back in the day

i remember the days when i was a young kid growing up, looking in the mirror, dreaming about blowin' up.... but seriously folks...

like any problem one should start at the beginning. the whys of the world. why does hugo draw? well.. because it just makes sense to. its just the way its always

been. until recently its always been my source of peace and sense of fulfillment. need to recapture the magic.

was going through some Juxtapoz books i have. good times. always cool to

read how others got started, how they fell into their craft, how they caught their big break.

oh but how frustrating it is! trying to find the love again... talking about this... heh performance issue with a friend the other day she came to the conclusion that i have changed as a person, and as such it does not make sense for me to continue to make the same work and expect the same satisfaction when i myself am different. this makes sense.

here is a shot of a much larger piece i have been throwing lines at for the past couple of days. its ok i guess, thinking of moving away from so much black, moving towards more and more lines and details and less abstract mess. dont know how i feel about this one. boo-urns.

brought some watercolour paper to work... dont have a desk to actually paint or anything but coffee is always on hand. so then these came out. fun enough.

in the process of packing still. a bit on the early side but its fun for some reason... packed away some of my smaller sketchbooks. so crazy looking through them. these go back as far as 04! with all the crap i have these are the books that matter the most. comics, artbooks, action figures, DVDs, junk and junk... it can all be replaced. THESE books a

re one of a kind. part journal, part image development, so many stories are told.

ctrl + A + delete

if all goes well i will be elsewhere in 4 months. a different view from my window, a different route from here to there. though i mean this in the literal sense that involves picking up address change forms at the PostOffice i also mean this in the metaphorical sense in regard to my brains.

for some time now i have had this urge to put everything away. out of sight, out of mind. neatly sorted in cardboard boxes in the recesses of my mind. is that the easy way out? to force things out of sight in order to better focus on what matters? to wear blinders instead of just willing my eyes to look forward....

i have been trying to keep busy. just going at it, whether the results are to my liking or not its good to just get moving in the right direction. forwards, upwards, just keep swimming. anyways heres what came out since last posting in the few minutes i find time to just ink away.

its difficult to get into the draw draw drawing rhythm again. also i am trying to stop falling back to the same routine of things. i'm not trying to be someone completely different but want to change up some. know what i am meaning? am also working on a larger piece, these little doodles may have warmed me up a tad, hopefully something good will come out of this.

i hope that like Stella i can, in time, get my GROOVE back. how are you people of the internet feeling these posts? watching me pick myself up off the floor and prop myself back at the drawing board... only time will tell.

"And why do we fall Bruce?"

mild nights

well so far things are not necessarily going in the direction i want. i am constantly think and rethinking what to do with myself but have yet to take any serious action. felling very stuck. feeling caught between a rock and a hard place, as the expression goes. though really it makes little sense, unless we live in a 2-dimensional world.... otherwise one would have to assume that somehow rock + hard place = complete 360 degrees of enclosure, which is probably not the case; in conclusion i am over thinking things.

is this kind of transparent ranting about my inner workings a bad thing to type up in my blog? does a writer at all benefit from admitting to the public that a serious case of writer's block has set in? maybe it is best for me to illustrate an illusion wherein all is peachy keen and i am artist of the year, proficient as the proverbial ant stocking up for the winter! instead of the shitty reality of saying "hey guys, yea i haven't been very productive.. i dunno why... work and shit i guess"?

tonight was incredibly mild for early January. took the dog on a nice walk sans phone or ipod. alone with the dog and my thoughts... and poop bags. i think this is good. thoughts are good. i then came home and worked out. also good. body and mind are kind of a 2-for-1 deal in my books.

currently i am wearing a latex glove on my right hand because its covered in pink spray paint and i can't seem to get it off and don't want to pink everything up. i was spraypainting a frame, nothing overly exciting but it is nice to see my hands in technicoulor once more! well there are a few more hours before i call it a night and surrender to the pillow. much can still happen.

