JAVA July:Aug 2018

270 • JULY/AUG 2018
MATT
MAGEE
3 ARTISTS TO WATCH • ROLAND’S MARKET •AUSTIN OWEN • RD DESIGN

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CONTENTS
8
12
22
30
34
FEATURES
Cover: Matt Magee
Photo: Scott Baxter
8 12 22
34
THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF
MATT MAGEE
By Lara Plecas
THREE YOUNG ARTISTS
TO WATCH
By Rembrandt Quiballo
MOXY
Photographer: Jonny Stalnaker
Styling: Looks Good Anya Fashion
AUSTIN OWEN
LOS PUCHOS
A Musical Odyssey
By Tom Reardon p. 30
RAFAEL CASTRO AND
DORA CASTILLO
RD Design Team, Building a Dream
By Jenna Duncan
COLUMNS
7
16
20
38
40
BUZZ
Art-centric
By Robert Sentinery
ARTS
Euan Macdonald
By Amy Young
Digital Media Artist Casey Farina
By Jenna Duncan
Isse Maloi
By Ashley Naftule
FOOD FETISH
Roland’s Hits the Mark
By Sloane Burwell
GIRL ON FARMER
A Pea-Sized Proposition
By Celia Beresford
NIGHT GALLERY
Photos by Robert Sentinery
JAVA MAGAZINE
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Robert Sentinery
ART DIRECTOR
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ARTS EDITOR
Amy L. Young
FOOD EDITOR
Sloane Burwell
MUSIC EDITOR
Mitchell L. Hillman
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Jenna Duncan
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Celia Beresford
Jeff Kronenfeld
Ashley Naftule
Lara Plecas
Rembrandt Quiballo
Tom Reardon
PROOFREADER
Patricia Sanders
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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Jonny Stalnaker
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4 JAVA
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ART-CENTRIC
By Robert Sentinery
BUZZ
This issue of JAVA covers a range of visual artists in various stages of their
careers. While Phoenix has an energetic art scene, it still lacks the commercial
galleries needed to raise it to the next level as an art center. There are a lot of
fantastic career artists living and working here, but sadly most of them have to
send their work elsewhere to be shown and sold.
Matt Magee is a perfect example. His studio at Cattle Track art compound
is steeped in legacy, having housed many of the Valley’s seminal artists for
decades, including Phillip Curtis and Fritz Scholder. Magee received Contemporary
Forum’s 2017 Arlene and Mort Scult Award for a mid-career artist, and
the fruits of that grant are currently on display at the Phoenix Art Museum. Yet,
when it comes to selling his work in galleries, Magee is represented in London,
Houston and Chicago, among other places, but not Phoenix.
Magee’s life has been interesting. He was born in Paris and lived in Tripoli and
London as a youth. He eventually settled in Brooklyn in the ’80s to attend Pratt
Institute and maintained a studio in NYC until 2012. Magee worked with lauded
American artist Robert Rauschenberg, eventually becoming his chief photo
archivist, while continuing his own art practice, which has been celebrated
with numerous awards and solo exhibitions. In his interview with JAVA, Magee
explains the detailed development of his visual language over the last three
decades (see “The Visual Language of Matt Magee,” p. 8).
The Arizona Biennial held at the Tucson Museum of Art has long been one of the
top shows for identifying important artists working in Arizona. This year, three
young Phoenix artists (all in their 20s) were invited to participate. At just 21
years old, Sam Fresquez is the youngest. Her work is inspired by language and
calligraphy. She cuts intricate characters into wood, fabric and metal to create
politically charged pieces that are also aesthetically eloquent. Being a Mexican-
American female and having been raised bilingual, Fresquez produces work that
often engages themes of language, race and gender.
Lily Reeves’ Aurora MFA show earlier this year at ASU’s Step Gallery was a
knockout success. She transformed the already stunning warehouse space into a
glowing neon temple that felt like a place of worship. Hailing from Birmingham,
Alabama, the 26-year-old is influenced by mysticism, occultism and spiritualism
and uses neon to create transcendental experiences for her viewers.
