. These are some paintings I did a while ago for my family. Acrylics over wood.

HAPPY NEWS FOR 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:18:00 +0000

Happy new year everybody!!! last year was a bit slow, other priorities in my life made illustrating a bit difficult but I have a hunch this year will be different and my focus will return to me drawing more. Anyways, I left Kenya at the end of June but before leaving I finished a couple of zines (little comic books) about life in Kenya which some of you have already seen. I wanted to make a little bit of money before departing so I started selling them with people I knew. Everybody liked them, specially other volunteers who felt the same way. At my goodbye party, John (a fellow volunteer) and I were talking about how cool it would be to sell lots of comics and give to proceeds to organizations in need. At the end of the night we both though it was a great idea, I did a few modifications to the zines and left the project in the hands of John.

So the comics are now being sold mostly in Mombasa and Nairobi. So far $1,000 has been raised, $250 were given to Hope Orphan Pre-School in Mishomoroni, Mombasa and $500 to Tujiendeleze Youth Trust Fund whom were able to do a lot of important repairs to the building and Tujiendeleze have just selected 4 more students in Nairobi and 5 in Mombasa, to which this money has contributed.

This were great news to hear and a great start for 2012.

Thanks John and all the other volunteers for this!!!

FAN NO.200 "EL CHEDAVI"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:50:00 +0000

So as promised here's the little illustration I did for my fb fan no.200 "El Chedavi"... just a little remainder for me to keep aiming high following my dreams.

Do you want a drawing also? send me a quote made up by you and I'll choose the quote that I like best, if your quote gets chosen I'll be making you into a monster and make a postcard just like this. Put your quote on my fb wall.

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA "GASTRONOMIA"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:04:00 +0000

The new edition of Catalogo Para la vida is out with their new issue about Gastronomy... One more time they game me the space to design the back cover and this time I did something kind of quirky with the saying "Barriga llena corazon contento" which in english would translate to full tummy, happy heart.

As always this magazine has very interesting articles including a couple from El Chiltepe so don't miss it, read it online or order one copy.

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE!

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:06:00 +0000

Hey Everybody, long time no see... I'm backpacking around South East Asia right now and most of my drawings are sketches, nothing finished or polished so haven't posted in a while, if you still want updates on my travels and what I'm drawing in each place then follow my fb page, hit like if you want to follow and invite all your friends to join...

I'll be drawing something for every 100 fans, so if you are the no.200 you're next!

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA "METROPOLI"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:10:00 +0000

The new issue of Catalogo para la Vida is "Metropoli". I am not really fond of cities even though I have lived in cities my whole life... there's something about concrete, crowded places and lack of nature that makes me anxious, so I had to represent my perception of cities somehow...and that of course is lots of people and then I remembered my time in New York, everybody rushing to work waiting to cross the streets so here goes the back cover of the magazine!

Enjoy!

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA "MUSIC"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:14:00 +0000

Once again Catalogo para la vida magazine hits the streets, the printed versions are amazing and the content is even better. Now I'll be in charge of the back covers and for music I finished an old sketch i had lying around... I like this illustration because I sketched it in central park, listening to Jazz from some street musicians, really good ones by the way... I skipped work and just walked around the park until I saw this band, oh, old times!

Now go and check the whole magazine and have a good read!

EXHIBITION "V FESTIVAL DE DISEÑO CAPIUSA"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Living in Kenya as a volunteer has limited my internet connectivity and I can't submit as many illustrations as I did before. This was not a good year for exhibitions but I try to submit whenever I can and I couldn't miss participating in Capiusa festival once again. This is my third year participating and I'm always encouraging people to participate so had to do it myself also. This year the exhibition took place in Galería (Ex)Céntrico 7ma Avenida. 12-32 zona 1, Guatemala City, Guatemala. The subject was "happiness" and having my feet on the grass looking at the blue sky makes me happy so here's my piece...

For the ones in Guatemala, the exhibition is still on and there will be music and other fun stuff this weekend so don't miss it, enjoy and take lots of photos for me!

