Back Issues
Feature: Self Help Graphics
Alissa Walker
For 20 years, LA=E2=80=99s Self Help Graphics & Art has provided = a creative=20 outlet for the city=E2=80=99s Latino community. But now its future is = under=20 threat...
![3D"test](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/images/mex_9_0.jpg")
Self Help Graphics & Art, the landmark Chicano art centre in = east Los=20 Angeles
It's easily recognisable, decorated as it is with hundreds of pieces = of=20 glass, tiles and crockery and next door to a taco shop
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_2_0_73_49.jpg")
Self Help Graphics & Art, the =
landmark=20
Chicano art centre in east Los Angeles, is easily recognisable as it is=20
decorated with hundreds of pieces of glass, tiles and crockery and next =
door to=20
a taco shop
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_7_0_73_49.jpg")
The community arts centre is home to =
printing=20
workshops and art projects, work from which is regularly incorporated =
into the=20
neighbourhood=E2=80=99s annual Day of the Dead=20
celebrations
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_4_0_73_49.jpg")
A selection of original print work =
made at Self=20
Help
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_6_0_73_49.jpg")
Guantanamo Bay printby =
2cent=20
(Chora Prints). See chora.info.
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_1_1_73_49.jpg")
Death to the Eagle / Here Comes the=20
Sunby Noni Olabisi (Chora Prints)
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_10_0_73_49.jpg")
A sculpture by Leo Lim=C3=B3n from =
the Day of the=20
Dead celebrations, on display at Self Help Graphics=20
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_5_0_73_49.jpg")
Si Se Puede printby =
Ruben Esparza=20
(Chora Prints)
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_3_0_73_49.jpg")
Screenprint from Self Help =
Graphics=E2=80=99 archive of=20
work produced at the centre over the past 20=20
years
![3D""=20](3D"http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cache/images/mex_8_0_73_49.jpg")
Arbal de la Vidaby =
Marisol=20
Torres
Four miles east of downtown Los Angeles is a real neighbourhood, = something=20 that=E2=80=99s not so easy to come across in this yawning sprawl of a = city. Telenovelas=20 blast out of storefronts as women ferry babies and folded laundry back = to pastel=20 stucco houses stacked three deep in a lot. Taco trucks serve the blocks = as=20 faithfully as mailmen, the smell of frying onions lingering in their = wake.=20 There=E2=80=99s a barber shop on every block, their perimeters = actually striped in=20 red and blue. Every single sign is handpainted.
On a corner of a street named after the farm labour activist Cesar E = Chavez,=20 the already overwhelming sensory experience begins to heighten. The = lettering on the signs reaches museum-quality and is quickly = complemented by=20 murals, like the stunner on the side of Brooklyn Hardware: A dazzling = Aztec=20 eagle, inverted, with =E2=80=98Brown unity!=E2=80=99 splayed beneath its = beak. Opposite, a=20 single building takes up most of the city block, unremarkable = except for=20 its one defining feature: it is wrapped in chicken wire, frosted in = cement and=20 layered with smashed glass, glazed tiles, dinner plates, flower pots, = coffee=20 cups with handles still attached and the head of a ceramic goose. It is = quite=20 obviously a landmark; built from fragments of the community, applied = carefully=20 by hand. One small sign identifies it as Self Help Graphics in rather = retro=20 drop-shadow type (& Art was added, sans shadow, later). But high = atop the=20 building is another, newer sign that people pay more attention to these = days. A=20 realty sign that reads: =E2=80=98Available=E2=80=99.
Inside, artist Roberto Guti=C3=A9rrez, known for his vibrant imagery = of the=20 barrio, has captured Self Help Graphics in a painting, its mosaic = exteriors a=20 pattern of dots that dribbles down into the street, colouring the entire = neighbourhood in the building=E2=80=99s rainbow pointillism. = =E2=80=9CAll roads lead through=20 Self Help,=E2=80=9D he says as he uses a blue Sharpie to autograph = a print.=20 Guti=C3=A9rrez learned etching and woodblock printing at Self Help = starting when=20 he was 15 years old; in turn, his art career was launched after he was = featured=20 in a few Self Help shows. Today, at the centre=E2=80=99s annual holiday = craft fair, his=20 prints are being sold to bolster the very organisation that trained him. = As=20 Guti=C3=A9rrez signs his prints, every person who walks into his corner = of the fair=20 is an old collaborator, a neighbour, a friend. A former city councilman = wanders=20 over, hugs Guti=C3=A9rrez, admires his painting and looks at a lucite = box asking for=20 donations. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s too bad they can=E2=80=99t reconcile = with the Archdiocese,=E2=80=9D he laments.=20 =E2=80=9CIt just doesn=E2=80=99t make sense.=E2=80=9D
In 1970 Franciscan nun Karen Boccalero began printmaking with several = Mexican=20 and Chicano artists in an East Los Angeles garage. =E2=80=9CSister Karen = had the idea=20 that Latino artists didn=E2=80=99t have a venue,=E2=80=9D says = Guti=C3=A9rrez. After holding a few=20 shows they moved into a small location down the street, and in 1979, = they moved=20 to their current location, a building owned by the Archdiocese of Los = Angeles,=20 who negotiated a rent of $1 a year. =E2=80=9CWe didn=E2=80=99t just get = free rent,=E2=80=9D cautions=20 Armando Duron, a former president of the board of directors. =E2=80=9CWe = got it because=20 it was empty and it was better to have us here.=E2=80=9D The = neighbourhood was gamier=20 back then, and Self Help provided a sort of gang-diversion programme for = kids,=20 giving them a place to go after school. But earlier this year, the = Archdiocese=20 sold the building out from under them to a private developer who stars = on a=20 reality show named Flip This House.