Papay Solomon has faced many challenges in his 24 years. His early life was
spent in a refugee camp in the African country of Guinea. It was there he started
drawing as a means to cope with the situation. Those drawings helped change
Solomon’s fate, as a social worker was deeply moved by his talent and helped
him and his family relocate to America. Solomon’s work features intriguing portraits
of African immigrants, often donning Western attire. His technical skills
are no less than stunning (see “Three Young Artists to Watch,” p. 12).
This is JAVA’s annual double summer edition, which circulates for July and
August. Look for a new issue on September 1.
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The Visual Language of Matt Magee
8 JAVA
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By Lara Plecas

Phoenix Art Museum’s Contemporary Forum
awarded Matt Magee the prestigious
Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award
last year. The artist has spent the last
year creating a new body of work to exhibit in the
Marshall and Handler gallery space on the lower
level of the Phoenix Art Museum.
Magee takes a minimalist approach to his
multidisciplinary work as a visual artist. His
expansive practice includes painting, printmaking,
photography and 3D sculptures made from found
materials. This exhibition, showing through
November 4, offers a variety of oil paintings,
sculptures and found objects. The work utilizes bold
color and formalism, with nods to Op Art and hardedge
painting.
Magee has been collecting found objects for decades
that speak to his curiosity, and he reimagines them to
help form his visual language. Some of the materials
were found over 20 years ago, such as colorful
detergent bottles that Magee has cut into various
shapes and strung into sculptural forms. As you
walk down the staircase into the gallery, the largest
sculpture, titled “Purple Rain,” cascades down the
wall. The pop of color from the various hues of purple
and the simplicity in form resemble a familiar midcentury
aesthetic.
Several smaller sculptures utilize colorful repurposed
plastic throughout the space, offering a vibrancy of
color. Also included are several paintings that seem
to use a Morse code–like symbolic language. This
author’s favorite pieces are inspired by Op Art and
were rendered in multiple layers of oil paint. Each
piece subtly reveals the artist’s hand, up close, and
allows the eyes to create movement with the line
patterns from a distance.
Magee’s work as a whole comes together to explore
his visual language, and yet each piece tells its
own story. Reverence is shown to other artists
who worked and exhibited in New York City during
the ’60s, such as Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley and
Sol LeWitt. Magee has always gravitated toward
creative people and explored his own creativity.
He studied at Trinity University in San Antonio,
focusing on art history. Magee earned his MFA
from Pratt Institute in NYC, where he focused
on nontraditional media and processes. During
his undergraduate studies, he interned for two
summers at Guggenheim Museum in New York; his
last summer in school was spent interning for the
Guggenheim in Venice, Italy.
Magee went on to work as an art handler and as
the chief photo archivist for the seminal artist
Robert Rauschenberg for over 18 years. This
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Figures 1–3
Figures 4– 6
experience offered a wealth of opportunities and had a tremendous impact on
Magee’s life and career. Magee lived in Brooklyn and worked in the five-story
building on Lafayette Street in Manhattan – a 19th-century orphanage – that
Rauschenberg bought back in the 1960s. Over the years, Magee has exhibited
his work in New York, Albuquerque, Houston, Chicago, Connecticut, Marfa,
London and, of course, Phoenix.
After 30 years of living in New York City, Matt and his partner, Randall, decided
to move back to the Southwest and settled in Arizona in 2012. He currently has a
studio at the Cattle Track Arts Compound in Scottsdale, which has a rich history of
important artists who have worked at the historic desert ranch property over the
years. Local art legends Fritz Scholder and the founder of the Phoenix Art Museum,
Phillip Curtis, once lived and worked there.
Magee is currently working on a book that explores the artwork he has created
over the last six years while residing here in the Valley. He enjoys working in his
studio on a daily basis, and has found inspiration in the rich desert landscape and
laid-back lifestyle.