NEW COLLECTION "TRACES FROM KENYA"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:35:00 +0000

Have had a bit of time here in Kenya to catch up on some hand painting. My new collection is called "Traces from Kenya" a collection of faces and feet inspired by the people that surrounds my daily routine nowadays. So far I've finished 18 small 4"x4" faces and one 12"x 18" piece on feet. The pieces finished are currently on display and on sale at Likolulu Showroom, Ratna Square Shopping Center in Nyali, Mombasa.

If you are in Mombasa stop by the showroom any time and if you like my pieces then get one...

Thanks to Likolulu for wanting to display my pieces in their showroom!
Open from Mon - Fri 9:00am to 5:00pm

4"x4" 1.800Ksh each
12"x16" 10,000

COMICS FROM KENYA

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:07:00 +0000

Every place, every person, every situation has great potential for a comic strip and Kenya is not the exception. I have been in Kenya now for almost 9 months and inspiration has come in the form of comic strips this time. Every day becomes a new frame in my sketchbook. So far I have finished two little zines (hand made comic books), one about matatus (public transport) that most of you have seen already and the new one is about peculiar things about Kenyan lifestyle seen from a foreigners perspective...

Open publication - Free publishing - More transport

Open publication - Free publishing - More cartoons

CATCHING UP FROM LAST YEAR "STARVING ARTISTS PROJECT"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:03:00 +0000

I was checking out my last year exhibitions and remember I hadn't showed you the piece I made for "The Starving Artist Project" hosted by Art-House Co-op in Brooklyn Library Gallery.

Very simple, just kind of a self portrait, me drawing myselft + China in the background. Love red so red background, white characters and dark purple for the outlines which looks black but up close is purple... All acrylics over wood, done last year in May, exhibition was June 2010... What an oldie!

I'm currently working on a Kenyan collection, will post what I've done so far another day...don't go far 'cause more stuff is coming!

POST MORTEM

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:34:00 +0000

It has been a while since I posted new things here. Life has taken me through a different road and I have lost my way a bit and haven't drawn as much as I used to. I have spent 7 months looking for inspiration in a new country where art is almost nonexistent and people all look the same to me so been struggling with the sketchbook until Muxxi invited me to be part of this Post Mortem project. A collaboration between Muxxi, Reggalado, Andre Gribble, Zapato Verde and me. All Guatemalan illustrators. So here's my collaboration and below you'll see the finished piece, joined and merged by Muxxi.

I was a bit distracted during that time so had to re-do my part a couple of times but finally I got it kind of right. From left to right, me, Zapato, Reggalado, Andre and Muxxi. Girls first and boys in the middle!

Click to make bigger!

Thanks Muxxi for the invite and for all the patience.

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA MAGAZINE - PAPER ISSUE

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 09:33:00 +0000

Good news! Catalogo para la vida has now started their printed versions starting with their paper issue which is amazing news to hear. Congrats to the whole team and thanks again for letting me illustrate every time...

The printed issues look really cool and you can't miss the opportunity to have one so go on to their site, take a look at what's inside and order one for your library and stay tuned for the next issue.

UPDATE - EXHIBITING IN TIJUANA, MEXICO

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:41:00 +0000

Thanks to Enrique Chiu and his organization (NFIA) my work has been able to be displayed in a couple of exhibitions in Mexico. This time a couple of my posters will be part of "Arte Casa Galeria" an exhibition in Tijuana, Mexico. So if you are around the are go check it out.

The opening will be this Friday Sept 24.
Pasaje Rio Rita, Zona Centro, Tijuana.
Time: 7pm

Thank you Enrique for all your support and for your continued efforts in supporting Latin artists.

And in other news related to my posters, I just opened a store with Chinitas where you'll be able to buy posters and postcards with both our work... so far we only have a few posters but feel free to snoop around anyway and if you like something then buy it!! We'll put photos and more illustrations soon so stay tuned for more updates and visit our store here.

