A lot has changed in San Antonio in the seven years since Chuck Ramirez died. There are working artists, young ones and transplants from elsewhere, who never knew him. To his extended group of close friends, acquaintances, a still-tight micro-community of Southtown artists (for whom the rise of Artpace and Sala Diaz, the expansion of…
Meet The Juniors: Rising Drag Stars Harness the Power of Teamwork
I meet them as boys on an evening a week before Christmas, at Bakery Lorraine. Louie Canales, who performs as Chyna Cravens, and Christian Paolo, aka Sephwhora (pronounced Sef-whore-ah) 51, are waiting for me at a table near the entrance. The third member of the drag queen girl group known as The Juniors is running…
Fashion Designer Agosto Cuellar Wants to Keep San Antonio Lamé
Agosto Cuellar is a veteran visionary in this town. Couturier, entrepreneur and social activist, he’s got deep roots and wide wings, having owned and operated legendary Southtown resale shop Jive Refried, created collections of irreverent, often-recycled garments that have landed him in serious Project Runway consideration, and DJed at big events and unexpected venues citywide.…
The World According to Karlos
Karlos Anzoategui’s Closet Is Wide Open When you pass the whitewashed stucco walls, go through the gate on Queen Anne Court, and head into Villa Sol, Karlos Anzoategui’s work-and- life HQ, you leave earthly concerns behind. Like Gloria Swanson’s Sunset Boulevard manse, or, say, the Vatican, you’ve entered a self-contained world where, if the walls…
Deep in Vogue: House of Kenzo’s Multidisciplinary Movement
I meet House of Kenzo (HOK) on the University of the Incarnate Word Sky Bridge, a phobia-tweaking pedestrian catwalk over the zooming traffic on Highway 281. It’s a sunny afternoon, and House of Kenzo are mid-photo shoot. They are beautiful, self-assured, gender-flouting, working their rainbow fashion gear into wind-whipped battle flags visible for a half-mile.…
Found in Translation: Wu Tsang & boychild’s Captivating Collaborations
Though Wu Tsang and Tosh are hard at work on their Artpace residency project, they agree to spare me half an hour. The Los Angeles-based couple have received a dizzying number of intriguing deliveries, Artpace staffers tell me. In addition to their International Artist-In-Residence exhibition (on view through May 15), Wu and Tosh are readying…
The Witty World of Franco Mondini-Ruiz
A Quick Biographical Rundown Franco Mondini-Ruiz was born in 1961. He grew up in conservative, white Boerne, Texas. His father is a rakish and artistic immigrant from Italy who grew up during the Mussolini regime. His mother is Mexican-American and the daughter of a severe Spaniard, and she occasionally posed for Franco’s father’s paintings. Franco…