Poking through the flat files of the archives is like getting a = private tour=20 of the Chicano and Latino art movements. Some critics would say this is = where=20 the visibility of that movement began, a movement that has now been = exhibited=20 all over the world, collected in museums and coveted by collectors. It = begins=20 with Los Four, the collective of local artists (Frank Romero, Carlos = Almaraz,=20 Gilbert Luj=C3=A1n, Roberto de la Rocha and, later, Judithe = Hern=C3=A1ndez) who are widely=20 credited with creating the Chicano visual vocabulary during the 1970s: = Mexican=20 and Aztec imagery, blended with the street art of the neighbourhood. = Today it=E2=80=99s=20 artists like Shiza Saldamando, Vincent Valdez, Germ: a raucous remix of = Cholo,=20 punk and graffiti. =E2=80=9CThey nod to tradition,=E2=80=9D says Duron, = holding up an image by=20 Germ, who has rendered the Virgin de la Guadalupe as a fluorescent,=20 anime-reminiscent squid. =E2=80=9CThey come up with imagery that the = Catholic Church=20 might not agree with,=E2=80=9D he laughs. =E2=80=9CBut we give them the = freedom to do what they=20 want.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CSelf Help Graphics is a vital example of the=E2=80=84kinds = of initiatives that seem=20 to define, explain and exemplify what=E2=80=99s distinct about = Californian graphic=20 design,=E2=80=9D says Louise Sandhaus, a professor at California = Institute of the Arts=20 and editor of the forthcoming Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires and Riots:=20 California and Graphic Design. =E2=80=9CWhat sets us apart from other = places is that=20 California represents a convergence of social consciousness with liberty = from=20 tradition and convention. This sense of freedom and possibility = confronted with=20 a need for social change is what Self Help represents in the same = lineage as the=20 work from Sister Corita Kent and Immaculate Heart College, Sheila de = Bretteville=20 and the Women=E2=80=99s Graphic Center, and now Carol Wells=E2=80=99 = Center for the Study of=20 Political Graphics. Interestingly, all started by women.=E2=80=9D
Sister Karen died in 1997 but her vision of art as activism has been = honoured=20 in historic proportions. Hundreds of artists and students from all over = the=20 world interact with the centre every month. Self Help produces = 40=E2=80=9350 curated=20 group editions a year, called ateliers. Artists can pay a small monthly = set-up=20 fee to work in some media, like etching; more sophisticated serigraph = studios=20 are invite-only, but demand is so high, there=E2=80=99s a long waiting = list. Last=20 November marked the centre=E2=80=99s 35th annual Day of the Dead = celebration, when a=20 print fair, altar-making, food and music attracted over 4000 people. = =E2=80=9CThey don=E2=80=99t=20 have those crowds at moca,=E2=80=9D Duron says, knocking the = city=E2=80=99s major=20 contemporary art museum.
=E2=80=9CSo, you want to see my dungeon?=E2=80=9D laughs Jose = Alpuche, with a smile that=E2=80=99s=20 missing more than a few teeth. Self Help=E2=80=99s master printer = =E2=80=93 who everyone=20 just calls =E2=80=98Joe=E2=80=99=E2=80=93 removes a paint-spattered = apron to reveal a paint-spattered=20 T-shirt. =E2=80=9CI go into the bars and they think I=E2=80=99m a = transvestite,=E2=80=9D he says,=20 pointing to the dabs that inevitably make it onto his face. = =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s my=20 eye-shadow.=E2=80=9D
In the basement print room, where his son, Ivan, the assistant master = printer, sprays off screens in the corner, every surface is covered in = Mexican=20 tchotchkes, vinyl toys, candles, and a thick layer of paint. By way of a = tour,=20 Alpuche points out a few highlights in the main room: opening the door = to the=20 room where the screens are burned, weaving around tables stacked high = with paper=20 and huge drying racks showing works-in-progress. A photo of a Spanish = prince=20 during his visit to the studio is framed alongside Alpuche=E2=80=99s = rare stamps.