hibernation

some days you wake up on your own, at a frighteningly early hour, go about your morning routine, have breakfast, so on and so forth. you then leave your home, venture out, maybe you will get in your car or take public transit to wherever it is you have to be at this Godless time between day and night... and somewhere along the way you realize that a generous amount of minutes have passed since you have rubbed the sleep from your eyes, and in that time you have yet to say a single word. you have yet to form any audible thoughts from your lips, you have not overtly communicated an idea or a thought other than the yawns or groans of morning labour... and in that moment you can't help but fear your voice. you find you are afraid to break the silence, to seek an echo in the seemingly empty world you find yourself in. things had gone alright up to this point, without your voice chiming in... maybe its better this way. but no, its not.

you have a voice. it must be heard.

this is kind of how i feel. i feel as i have been hibernating, as if i am in a tightly wrapped cocoon waiting for the right time to free myself and become one with the sky. but then i cannot help but wonder... do all crawling creatures that surround themselves in darkness while waiting for the arrival of wings survive the journey? surely there are a few that do not. surely there are a few that lay stillborn, enclosed in sheets of their own creation; dreams, goals, and hopes not met.

the year is coming to an end, and i have been silent. there has been so much change, so much to share, so much to shout about and i have remained mute.

i am growing uncomfortable in my stale cave, uneasy in this unwavering stillness. i think its time for something to happen, something to change, something to be said.

i wish you all the best this holiday season, and great things for the new year. i highly doubt 2012 will mark the end of the world. but there is no doubt that it will mark the end of something, and the beginning of something else, because what is time if not change.

see you all on the other side,

hugo

still breathing

i am still alive.

if you have heard otherwise... than thats just crazy talk.

as per usual i have been caught it up with life, or in a way, lives; and have lost touch with a few things along the way. in this case i am referring to this blog. so much has happened in my time away. i have been busy working the day-job, have been scheming and dreaming countless projects, hopefully some of them will see the light of day. the "Beyond our Roots" show came and went, here is a video that sums it up pretty well.

what else? i had a birthday. i am now 26. i have been slowly working on new stuff, while piling away numerous sketches and small drawings. all the while i have been dreaming, planning, hoping for more to come and willing magic to happen... one project at a time.

i attended the Abstract/ Expressionists art exhibit at the AGO on

loan from the MOMA. some exciting stuff from favorites such as Rothko and Pollack, Gorsky and the like. i would have to say that although it was a real treat to view the work in person opposed to heavy text books in the end it is the concept and heart behind the work... gets a guy thinking. asking myself questions about identity and legacy; there is so much i would like to accomplish yet somedays its difficult just to drag my ass out of bed at a "normal" hour.

i finally got a smartphone. crazy stuff. don't think it has actually made me more productive or anything of the sort but at least i can.. buy more stuff on eBay? google random facts? oh yea... what a smart phone it is.

at this point allow me to scan and post a bunch of sketches. wow i think i went through a whole sketchbook while i have been gone. one of the upsides to the 9-5... good sketching time!

the sketches are on these little imitation moleskin books i picked up at the dollar store for $2. i love them. i love the idea of a pile of old sketchbooks... obviously in this scenario i have passed on and its either a loved one that knew me or a descendant that had come to inherit the dusty old pages. its sad in that i would be dead. an idea that actually terrifies me. but its exciting in that these sheets pen-scribbled papers will outlive me and become so much more after i have left this world. as much as i enjoy the digital world.... it can never hold the same value or create the same connection as torn pages with fingerprints and smudges.

its getting late so i will get myself to bed. slowly i am becoming less the night owl i once was. ah the dreary day job... it pays the bills but is it really worth it? only time will tell i suppose. i envision myself dividing my person into 3 different beings. hugo1 would be driven by responsibilities and common sense, he would go to bed early, wake early, pursue his fitness goals, go to work and pay his bills. hugo2 will burn the midnight oil painting and drawing, writing and reading, slowly building a creative empire and name for himself. while hugo3 will enjoy overpriced coffees and long evening with his beloved, movie nights with family, chill out with his friends and spend money on his nerdy hobbies. unfortunately the only way i can be everything at once is... well, maybe if i was able to rid myself of the need to sleep... but that probably won't be happening any time soon. but who knows, things change.

thinking spandex

hola,

so apparently its June now. thats some pretty crazy news.

i mean sure we all saw it coming, but so soon? madness i tell you! i have a theory that seconds are getting shorter - and as such minutes - hours - days and yea you get the idea. at this rate it will be 2012 in a blink and a half and then the world will end... or Cthulhu comes down and eats us or... something.

but until then, i have a new show on the way!!

