2022
Recorded media on vinyl, CD, and cassette; digital prints; found printed media; mixed media artworks; plastic sleeves; paper; cardstock; display stands; paint; and wood
Dimensions variable
Recuerdos Del Sitio: An Anthology of Bracero Music is a project about the bracero experience told through music that spans the early 1900s to today. The display features real albums as well as handmade and digital reproductions of rare records. A wide spectrum of musical genres is represented, including norteñas, baladas/boleros, corridos, rancheras, banda, cumbias, pop, rock, and contemporary sounds. For more information, please see: https://www.juanluna-avin.com/recuerdos-del-sitio
This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Photo credit: Daris Jasper @culturesaving, courtesy the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
2022
Recorded media on vinyl, CD, and cassette; digital prints; found printed media; mixed media artworks; plastic sleeves; paper; cardstock; display stands; paint; and wood
Dimensions variable
Recuerdos Del Sitio: An Anthology of Bracero Music is a project about the bracero experience told through music that spans the early 1900s to today. The display features real albums as well as handmade and digital reproductions of rare records. A wide spectrum of musical genres is represented, including norteñas, baladas/boleros, corridos, rancheras, banda, cumbias, pop, rock, and contemporary sounds. For more information, please see: https://www.juanluna-avin.com/recuerdos-del-sitio
This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
2022
Recorded media on vinyl, CD, and cassette; digital prints; found printed media; mixed media artworks; plastic sleeves; paper; cardstock; display stands; paint; and wood
Dimensions variable
Recuerdos Del Sitio: An Anthology of Bracero Music is a project about the bracero experience told through music that spans the early 1900s to today. The display features real albums as well as handmade and digital reproductions of rare records. A wide spectrum of musical genres is represented, including norteñas, baladas/boleros, corridos, rancheras, banda, cumbias, pop, rock, and contemporary sounds. For more information, please see: https://www.juanluna-avin.com/recuerdos-del-sitio
This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Photo credit: Ed Gomez, courtesy of the MexiCali Biennial
2018
Soundtrack of Our Lives is a public art project about funeral songs. To participate, community members were invited to write down the name of a song(s) that they want to be played at their funeral and the reason why it is meaningful to them. In doing so, I hope to inspire people to think about songs that give them joy or affirmation, and how they want to be remembered.
It was presented as part of Reimagine SF at the San Francisco Public Library Mission Branch, California College of the Arts, and El Rio in San Francisco.
The project has expanded to Ultimate Song Request, a web project in collaboration with Jenifer Wofford.
2017
Mixed media on paper
19-7/8 x 22-3/4 in.
2017
Digital print on paper
Re-make of Chunks punk compilation album cover from 1981
2014
Acrylic spray paint, block printing ink, and Chine-collé on 100% Cotton pale blue Stonehenge printmaking paper
The inspiration for the piece is handmade post punk 7″ music singles covers from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Syntoma was a band from Mexico City who created electronic music in the early 1980s. Soy de lo peor (I’m the worst) is the title of one of their songs from their only album, No Me Puedo Controlar (I Can’t Control Myself). It was released in 1983 and is my favorite song on the album.
2013
Mixed media wall mural (acrylic paint, aerosol paint, ink, markers, paper, and collage)
Dimensions variable
This mural features Pacific Rim countries that have punk bands. The information is presented in an intentionally chaotic, arbitrary manner. The text is names of bands. The lines (painted, connected with pieces of paper, or spray painted) link to the bands' respective cities of origin.
2013
Gumball machine, plastic toy capsules, and paper
13" width x 45" height x 20" base
The gumball machine dispensed photocopied band flyers and instructions for downloading and constructing a music box set. The zip file had 67 tracks about the Mexico-California border from my own music collection. The emphasis was on unknown artists, cult figures, and emerging projects from California and Mexico. The oldest song, “Imposible,” belongs to Mexican singer/ songwriter Agustin Lara, recorded in 1947. The newest track is titled “Nightwalker” by Tijuana’s Dancing Strangers from January 2013.
This work was included in the 2013 Mexicali Biennial.
2012
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
Interactive vendor stand and installation included wooden construction on wheels, plastic tarps, mixed media drawings, prints, fliers, 557 music CDs in original cases, fired clay, wood, plastic bags, CD stands, plastic dolls, fabric, xeroxes, cardboard, silkscreened cloth, cardstock, paper, electrical and copper wire, leather string, beads, felt, cord, acrylic glue, silicone, latex paint, acrylic paint, spray paint, ink, pencil, ballpoint pen, marker, paper cut-outs, tape, and magnets.
2011
Acrylic, ink, watercolor, marker, pen, pencil, and collage on paper
20 x 20 inches
2012
Graphite on paper
15 x 15 inches
2011
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
From left to right, this installation consists of a timeline painting of the Mexican punk movement, a punk listening station, and a group of ten paintings, drawings, and prints that represent my favorite top 10 Mexican punk songs. Many of these songs have never been singles so I made imaginary album covers for them. The scale of these pieces varies from a 5 x 5 in. collage drawing to a 38.5 x 38.5 in. mixed media on canvas painting.