JAVA recently met up with the artist for a studio visit and asked him to discuss the
visual language that informs his artwork:
Matt Magee: In the late 1970s, I was working retail in a mall in Dallas. After
every garment shipment, we were throwing away loads and loads of plastic
garment bags, the kind you get at the dry cleaner. I started bringing them
home and experimenting, twisting the bags so they could be pulled through
metal cloth. I also sewed cotton twine through them (fig. 1), draped them and
hung them in trees and wadded them into balls and melted them with a torch.
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Photo: Scott Baxter
I was exploring a found medium and taking it in as
many directions as I was able.
Over the years, I’ve used rubber inner tubes, plastic
bottles, aluminum cans, coral and polyester resin
in my practice, among many other media. Exploring
these materials has made me realize there’s a
communicative property in basically everything; it just
has to be tapped into.
In the mid 1980s, I began collecting cast-iron stove
burners from stoves I found in dumpsters in Brooklyn.
I was attracted to the strangely animate forms and
wrapped them in shrink-wrap, melted that with a
torch, rubbed the objects with graphite and through
this ritual process made them my own. By installing
them in rows they became a kind of alphabet and
visual language, and I took this as a cue (fig. 2, Wrapped
Alphabet, 1985-1989).
In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, I collected coral
from the beaches of Vieques, an island near Puerto
Rico that I visited five times. One day in 1992, I took this
photo of the coral I’d found, and it was suggestive of an
arcane language. Completely natural shapes that were
mimetic of works by 20th-century sculptors I’d studied
in undergraduate art history classes (fig. 3, Coral Key,
1992, c-print).
Around 1994, I began painting again and was inspired
by a work that my great-great-grandfather made in
1870. Jonathan Stickney McDonald was an artist,
mason and philosopher and, like many in his day,
followed the Theosophy teachings of Mme. Blavatsky,
a Russian-born occultist and spiritualist. His personal
cosmology and specifically his spiritual painting inspired
and directed my own series of symbolic paintings that,
when installed, spelled out a personal language and
inaugurated what I call a visual belief system, which has
become the foundation of my practice (fig. 4, c. 1994,
Installation at Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, 2013).
Continuing to the present day, commonplace and found
object remain touchstones for my work. Receipt, a
painting from 2016, directly references a blurry receipt
received from a cashier. All that could be seen in the
small slip was an iteration of abstract shapes in rows,
which in my mind’s eye became an alchemical formula
and the format for a painting on panel. The reference
to an archaic intuitive language of form through tool
and implement shapes emerged simply from the
unfocussed ink generated by a cash register (fig. 5,
Receipt, 2016, oil on panel).
And finally, a recent image taken of an installation in
my studio at Cattle Track in Scottsdale. On the wall
is Poem for Dublin, a 10” x 40’ painting of a doubleprinted
fortune that I found inside a fortune cookie one
day. The randomness of the text and the idea that this
could be some kind of fortune written in JavaScript was
intriguing. The painting was shown at my London
gallery a year or two ago and has a James Joycean
wit with a sense of the Gaelic in its double-printed run.
I’ve titled this studio installation The Upanishads and
Poem for Dublin. I’ve not read the Upanishads but
understand them to be a collection of Sanskrit texts
that form a belief system. The processes, forms and
sequencing in my studio practice are the components
of my own particular visual belief system (fig. 6, The
Upanishads and Poem for Dublin).
The 2017 Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grant Recipients
exhibit will be on display at the Phoenix Art Museum
through November 4. The exhibition also features the
work of Christopher Jagmin, Casey Farina, Jennifer
Day and Laura Spaulding Best.
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Photo: Diana Calderon
Three Young Artists to Watch
By Rembrandt Quiballo
A cultural scene is only as strong as its young creatives. It continues to grow thanks to the up-and-coming
artists who push boundaries and explore new creative territory. The Phoenix art scene plays an important role
in providing opportunities for young artists to grow and find success. Young artists who utilize the existing
community as a resource are the ones who usually thrive. JAVA has selected three talented artists to watch
who have worldly art practices yet are distinct to Phoenix. Young artists don’t just develop in a vacuum; they
are shaped and influenced by the existing artists and the environment around them.
