What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
This year I was fortunate to work mainly on projects related to illustration and design. Recently, I completed a series of mural interventions for a residential complex in the Tabacalera neighborhood. I also created illustrations for RUM (Revista de la Universidad de México) and for the 10th anniversary of CAMPOBAJA: an iconic restaurant in the Roma neighborhood that offers a culinary proposal rooted in the best of Baja California cuisine. Alongside this, I’ve been involved in design projects that range from isolated logos to fully developed visual identities.
What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?
Each project belongs to a very different industry, which taught me the importance of clear communication. Above all, the importance of becoming sensitive to each client’s cultural and professional context in order to truly understand their needs and channel them through my own skills.
What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
Empathy. Patience. Humility. Gratitude.
Understanding that project conditions don’t always align with my ideas, and that adaptability is a virtue that must be practiced. Knowing your own limits and, from there, setting viable commitments. Learning how to say no, and how to offer alternatives. Learning to delegate when necessary. Yielding to reason, admitting mistakes when they happen, and committing to learn from them.
Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
Every project begins with research, and I definitely turn to my personal library to search for ideas and translate concepts, colors, or compositions into the task at hand.
There’s a book of logos I revisit often: Modernism Logo, by Taschen. Another, focused on USSR logos, is incredibly inspiring for design work.
For the Tabacalera project, I studied a book called Mexico Illustrated, to develop compositions and color palettes, as well as Monumental, published by the Ministry of Culture.
While illustrating for a Palestine section in RUM, I was reading Sometimes I wake up shivering, by Ximena Santaolalla. The book addresses oppression from positions of power, a subject that keeps me awake at night. There’s a strong parallel between the book’s narrative and the current situation in Gaza.
What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
Sometimes, in general, starting an idea feels like pushing a massive rock downhill. Eventually, it begins to roll.
Part of the process is setting limits on time, and I think that if most of my projects share something in common, it’s that I still struggle with meeting deadlines. I’ve gotten better at estimating time. I’m upfront with clients when I know I’ll need one or two extra days, and I try to anticipate that so I don’t fall short. But I always reach that moment where it feels like the water is up to my neck.
What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?
Impossible to choose just one.
I love breakfast. In Mexico City, I enjoy the French toast at a place called International Pharmacy the Juárez location), and the barbacoa from Barbacoa de los Díaz, which sets up on Manzanillo and Campeche in Roma Sur on weekends. I’ll have two flautas and a consomé, and then I won’t eat again until late afternoon or evening.
I go to Guadalajara less and less these days, but recently I discovered Cabinet for breakfast, and it instantly became a favorite. I ordered the Molletes Chilaquileados. For lunch, I love the tortas at Profe Jimenez in Santa Tere, the taco destruido is a delight. Nearby, you’ll find the best aguachile at Dear God.
If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
May it not tremble in September
Original score by Hospital de México and los Robots de Observatorio.
Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
I find daily inspiration in my studio, the place itself and the people I share it with: Manolo, Pablo, Fernando and Poncho.
Music inspires me deeply, listening to it and making it. I often think I don’t know which would be harder: losing my hearing or my sight. But it comforts me to know that if I went blind, I could still make music, and if I went deaf, I could still draw.
There are few things that inspire me more than watching a band perform live. And if I get to meet them and talk about their processes, or even make music with them, it’s hard for me to stop listening to their work for a long time. Sgt. Papers, Tiny Richie, Generic Puppies, Hospital de México, Sisters, Luisa Almaguer, The Shirota, Mabe Fratti, Belafonte, among many, many others.
In general, I can’t point to just one thing I admire about their way of working, but what they all seem to share, and what never stops holding my attention, is that they do it for punk.
Graphic artist. Guadalajara, Mexico, 1988. Through drawing, illustration, and muralism, he creates spaces for reflection on themes such as identity, social issues, and human relationships. His work has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, Denmark, Spain, and Morocco.