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA MAGAZINE - FAMILY ISSUE

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:22:00 +0000

It has been a while since my last post and I hope I can keep writing since unlimited internet is not so accessible here in Kenya and I have to pay for every mb downloaded or uploaded... too much money for a volunteer but hey, I got myself into this and will definitely find a way to keep doing what I love to do which is illustration so not to worry... stay close 'cause more goofy drawings are coming...

so this is my latest collaboration with Catalogo para la vida magazine from Guatemala, issue "Family".

CATALOGO PARA LA VIDA MAGAZINE - BODY AND MIND ISSUE

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:49:00 +0000

Finally!!! Catalogo para la vida is a Guatemalan magazine i've been illustrating for and it has been a long time since the last issue... but the staff is back together and with more energy to start over and give us great issues again.

This was my collaboration for their "Body and Mind" issue. Check out the whole issue and enjoy a good read.

27 PM EXHIBITION OPENING

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:22:00 +0000

This year I have been selected to participate in some really awesome exhibitions and this one in El Salvador isn't left behind. I left Guatemala City at 6:30 am and arrived at about 11am... my mom and siblings came along for a 3 day road trip that was lots of fun. It has been a while since I have been in this country, more than ten years actually and I loved it. The city is small and still has a lot of green areas and fresh air.

The opening started at 7pm, when I arrived it was already crowded, everybody seemed pleased about the outcome and I joined the crowd and snooped around. There were about 50 ilustrators participating from El Salvador, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and of course Guatemala.

I finally found my piece, so happy with how they printed it and how they organized everything. For sure would be happy to exhibit with 27pm again. oh, the one to the right is my mom! always supporting, love you mom...

Among the crowd I also found Rodolfo Velado, a well known Salvadorian illustrator I knew only by e-mail... so much fun to put a face to an @. Thanks Rodolfo for the invitation and congrats to you guys for such a nice exhibition. And last are my siblings who also came along for the ride... thanks!!!

Stay tuned for my next exhibition in Brooklyn, NY opening this Friday June 25...

MAIL ME ART 2 EXHIBITION

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:44:00 +0000

Last year I participated in Mail Me Art 1 and was selected among 600 participants to appear in the book "Mail Me Art: Going Postal with the World’s Best Illustrators and Designers". As you all know I'm really nosy and love to participate in everything I can so I submitted something again for Mail Me Art 2. You can see it in the gallery, being the forth one from top to right.

The exhibition will be from Friday July 30th – Thursday August 5th 2010. Opening reception Friday July 30th 6-11pm

Location:
Red Gate Gallery
209a Coldharbour Lane
London SW9 8RU
United Kingdom
www.redgategallerylondon.co.uk

I won't be able to make it to London this year but if you are around feel free to check it out, take pics and send me some.

1ST PLACE "IV FESTIVAL DE DISEÑO GRAFICO - CAPIUSA"

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Yei!... got 1st place in the festival... got a little bit late because I really didn't expect anything and I learned once again that it is when you just don't expect a thing when you win something so I'm glad I participated once again. Thanks to everybody that made it and said hi in the party!!!

This is the metal plaque that Capiusa gave me.

You can read more about the ceremony and night in the blog "Echate un Click". Thanks for the mention!

You can also check out the article written in The Little Chimp Society from London.

IV FESTIVAL DE DISEÑO GRAFICO - CAPIUSA EXHIBITION

noreply@blogger.com (Bara) — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:52:00 +0000

In case you missed the opening then here is a bit of what you didn't see. Only 40 were selected being my illustration one of them. I couldn't make it to the opening either but made it yesterday with some friends and family, we had a nice cup of tea and enjoyed the exhibition.

The theme? Utopia, and what does that mean for me? well, kind of a peacefull world where humans and animals can live along... Utopia is that happy world, like seeing a rainbow, it's just flabbergasting!

Tomorrow saturday June 5 will the the closing party so if you are in Guatemala don't hesitate to come. Bar Central (7ma av 12-32 z.1)8:00pm, see ya there!!!