2011
Oil, acrylic, latex paint, ink, pencil, pen, marker, whiteout, and collage on paper
93-1/2 x 50-1/2 inches
CMPEM—MNSOADO/VNETLQSPSTLQE (NSEO10), the name of this timeline piece, is an abbreviation of its Spanish title, “Corriente Musical Punk en Mexico - 1978 a 2011/Version No Estan Todos Los Que Son, Pero Son Todos Los Que Estan (NSEO 10)." The English translation is "Timeline of the Punk Music Trend in Mexico - 1978 to 2011/Not All of Them Are Here, But These Are All That Are Here Version (NSEO 10).” The timeline includes over 130 punk bands from various cities in Mexico. It also incorporates facts like names of venues and locations where the bands performed, quotes from musicians, and seminal events.
2011
Mixed media music box sets featuring underground Latin American bands, edition of 5
Shadowshop commission, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2012
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
2011
Epson inkjet print on paper, edition of two (2/2)
13-5/8 x 13-5/8 in.
2010
Digital print on paper
2009
Graphite, ink, color markers, watercolor, and collage on paper
12-1/4 x 12-1/4 in.
Fictitious album cover
2009
Photocopied paper and tape
Dimensions variable
This wall text piece is the Spanish translation of the song “All Together Now” from Sesame Street.
2009
Epson inkjet print on canvas
43 x 37 in.
2009
Digital print on canvas with charcoal
2007
Mixed media wall drawing with listening station
Dimensions variable
2007
Mixed media drawings/album covers
Dimensions variable
2007
Installation with wall drawing and mixed media sculpture
Dimensions variable
2006
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
This vendor stand sold Spanish language self-made bootleg CDs and videos.
2006
Mixed media installation
Dimensions variable
This vendor stand sold Spanish language self-made bootleg CDs and videos.
2006
Video created for Underplayed: A Mix-Tape of Music-Based Videos exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
2006
Video created for Underplayed: A Mix-Tape of Music-Based Videos exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
2005
Toner on paper
Posters created for exterior of Queen’s Nails Annex Gallery, SF, during Queremos Rock exhibition
2005
Installation with records, CDs, buttons, found and hand-drawn flyers and other printed media, drawings, television monitor, VCR, plastic tarps, wire, wood pins, toys, and wood
Dimensions variable
This social practice project mimicked a typical “portable” record store that can be found in any major street market in Mexico City. The vendor stand pays homage to influential, yet under-recognized Spanish-language bands from throughout rock n’ roll history. The interactive installation promoted cultural exchange, while offering actual goods for sale, including 30 designs of limited edition buttons and 17 different mix CDs that I compiled and bootlegged from my own music collection. I also created fictitious album cover art by scanning my own drawings, digitally altering the colors, and turning them into specific formats like 7″ singles, LPs, and CDs. I then put the 7″ singles and LPs in plastic sleeves to make the “record albums” look authentic.
2005
Installation with records, CDs, buttons, found and hand-drawn flyers and other printed media, drawings, television monitor, VCR, plastic tarps, wire, wood pins, toys, and wood
Dimensions variable
This social practice project mimicked a typical “portable” record store that can be found in any major street market in Mexico City. The vendor stand pays homage to influential, yet under-recognized Spanish-language bands from throughout rock n’ roll history. The interactive installation promoted cultural exchange, while offering actual goods for sale, including 30 designs of limited edition buttons and 17 different mix CDs that I compiled and bootlegged from my own music collection. I also created fictitious album cover art by scanning my own drawings, digitally altering the colors, and turning them into specific formats like 7″ singles, LPs, and CDs. I then put the 7″ singles and LPs in plastic sleeves to make the “record albums” look authentic.
2005
Installation with records, CDs, buttons, found and hand-drawn flyers and other printed media, drawings, television monitor, VCR, plastic tarps, wire, wood pins, toys, and wood
Dimensions variable
This social practice project mimicked a typical “portable” record store that can be found in any major street market in Mexico City. The vendor stand pays homage to influential, yet under-recognized Spanish-language bands from throughout rock n’ roll history. The interactive installation promoted cultural exchange, while offering actual goods for sale, including 30 designs of limited edition buttons and 17 different mix CDs that I compiled and bootlegged from my own music collection. I also created fictitious album cover art by scanning my own drawings, digitally altering the colors, and turning them into specific formats like 7″ singles, LPs, and CDs. I then put the 7″ singles and LPs in plastic sleeves to make the “record albums” look authentic.
2007
Digital print
Fictitious album cover
2005
Cover of compilation CD with punk and cumbia bands
Color xerox on paper
2007
Digital print
Fictitious album cover
2006
Digital print
Fictitious album cover