DIY ARTIST IN DALLAS, TX

Even though I have a BFA and I have been making art my entire life, I still feel like kind of a newb in the Dallas art community. I was living in Kansas City for all of college. When I moved back, I fucked around and worked at a bakery for 1.5 years which did nothing for my creative or professional development. I would say I regret that choice but it gave me a lot of creative fuel for when I would jump back into making art later. My first real show was Dallas Zine Fest 2023 at 24 years old. This is embarrassing for me because it adds to my imposter syndrome, and even though I’ve been making art my entire life and have a BFA I somehow feel like I’m not a real artist (I know, stupid).

The art community can be broken down into different subcultures. Some people are very into the fine art scene with showing in galleries, ect. Some people are very into commercial art and make work similar to KAWS, or make work that is very graphic design specific. Then there’s the DIY scene. I feel like a lot of emerging/small artists kinda fall in the cross-section of at least two of these. I think that the people that I have met fall more into the DIY subculture create work in artist-run spaces, and participate in more craft-oriented media, and I think printing and zine-making are mainly in this category (but ofc not limited to). I love this community. Everyone that I have met has been extremely welcoming and not gate-keepy which is something that I experienced from a lot of people in school. I loved all my cohorts in KC but we were constantly critiquing each other, and it was super competitive, which is a big part of art school life - so it can be kind of a beat down. But I think the Zine and DIY community in Dallas is super uplifting and I’ve appreciated that.

This article features people that I’ve met at a few of the Zine and Art Book Fairs specifically focusing on this year’s Dallas Art Book Fair 2024 at the Dallas Contemporary! If you were there and you weren’t mentioned in this article I still think youre cool there’s just too many people to mention and if I had more time I would feature everyone (ㄒoㄒ)

Please click on any of the images to see more art by the artist!

Brent Ozaeta

(˚ˎ 。7

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じしˍ,)ノ

Someone who really exemplifies this is Brent! He is such an amazing artist and he does really awesome work and has even done artwork for Anamanaguchi! However, even though Brent is obviously the fucking shit he is so friendly and humble. I am always so honored when he says he wants to trade!!!

Bestu Friendo Co. (Chris + Raul) ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

Next on my fangirl list is Chris and Raul of Bestu Friendo Co. Their company is essentially based on them being best friends which I think is adorable. Their lovable and pure friendship is contrasted with their extremely Krass and hardcore images of anime girlie’s tiddies, people being chainsawed, and weird chimera creatures. Of course, this is topped off by dynamic duo pairings of double Power Rangers. Their lewks combine Mexican Luchador aesthetic, with video games, horror, and late 90’s + early 2000’s cartoons. It just works perfectly. Plus they are funny as hell!!

Moriah The Artist ⋆｡°·☁︎

Moriah and I went to Booker T. together and were able to reconnect at art book fairs! She was always so cool and funny when we were at Booker T, and I’m glad our friendship was able to be rekindled. Her artwork is this beautiful combination of femininity, queerness, and activism. I appreciate how honest and raw her work is. A lot her her more performative work such as wheat pasting around the city of Dallas protesting Israel’s acts of terrorism has called back to RIOT GRRRL zines and The Guerilla Girls. I love the combination of 90’s feminist print work, performance art, and DIY culture, and Moriah is doing a beautiful job of putting a more contemporary filter on it!

Soft Spot Press (Kris + Gino) (◑‿◐)

Gino and Kris are really cool because they do a lot of work in making printing accessible for other artists as well as help educate them on how to use a Riso printer, which I think is a very noble goal! Gino also played a major role in organizing the art book fair and creating a space where artists could share their work with the community. Because I’ve delved into Riso printing I would love to take a workshop with them to be able to hone my skills more. I feel like I’ve already become such a better designer just by learning the process of how Riso works, and I would love to strengthen that even more! A workshop with them would be the next step! (◑‿◐)

Dwayne CARTER!!! (◕︿◕✿)

Dwayne if you’re reading this, I hope u don’t think this is agist, but I wish you were one of my grandpas. Dwayne’s artwork is unique from every other vendor at the zine fests and book fairs. I can’t explain why. It reminds me of XRA. His zines give the same vibe as falling asleep and waking up at 4 am and seeing a creepy ass adult swim commercial. I mean this in the best way.