Through a door marked Cholo Lounge, Alpuche=E2=80=99s office looks = like a college=20 dorm room. There is an enormous entertainment centre taking up one wall = of the=20 room; the other three walls are decorated like a comic book convention. = He sits=20 on a couch under a line-up of Kiss action figures still in the packages, = an=20 acetate drawing of Barney from The Simpsons, and a photo of himself = taken at a=20 1978 Rolling Stones concert.
Alpuche is 100% self-taught, from his English =E2=80=93 which is = exceptionally good =E2=80=93=20 to his printmaking. In 1976 he moved from Mexico City to LA and took an = entry=20 level job at a printmaking studio, where he worked his way up, learning=20 everything from embossing to framing. In 1983, he pulled two print = editions for=20 Salvator Dali. =E2=80=9CI didn=E2=80=99t know much about art = history,=E2=80=9D he says. =E2=80=9CBut I learned=20 to troubleshoot problems as I went.=E2=80=9D
He came to Self Help in 1991, just in time to pry a new generation of = artists=20 away from Photoshop. =E2=80=9CI say, =E2=80=98we can try it your way, = but you also have to do it=20 my way. And my way will be better=E2=80=99,=E2=80=9D he laughs. = Alpuche=E2=80=99s way is by hand. Which=20 means he can look at an inkjet printout, break the colours down into the = right=20 cmyk values in his head, and instruct the artists how to inscribe them = onto=20 separate layers of acetate to burn screens from. =E2=80=9CThis way = it=E2=80=99s almost perfect,=20 but it has life, it breathes,=E2=80=9D he says. Artists flock here just = to make the=20 legendary monoserigraphs, a technique blending the monoprint and = serigraph=20 that=E2=80=99s all but patented by Alpuche.
Artists have changed the tack of their careers by printing with him, = but=20 Alpuche has also altered the lives of kids who wandered in one day after = school,=20 learned etching, and stuck around for a decade. He makes no = differentiation=20 between them. =E2=80=9CYou=E2=80=99ll get the best work out of them if = you give them a mentor=20 and treat them like they=E2=80=99re an artist,=E2=80=9D he says. = =E2=80=9CYou have to take them=20 seriously to keep them off the street.=E2=80=9D It makes perfect sense = to redirect their=20 anger into Chicano art, which he says is, by definition, well, angry. = =E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99re=20 activists, and art is such a wonderful medium,=E2=80=9D he says, ticking = off a list of=20 issues addressed by recent editions: aids awareness, obesity, = veterans=E2=80=99 rights.=20 A recent atelier curated by Alpuche focused on immigration and was = =E2=80=93 of course =E2=80=93=20 comic book-themed.
He shrugs off the possibility that he=E2=80=99ll be sad if Self Help = has to move:=20 =E2=80=9CWherever we go, I=E2=80=99ll make it my home.=E2=80=9D But then = he looks up. =E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99ve lived 30=20 years where I live, nobody knows me,=E2=80=9D he says, his eyes wide = with earnestness.=20 =E2=80=9CBut I walk down the street around here, and here, I know = everyone.=E2=80=9D
Self Help=E2=80=99s new president of its board of directors, Stephen = Saiz, could say=20 the same thing. His wife, a graphic designer, grew up a few blocks away = from=20 Self Help; he started coming here in the 90s. Saiz is as lanky as a = teenager,=20 wearing hoop earrings in both ears and squared-off indie-rock glasses. = He looks=20 a good 20 years younger than anyone else in the office, and ready to = breathe new=20 life into Self Help. He works in the marketing department for video = games at=20 Disney. =E2=80=9CTechnically,=E2=80=9D he says, =E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99m a = youth expert.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CThere are seven values for Self Help, but the one I attach = myself to is=20 accessibility,=E2=80=9D says Saiz. =E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99re open for = everyone and you can get=20 everything for free.=E2=80=9D But to keep the studio free and open, = Self Help has=20 to start capitalising on some opportunities that are obvious to Saiz, = like a=20 presence at fairs like Miami and Basel and an e-=E2=81=A0commerce system = to sell prints.=20 It would be natural for the silkscreening studio to launch a clothing = company,=20 he says. He dreams of a computer lab where students can learn Flash, or = even=20 ProTools: Self Help=E2=80=99s events have traditionally nurtured the = local punk scene=20 and big players like Ozomatli and Rage Against the Machine have long = been=20 intertwined with its legacy. =E2=80=9CThere=E2=80=99s no reason why = we shouldn=E2=80=99t have a=20 record label,=E2=80=9D he says. He also wants to be able to give Self = Help=E2=80=99s artists=20 necessary professional skills, like help putting together portfolios,=20 self-promotion, maybe even giving them representation.