12 JAVA
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Photo: Diana Calderon
Sam Fresquez, 21
Sam Fresquez was born and raised in Phoenix. Her
grandmother owned an art supply store, exposing
her to the arts at a young age. Fresquez attended the
Metropolitan Arts Institute, a visual and performing
arts charter high school in downtown Phoenix, which
furthered the early development of her work. She
was accepted to several nationally prestigious art
schools, but she chose to stay in Phoenix. “I definitely
thought I was going to go out of state for college, but
I’m happy I didn’t,” she said. This choice has been
integral to the content of her art, as her network here
in Phoenix grows.
Fresquez’s Mexican-American heritage has had
an indelible influence on her work. Her family has
resided in the Valley for generations. Her mother
is an educator, and her father does public relations
for NASCAR’s Hispanic audience. “My parents and
grandparents were not allowed to speak Spanish
at school,” she said. “For a really long time, it was
against the law to speak Spanish at schools in Arizona.”
This has made her keenly aware of the power of
language and its fraught history in the state.
Fresquez’s most iconic work thus far is her
calligraphy. She interviews people, employs poetry
and uses anything linguistic that inspires her. She
then creates highly intricate characters that she
renders onto wood, metal or fabric. The aesthetic
beauty of her work is equaled by her eloquent touch
with politically charged topics, such as gender,
religion and race, which are infused throughout.
The work vibrates with the freshness of now, but
Fresquez is quick to acknowledge those that came
before her. “I think it’s really important to have
respect for traditional craft-making,” she said. This
blend of young and old, modern and traditional
informs her work with a sense of timelessness.
The collaborative nature of art has motivated her
to connect with others. “I feel like the community
aspect is one of the most important parts about art –
that we’re talking to each other.”
It’s been a productive year for Fresquez. She was
chosen by renowned Phoenix sculptor Pete Deise
as one of the featured emerging artists for the Art
D’Core Gala during the 30th anniversary of Art
Detour. Fresquez is a current artist-in-residence at
Xico Arte y Cultura, and she curated a show titled
In Your Own Backyard for its gallery. She recently
had a collaborative show with Merryn Alaka at the
Roosevelt Row Hot Box Shipping Container Galleries,
as well as being featured in a group show at the
Sagrado Galleria.
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Lily Reeves, 26
Lily Reeves is a neon artist and an advocate for a
more vibrant ecosystem within the arts. Originally
from Birmingham, Alabama, she is influenced by
Southeastern folk art. “I’m interested in mysticism,
occultism, spiritualism, consciousness and things like
that,” she said. Reeves uses notions of ritual and the
supernatural in harmony with the light that emanates
from neon to create immersive spaces that replicate
transcendental experiences.
Her thesis show, Aurora, at Step Gallery, consisted
of small and large sections of purple neon
suspended in the air, radiating a kind of majestic
gateway to another dimension. Included was a
performative component in which a healer gave
floral and sound baths to participants inside a
circular fabric enclosure.
“I recently began working one-on-one with viewers
to explore physical, mental and emotional health
in a society rigid with systemic trauma,” she said.
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Photo: Ryan Parra
“This work confronts the lack of deep connection and
support we have in daily interactions and reclaims
personal health as a condition we can address
ourselves instead of handing over our minds and
bodies to the tendencies of Western medicine.”
After completing her MFA at ASU this year, Reeves is
feeling that artists need to be more appreciated and
fairly compensated for their craft. She has aligned
herself with like-minded creatives. “I started working
at a foundry at age 15,” she said. “I’ve always been
around people making art. That’s kind of how I got
into it.” Reeves is interested in new models for
creating and making art, such as Meow Wolf in Santa
Fe, New Mexico, where artists independently create
and run an immersive exhibition.
