Gerardo Yepiz

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Gerardo Yepiz launched the first Mexican Mail Art website in 1995, His downloadable stencils revolutionized how a generation of young artists, from Mexico City to Tijuana, used street installation and graffiti as a critical forum. Known as Acamonchi, a slang term for piggyback riding in northern Mexico, Yepiz adopted the strategies of street art as the starting point for his fine art while also distinguishing himself as a graphic designer working with clients on both sides of the border including the Nortec Collective, MTV, Reebok, Vans, Adidas, Pepsi, Warner records, Tribal Gear and Obey Giant. Like his moniker, which, he explains "doesn't really mean anything, it's just a dumb, silly sounding word," he uses humor to create graphic works of art that probe serious political and cultural issues. As he describes it, "poster illustrations or stickers are common resources of visual communication; in the hands of Acamonchi, and in combination with graffiti tactics, they become veritable terrorist instruments, and the activity becomes a kind of cultural sabotage."

Acamonchi began his career in the mid-1980s as part of a cross-cultural underground scene in southern California and northern Mexico that was heavily influenced by fanzines and the skateboard-punk countercultures. Music developed his political awareness, and the history of [Fluxus] inspired his passion for [Mail Art]. His early work focused on images of the Mexican television host Raul Velasco and assassinated presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. According to Acamonchi, Velasco represents the mindless entertainment provided by the Mexican media. He describes Colosio-shot on live television in 1994, during a campaign rally in Tijuana -as the Mexican equivalent to John F. Kennedy. Colosio's face is a poignant reminder of political corruption and Tijuana's notorious outlaw reputation. Acamonchi makes his point, however, with ridiculous images of Colosio n a cosmonaut helmet, Colosio crossed with Colonel Sanders, and a "Blaxploitation" Colosio just to name a few.

Recently, Acamonchi has focused his attention on painting. His densely layered panels and murals integrate his signature street graphics -posters, stencils, and graffiti -into abstract fields of color. In this new work, Acamonchi experiments with painterly techniques using aerosol paint, ink pens, and more traditional pigments, Although his explorations are clearly inspired by street art, his distinctive visual statements are something new. "Post-graffiti Art," as this kind of art was called when graffiti artists first began to show in galleries in the 1980s, does not encompass Acamonchi's strong affiliation with street art radicalism, and articulate his serious painterly intent. Once again, Acamonchi is inspiring his colleagues as he explores new forms of expression.