Beyond Our Roots

June 23 - July 3

Reception: June 23, 6-9pm

Gallery 1313 - 1313 Queen St. West

Brought to you by the Latin Canadian Culture Association

www.LCCATORONTO.com

it will feature a bunch of great LatinAmerican artists and myself... exploring our hybridization of our native Latin American cultures with the Canadian. some pretty heavy stuff.

personally i am pretty excited about this exhibit as it is very different from the other shows i have taken part in. a whole new world so to speak.

if you are in the city i really hope you can make it. it should be a goooood one. :D

alright. serious business aside here is some random stuff i have been up to for kicks. which in my case usually means super-hero based scribbles. also lots of teeth. gotta love them teeth!

i keep drawing these characters in this way but haven't really DONE anything with them.. i am thinking maybe i should. short comic? short story? huge drawing what with colour and all? hrmmm something. need more productive outlets for my obsession with capes and spandex'd heroes. somethings gotta give!

been watching much Avengers EMH. pretty great. check

it out yo.

hope everyone is doing good. hugs and happy birthdays wherever they apply!

hopefully it does not rain on Monday

hey,

so, today i woke at my usual bright and early 11am, rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the old computer to see what had transpired the night before. to my surprise a date had been set for the RAPTURE without me knowing. not that i feel im so special that i should have been notified about JUDGMENT DAY or anything of the sort but i did feel that it was something i too should have clued in on... as i was one of the few people on facebook with this knowledge.

if you are reading this the whole RAPTURE thing fell through and plans were changed and we are still kicking around on this dirt planet, or perhaps you were left behind or something, i am not sure how it works.

all jokes aside, this, in combination with the fact that my girlfriend's sister is leaving for an undisclosed amount of time to another Province got me thinking about goodbyes.

we close doors, we turn our backs and walk away, we hang up phones... there are so many moments in a day when we bid farewell to another, and allow them to exit stage left till the next scene. we have all come to understand the world in such a way that we know the other person exists even though we are not in contact with them. we know this as a fact. although it is not something we question so much anymore in this day and time perhaps we should. this is where the RAPTURE comes in to my thoughts.

what if? ( very powerful words )

what if that which has been foretold did happen? by no means is this leading to a religious debate, but i mean what if that something which you never expected to actually happen happened? it doesn't have to be something insanely huge as the end of days... everyday we walk away from loved ones knowing we will see them again, taking for granted their companionship, their very existence. but the truth is we don't know when the next time will be. as mundane as the world may seem there are always an insane number of choices made with a practically infinite number of possible outcomes! if everything can happen how can we live life so calmly being so sure of things? now, lets not be morbid; i am not saying that we should be cautious because people die left and right and you never know. death is only one of the doors in the long hallway that is life. we change our minds everyday, and as such change our futures. life is change. tomorrow is completely unknown! and thats not a scary thing... i mean it is but.... its exciting too!

we should stop treating each other so shitty. somehow that is the conclusion to my rant.

anyways since most peeps don't wander onto my blog to read my crazy rants, here are some pictures.

first off here are some drawings in lil book. fun times.

here we have full images of new work i had been teasing about earlier. unfortunately i took a super long time to upload them. few of them have already sold. check out Galerie D'Este to see what they still have available if you is interested ;)

let's see... what else can i ramble on about?

overall things are swell. trying not to gain too much weight from the lovely girlfriend's lovely baking. watching some Avenger's Earth Mightiest Heroes. good cartoon action.

saw Thor the other day it was good.

peace out. xo