Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricardo Acevedo.
Hi Ricardo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born of Yaqui-Mexican & Scottish descent. Raised in Southern California. Pursued artistic endeavors throughout my life, originally in the visual arts, which morphed into music and performance by the 1980’s and then returned full circle… Formed influential So.Cal. New wave art bands Little Baby Strangers, A Soft Zoo, FREAKS AMOR and The Blue Box throughout the 80’s. Moved to San Francisco by late 87. While in S.F., reformed Little Baby Strangers and formed the crypto-pop band Mona Lisa Suitcase with Mandible Chatter guitarist Grant Miller. Also began serious work in writing while taking course work at the S.F. Art Institute in Performance, 3D Design and Video Art and Photography. Returned to So.Cal. By ’91, the released poetry chapbook “Any,” collaborated with Techno-Ambient artist Keith McGrew on the sonic project, SecondCulture’s CD “It…the Other One”. 1st serious dabbling in computer-aided graphics while creating the cover for SecondCulture CD. Moved to Flagstaff AZ (‘93-’98), was co-creator of the Difference Machine Art Space. Studied under & collaborated with southwest experimental filmmaker & photographer Larry Holloway, James Tyrell artist Craig “Vern Bob Wire” Baumhoffer, created music with progressive guitarist Rick Anderson in the group Rye Catchers and was the leading member behind the performance improv band Cup. Wrote and directed multimedia performance piece/ film, “6, 16, 29” for performance at Coconino Center for the Arts. Wrote and directed the multimedia piece, “Masculism,” with Ballet Aztlan choreographer David Ramos for Planet Earth Theatre in Phx. AZ. Created neo-surreal/sensualist film “Come Home” as a work in progress for Alwun House’s “Exotic” show Phx. AZ. And had a film, photography and performance retrospective at Peter Reagan’s Metropophobobia Art Space Phx. AZ winter 1997.
Moved to Austin, TX in July of 1998. Immediately set about incorporating more technology into the artistic vision that had been defined while in Arizona via the scanning and manipulating of photo negatives to create painterly photographic art and the use of digital video in the creation of linear & non filmic art. Participated in numerous group shows around Austin. ProJex’s Nude Work 2000 & 2001 & Gallery Lombardy’s Erotica 2001 as well as having individual shows at F8 Gallery, DiverseArts Gallery and Debbie Peacock Gallery. Really broke out with “GET” show at Wet Salon & Studios in which r/ace sold numerous works causing Austin art critic Michael Barns to the Austin American Statesman “Acevedo is one of the best of Austin’s sensually charged artists” Not to be limited to one-dimensional art, I spread my wings by creating visuals behind such provocative musical artists as Laura Scarborough, Woodwork & Art-Metal savant Titsworth and his band Pail. The direction and camera work, respectively, of the latter’s music videos “Birth,” “Mindscar,” “Youth” and 2006’s released “Space Monkey,” were embraced by the Austin Musical Network as some of the best local producer directors of 00-2006. Gaining notoriety as a visualist director. Also, in the early ’00’s I pioneered the process/concept of photographic painting, described here by Stacee Millangue of Austin’s “Idea Gallery” as “… r/ace’s, work like “Through Her”…defines the possibilities of modern photography. His image of a female nude also contains several layers, looking similar to a ghostly colored x-ray. After taking several photos of his subject, he printed the film, purposefully over-exposing some parts, lightening and darkening others. He then digitally created a collage and added an organic layer of wax and pigment. “Or as England based creative director Ali Hobb’s is quoted as saying, “r/ace is a sensory genius” Musically, in 2003, I did guest vocals & lyrics for the Flat Hand 5 project formed by Seattle based musician & underground personality D.A. Sabastian of gokustom.com. In the fall, I produced the soundtrack to the film “Whole,” featuring Austin-based artists Govinda, Laura Scarborough, Michaelangelo and Kan’nal to name a few.
In 2004, I curated and contributed to the deconstructing of the nude with “Contour” featuring painting and mixed media works at WET Salon & Studios in March. I also had my second collection of prose released by DiverseArts Press entitled “Sonambulo” in June of 2004. I then collaborated with choreographer Ellen Bartel, composer Graham Reynolds and digital media artist Buck Wall on “Sonambulo” (the multimedia dance concert) based on my book performed at Austin’s Off-Center in July of 2005. In 07 I was accepted in the prestigious Center for Fine Art Photography 2008 “International Artful Nude Competition” Out of hundreds of national and international entries, Ricardo’s “Working Woman” was accepted. The judge was none other than the son of America’s premiere fine-art nude photographer Edward Weston… Kim Weston. Published in 2010 and again in 2013 by PolyMarket Press, my books of photography and prose, Interloper & Night, respectively, brought my work to international notoriety. Around this same period took on the mantel of Lost Cat Magnet and started composing again with *Production Unit Xero and gravitated to a more prog-rock sound while working with guitarist Christopher Petkus and drummer Steve Mankenberg as PetCatMan from 2014-2017. It was an amazing creative growth spurt that led to me working more and more with Willie Oteri at O’clock and moved me more into defining what Lost Cat Magnet would become sonically. A compositional deconstruction of jazz and electronica. I had always held Brian Eno’s work with David Byrne, Marcus Miller’s work with Miles Davis and Jon Hassell’s worldbeat jazz dreamscapes as the pinnacle of what I wanted to achieve. So, I set out in 2015 to commit Lost Cat Magnet to create my own hybrid of electronic-based, outsider noise and funk-jazz, heavily fused with a cinematic sense of storytelling and wonder. As Lost Cat Magnet, I have numerous releases on Heterodox Records and independently on multiple platforms worldwide.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
NO. I was raised in a poor, alcoholic infused world and household. Violence, abuse (both physical & psychological) was everywhere. My violent stepfather (George Anderson) died in a bar fight when I was 14. My mother, Helen, died of multiple forms of cancer by the time I was 20. I entered my 20’s fueled by my own drug use, with no family of any kind to fall back on. I was truly lost in a wilderness of pain, abuse and an overt survival mode brought to bear by childhood PTSD and abandonment. I finally married my dearest friend Susan Genovese in 1992. But fell numerous times into old patterns, and when we had children, I was tormented and felt unworthy of her or their love. It wasn’t until 2015 that I finally legitimately sought psych counseling and, through the use of EMDR, finally found a sense of peace.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As stated through my lengthy intro, I’m a true renaissance creative. I don’t just dabble in those varying art forms. I dived deep into them all. I defined my own style and or voice in each medium, and I’m far from done.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Without risk, there is no art. Without risk, there is no evolution; there is no life. All things in life worth having involve risk. Risk in the gravitational pull of all creative endeavors. There’s just no way around that.
Contact Info:
- Email: racevedoart@gmail.com
- Website: https://inthera.tumblr.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acevedoricardo2016/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RAlife2017/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/freaksamor
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/lostcatmagnet
- Other: https://lostcatmagnet.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
#1 & #2 – Freaks Amor / Photo by Robert Powell. On guitar in #2 Tom Howe. Circa 1982. #3 – with The Blue Box 1987 #4 – with Willie Oteri as O’Clock Italian tour 2019 #5 – with Mary Panjoma. Austin Texas 2019 #6 – Mixed media art. 2013 #7 – photo based digital art. Shot on film (1996), combined and edited in Photoshop, 2000. #8 – Mixed media art. 2019