Reeves wants artists to communicate more with
one another in Phoenix and build strong connective
networks. In doing so, artists can gain creative
and financial freedom. “The art community is very
approachable,” she said. “We need more artist-run
spaces. I think Phoenix is an awesome city. It’s a
“Inside the Sky”
great cultural city. There’s just as much opportunity
here as any other place.”
Reeves has put her words into practice by teaming
up with fellow artist Krista Davis to create an art duo
called The Paradise Boys. Their initial piece combines
Reeves’ light work with Davis’ video content about
a genderless, almost alien being wandering through
a desert landscape. It’s a beautiful meditation on
the environment and subverts the human narrative.
The combination of the two artists’ skill-sets is what
makes this work successful.
Reeves’ custom-made light works are sought after
all over the Valley. She was commissioned by the
City of Scottsdale to create a sculpture as part of the
PlatFORM public art series and was part of a group
show featuring women artists working with neon,
aptly titled She Bends, in California. She is an Arts
Initiative Coordinator, as well as the 2018 artist-inresidence
at the Takoja Institute in New Mexico this
upcoming summer.

Papay Solomon, 24
Papay Solomon has been in the Valley for a decade
now. His path to Phoenix was filled with much
hardship. His pregnant mother was forced to flee
Liberia due to civil war and gave birth to Solomon
between borders. His family ended up at a refugee
camp in Guinea and remained there for nine years.
It was in this perilous environment that he would
discover his artistic abilities. “For me, it was a way
of getting a better perspective of what was actually
going on,” he said. “It made me an observer.”
A social worker at the refugee camp was so affected
by the early drawings of his experiences that she
helped Solomon and his family immigrate to the
United States. Adjusting to a new culture was a
challenge, yet he found solace in others who had
similar experiences. He started taking life-drawing
classes at Phoenix College but grew dissatisfied
with sketching the same types of people. He wanted
to draw people who looked like him, so he did selfportraits
and eventually began asking individuals
with similar experiences if he could draw them.
In the midst of honing his technical skills, he sought
to advance the ideas within his work. “I wanted
my work to be about something important,” he
said. This perspective compelled him to engage
with an underrepresented community. “I started to
understand the African diaspora and the divide – how
I’m looked at differently. I’m not American enough
and I’m not African enough.”
The need to see people represented who looked like
him led Solomon to his current body of work. He
paints large portraits of young people of the African
diaspora dressed in both Western and African attire.
These visual signifiers act as a metaphor for their
interior lives as they acclimate to American ideals.
He cuts out shapes directly into the canvas and
places a mirror behind to reflect the viewer’s own
image in the openings. His technical aptitude is
truly stunning, and the content of the work is deeply
affecting and authentic.
Solomon’s positive attitude, despite enduring a
tumultuous childhood, has helped him overcome the
many challenges of being a young artist. He was
named Outstanding Undergraduate for 2018 by the
Herberger Institute of Design and Arts at ASU. He
was recently featured in the Moniker International
Art Fair in New York and was part of the Young Artist
Salon held by esteemed gallerist Jerre Lynn Vanier
in Paradise Valley. He is a Contemporary Forum
2018 Artists’ Grant recipient, and a documentary is
currently being filmed about him and his ongoing
portrait project.
All three artists have been selected to represent
Phoenix this summer in the Arizona Biennial 2018,
a celebrated survey of the best art in the state at
the Tucson Museum of Art. This year’s exhibition
was juried by Rebecca R. Hart, Curator of Modern
and Contemporary Art at the Denver Art Museum.
Fresquez will have a collaborative metal calligraphy
piece with Merryn Alaka, Reeves will be showing a
video installation as part of The Paradise Boys, and
Solomon will be displaying a self-portrait.
