Thursday Evening on the Lower East Side: Fiesta de Locos art show at the Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center

This evening the B24 bus to Marcy Avenue and the J train across the bridge to the Lower East Side took us to the amazing Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center

for the opening of the very cool Fiesta de Locos,

a wildly colorful display of animated styles of Latin-inspired artwork from LA, New York, San Francisco, and Puerto Rico.

The show's artists - Rimx,

Sofia Maldonado,

Cern,

Miguel Bounce Perez, and

Erin Yoshi -

represent roots in Latin America and have traveled extensively and contributed to mural art production in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cuba. As the publicity stuff said, "Through intertwining graffiti aesthetics with Latino cultural symbolism and typology, narrative story telling, and hands on community workshops, the artists create vibrant visual representations of the dynamic cultural tapestry of Latin America, while reclaiming art space for public discourse."

The artists’ collaborative works were displayed in the downstairs gallery of the Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center,


with their individual artworks in the second floor Abrazo gallery.


Mikey 1Soul,

aka Conscious Hustler, of 1Soul Designs, was on hand screen-printing limited edition Fiesta Del Locos shirts, bags, and prints, custom made to order.

The DJs were Leydis, Trixter, Beto, SeanG and Cool Ray WesT.

We were really impressed with the artists' individual works, like Sofia Maldonado's "Paper doll 1" and Paper doll 2,"


Miguel Bounce Perez's spray enamel on bond paper "Broken Heart" and "Man with Hat & Ice Cream Cone Chin,"

"Skull with Diamond Head" and "Hassan with Beer & Cigarette,"

Cern's spray canvas "Mating Call," acrylic on canvas "Por Ayiti" (proceeds for its sale will be donated to Haiti earthquake relief), and spray canvas "Loving Universe,"

and his birds, as well as

Rimx's muy loco, tremendo loco works


and Yoshi's haunting acrylics and spray (and clay) works like "El Elephant" and "Sunshine"



It's a really great show you should get over to the Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center to see before it closes on May 14.