All of this needs money, but perhaps more importantly, a shared = direction by=20 everyone in Self Help=E2=80=99s orbit. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s more of a = grass-roots community, really,=E2=80=9D=20 he says. =E2=80=9CThere are too many stakeholders.=E2=80=9D Community = meetings can digress into=20 =E2=80=9Chalf the room screaming at the other half,=E2=80=9D he says, = yet when it comes to the=20 time to take action, some are less passionate about sticking around. = =E2=80=9CSister=20 Karen would say, =E2=80=98if you show up you=E2=80=99ll be invited to do = an edition=E2=80=99. Well, you=20 can=E2=80=99t be involved if you=E2=80=99re not here,=E2=80=9D he says, = frowning. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s called Self Help=20 for a reason.=E2=80=9D
What Saiz calls the =E2=80=9Cbiggest unknown brand in the = world=E2=80=9D, has recently=20 experienced a surge of well-timed exposure. A massive show of Chicano = art=20 featured many Self Help alumni at the Los=E2=80=84Angeles Contemporary = Art Museum in=20 2008. Last summer, a series of events kept local parks open until = midnight with=20 live screenprinting by Self Help, where kids were lined up around the = block to=20 print their own T-shirts and skateboard decks. And a high-visibility=20 collaboration called Chora Prints recently raised Self Help=E2=80=99s = profile within the=20 international art world even more: Los Angeles=E2=80=99 Metabolic = Studio, Self Help and=20 Tijuana cultural centre Casa del Tunel invited artists from both sides = of the=20 border to create posters just before the US presidential election. Half = the=20 posters were printed at Self Help, half at Casa del Tunel, a former = watchtower=20 located a few yards from the border in Tijuana. The Mexican artists were = beside=20 themselves collaborating with Alpuche and his team, says co-curator Al = Nodal,=20 surveying the 22 prints in Metabolic Studio=E2=80=99s gallery in = downtown LA. =E2=80=9CThey all=20 knew what Self Help was.=E2=80=9D
As president of Los Angeles=E2=80=99 Cultural Affairs Commission, = Nodal has been a=20 loyal supporter of Self Help since its inception. But in the last 30 = years=20 Chicano art has changed, he says. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s not so insular, = it=E2=80=99s part of the wider=20 community now. They need to reach out to these other scenes of artists = that are=20 outside of East LA.=E2=80=9D He=E2=80=99d like to see them put more = emphasis on training for=20 competitive fields in gaming and motion graphics. =E2=80=9CI think this = is a positive=20 thing,=E2=80=9D he says of Self Help=E2=80=99s recent shake-ups. = =E2=80=9CIt gets them to reinvent=20 themselves.=E2=80=9D
For now, a soft California real estate market has worked in Self = Help=E2=80=99s=20 favour, and the building=E2=80=99s new owners haven=E2=80=99t secured a = new tenant. Shortly=20 before going to press, we learned that the new owner had given Self Help = permission to stay for one more year, cr.] But the building is = essentially=20 falling apart. The pipes are old. The paint is peeling. The ceiling = leaks.
Just before Christmas, Vincent Valdez sat alone in the printing = studio. The=20 Self Help regular recently got attention after his collaboration with = musician=20 Ry Cooder on a custom-painted ice cream truck depicting Chav=C3=A9z = Ravine, a Latino=20 community that was displaced to make way for Dodger Stadium. Valdez = attended the=20 Rhode Island School of Design and lived in San Antonio, Texas before = moving to=20 LA, in part because of Self Help=E2=80=99s influence. =E2=80=9CThe city = doesn=E2=80=99t realise the=20 significance of this place,=E2=80=9D he says. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s the = last of a dying breed.=E2=80=9D He=E2=80=99s in=20 the midst of printing Self Help=E2=80=99s holiday card, which, of = course, has him=20 tracing tiny black lines onto layers of acetate by hand.
Outside, as the day starts to bend into twilight, it looks a lot like =
the=20
East LA street in Valdez=E2=80=99s print. The soft pink-to-purple =
gradient of a winter=20
sunset, silhouettes of palm trees and power lines, the red glow of =
distant=20
McDonald=E2=80=99s signage. The peaked roofs of Craftsman houses are =
strung with twinkle=20
lights, making glowing arrows that point towards the sky. And in the =
foreground,=20
Valdez adds the wrinkles to the skin of a pit bull, its neck thick, its=20
shoulders squared. Like most pit bulls, it looks unapproachably defiant, =
a=20
little dangerous. But there=E2=80=99s something else that Valdez has =
added to its eyes,=20
the angle at which its head is cocked. It is a look that is unmistakably =
optimistic.=E2=80=84
Alissa Walker is a Los Angeles-based writer =
and ex-editor of=20
UnBeige. Her blog is at gelatobaby.com
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