Sam Fresquez:
La Misma, with Merryn Alaka, sterling silver cut calligraphy, 2018
Japanglish, laser cut wooden calligraphy, 2017
Baseline, carved tire, 2018
Papay Solomon:
Diluting Dreams, Portrait of Allesene Ntwali, oil on canvas, mirror, 40” x 40”, 2017
K.O.S. Knowledge of Self, self-portrait, oil on canvas, mirror, 36” x 36”, 2018
Inside the Lappa with Grace, Portrait of Grace Mbola, oil on canvas, mirror,
40” x 40”, 2018
JAVA 15
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ARTS
EUAN MACDONALD
A Bigger Plan
By Amy Young
In each month of the current summer season, the
ASU Art Museum is opening a new exhibition. In
July, it’s A Bigger Plan, which features the work
of Euan Macdonald, and unlike the other summer
shows, this one will operate a bit differently. This
two-part exhibition kicks off on July 28 with Side B,
which runs through September 1. In mid-September,
Side A opens and stays active until the first of
December.
It isn’t surprising that the exhibition will commence
with Side B. When it comes to time, Macdonald is
known to shake things up a bit, often playing with
everyday scenarios to challenge dominant perceptions
and expectations. Macdonald, who was born
in Scotland and resides in California, has been doing
video work since the early ’90s. In this portion of the
two-pronged show, you’ll see an early survey of his
video work, where he uses loops and layered imagery
for multisensory provocation.
In Two Planes, a single-channel video projection from
1998, Macdonald has us focused on two planes flying
next to one another, in unison, against the backdrop
of a blue sky. Because of the synchronicity of the
planes, the video immediately conjures up images
and ideas of an air show – or something equally as
bucolic with a sporting intent.
In its short run time – just over two minutes – the
video plays some tricks on the mind. As you stay
focused on these parallel planes in motion, there are
some seemingly natural interpretations. These metal
beasts look like sharks swimming in unison. But as
your mind stops running the imagery through the
finding-order-in-chaos filter, the simple video – with
its pervasive airplane motor sound looming in the
background – makes you face your own interpretations.
It’s an open-ended scenario. Is it ominous and
frightening? Is it hopeful? How it hits your core can
offer you a self-reflective chuckle. An element of
humor is present in Macdonald’s work and is found
in those self-challenging moments, as well as in his
emphasis of the monotonous grinds that comprise
everyday life.
The 1997 video Interval highlights the daily grind, as
two long shadows are projected across a freeway.
We see the cars relentlessly parade over these
silhouettes. It’s as much of a nod to the relationship
between man and nature as it is, yet again, to the
cogs that help keep everything in motion. Maybe
it’s a subtle call-to-arms – an in-your-face reminder
to find ways to operate outside of those general
mechanics.
A more recent video from 2011 titled 9,000 Pieces
opens like the beginning of one of those energetic,
16 JAVA
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whistle-while-you-work Disney clips. The oiled-up
machines get clicked on and the devices used to test
the 9,000 parts of a piano in a factory in China get
to work. As they continue, the luster of that initial
electric spirit changes as you settle in on the sounds.
Repetition is common in the labor processes of factory
work, but minus the human factor, here, the
sounds invite thoughts about mechanical quality and
evolution.
House (everythinghappensatonce) is a compelling
video, in that it knows how to test the viewer’s
patience. A worn-down old house borders a rippling
lake. The slant of the land looks like maybe the house
slid down and has been sitting in its sad state of
wear and tear for a long time. As you hear the water
flow by, there’s a definite expectation that the house
will get swept up in the current to be carried away.
The sound of the water is hypnotic, but in this case it
doesn’t allow you to get totally relaxed, as the fate of
the house ends up being the primary focus. The video
is simultaneously soothing, maddening and funny in
how it inspires multiple emotions.
Side A, the second half of A Bigger Plan, features an
immersive video installation that layers pre-psychedelic
patterning from the end pages of 18th-, 19thand
early 20th-century books from the open stacks of
ASU’s Hayden Library.
In his piece Untitled (End Pages), created this year
as part of Macdonald’s proposal for this video installation,
you can see that structural complexities
are something he likes to explore and deconstruct.
Circular and linear patterns – each with its own
distinct palettes and intricacies – intermingle. Once
again, Macdonald emphasizes that there are layers to
everything, despite what the surface appears to offer.
In hooking us and pulling us into rote patterns and
images, he helps us find a center.