CHRIS GREEN ಠ╭╮ಠ

Chris is prob the chillest person on earth. His works consist of vintage movie posters and photographs of things that feel authentically Texasy but from a different time. IF you want to know what living and being in Austin feels like these gorgeous 35 mm photos encapsulate that aura perfectly. His work reminds me of being in college and hanging out at a close friend’s basement after the party’s over.

I love the Anemoia that anyone could get from this work. His images feel like the perfect summer party.

Kid Kimchch + Transparently (CHIAN)

╰( ⊹o⊹)╮

These people are really cool and they are fun to talk to. Their artwork is also fucking sick. It’s kind of hilarious because their artwork is 50,000x better than any animation or art style I’ve seen from any current children’s animated film. I would love to see a video game or film made with their work. They also talked a little bit about things that are just real for most artists. Most of the artists at these events have full-time jobs and just do this on the side. And it is a lot of work! The reason that artists do this is because there is some weird driving force that makes us want to do this. Even if it doesn’t pay off. For a lot of people, the payoff is just being there at an event like this and being a part of the community.

So what does this mean for the art community in Dallas? I love that art-making feels accessible, especially with so many Riso presses in the city who are interested in education. The city’s art scene is more nuanced and people love collecting their work because you can experience it irl and hold it in your hand, and it’s cheap enough for most people to be able to buy and take home. I’m excited for the Dallas art community! Stay tuned to see what else is in store ♨(⋆‿⋆)♨

Preparing for Dallas Art Book Fair (Re-Upping my Dragon Gocco Zine)

Preparing for the zine festival or art book fair is half the fun. Before I started participating in the zine or art book fairs myself, I would watch Olivia from Pindot Press make vlogs about the experience and it would be so funny because now that I am actually experiencing it, it's so relatable. She would say something like - 

“It’s Thursday now, the book fair is on Saturday. My friend and I are going to be up printing all night, go to our day jobs Friday, and then Friday night stay up all night cutting, binding, and laminating so we can show on Saturday.” 

I’m sad because I really like her videos and she doesn’t really vlog anymore… Olivia if you see this… I MISS YOU!!

The time crunch is too real and too funny. 

Luckily I am able to work ahead of time a little bit more this go around for the Dallas Art Book Fair, so I won’t be up all night long the night before the actual fair. Buying a Cricket has really helped me speed my process along, so it was honestly really worth the investment. It also allows me to make more interesting edges for this restock of my Dragon Gocco Zine. 

I also understand the printing process a lot better now, so my learning curve is nowhere near as steep as it was. I can just get in the assembly line zone, and enjoy the making process. The process that I use for this Zine in particular is a process called Gocco Printing, which is the Japanese word for make believe play - which I just love. Gocco Printing is a mini screen printer that’s great for making mini zines because of the B6 screen size. It DOES have some downsides, however. For example, the screens are mainly one-time use, so it’s best to do all your printing at once. It also requires single-burn bulbs, which are pretty toxic (as in they burn hella fumes) and kind of wasteful. Finally, the brand RISO no longer makes Gocco products so brand-specific screens, inks, and bulbs are hard to find and expensive. So don’t go trying to buy them all up because I need those lol. They are perfect for making tiny little zines, though and I love this process way more than the 1 page fold method.

I love getting to the point with stuff where you can do it as 2nd nature. But getting to that point is very stressful and takes a lot of perseverance with anything. People always say “omg art is so relaxing. Lol no its fucking not. It’s relaxing once you can get into the flow state, but that comes with lots of troubleshooting, challenging yourself, and learning new things FIRST!!!