Euan Macdonald
A Bigger Plan
ASU Art Museum
July 28 – Sept. 1 and Sept. 15 – Dec. 1
asuartmuseum.edu
Euan MacDonald, “Two Planes,” 1998. Single Channel Video Projection.
Courtesy of the artist.
Euan MacDonald, “House (everythinghappensatonce),” 1999. Single Channel
Video Projection. Courtesy of the artist.
Euan MacDonald, “Untitled (end page red),” 2018. Paper collage 28.5 x 40 in.
Courtesy of the artist.
Euan MacDonald, “Untitled (end page orange),” 2018. Paper collage 28.5 x 40 in.
Courtesy of the artist.
Euan MacDonald, “Untitled (End Pages),” 2018. Artist’s proposal for immersive
video installation. Courtesy of the artist.
JAVA 17
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CASEY FARINA
Digital Media Artist
By Jenna Duncan
Annually, the Contemporary Forum group of Phoenix
Art Museum nominates one mid-career artist and
several emerging artists from the community to
receive grants. This year, the pool of talent spans
traditional art media as well as those that look
forward to the future.
Digital media artist Casey Farina is one of the
latter. By day, he’s a full-time professor at Glendale
Community College, instructing students in
animation, computer-assisted art and nonlinear video
production programs from the Adobe suite. But in
addition to his teaching duties, Farina is a musician,
artist, composer and now an animator and filmmaker.
And add contemporary artist to the list on his resume.
Farina completed his PhD in music technology from
Northwestern University. “When you do that, you
end up playing way more new music than if you play
violin or piano,” Farina says. “There are no ‘classical’
percussion pieces written [for drums]. There are just
a handful of parts for orchestra pieces.” Most of
what he studied and practiced was very new, very
contemporary and minimalist, he says.
Farina’s mother signed him up for high school
marching band as a way to get him to socialize more.
But he discovered that he loved drumming, and it
became more than just a hobby. Percussion led to
electronic music, and that led to video and then
animation. Along the way, he developed an interest
in filmmaking and cinematography, and got into
graphic scores. What are those? Well, it’s almost like
you see the notes come to life, Farina explains.
“Electronic music and generative art, especially
now, have systems that do the same stuff,” he says.
“Like Max MSP, Jitter and all the digital multimedia
systems can control sound and video at the same
time. Whereas, for the last 15 years, those tools
and controls were separate, and they took a lot of
coordination – timing.”
The medium is kind of young; there isn’t a lot of
work out there that does this kind of annotation
with video, Farina says. “Writing percussion music
using standard notation is really kind of a hack,” he
says. “Everyone comes up with their own systems,
especially for the non-pitched stuff.”
In this way, percussion and graphic scores become
a new, abstract medium. There is a lot of room for
interpretation and choices to be made by the performing
musicians. With his own compositional work, Farina
leaves a lot of space for improvisation. He provides very
minimal instruction to the players. With his piece Force.
Line.Border, for example, the composition is written
for “a trio of indeterminate instruments.”
Farina’s experiments in combining music with a
visual score have led to performances with large
video projections in accompaniment. He has shown
his work at the Icehouse, at Hayden Flour Mill in
Tempe and at a residency at the Atlantic Art Center.
At these live performances, the video is projected
on a massive exterior wall while Farina or another
percussionist plays along.
But Farina’s art evolution has morphed again, and
more recently he’s gotten into the practice of creating
smaller-scale, more tangible art objects. The works
on view at Phoenix Art Museum represent a new
direction: smaller-scale, sellable art pieces, each
about four feet square in dimension. The wallmounted
works are made of screens covered by
acrylic laser-cut overlays. On the screens dance many
of Farina’s animations, inspired by cellular and cosmic
processes.
Farina is represented by Reyes Contemporary Art in
the Phoenix area.
2017 Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grants Recipients
exhibition
Marshall and Hendler Galleries
Phoenix Art Museum
Through Nov. 4
phxart.org
Micrologies 1.1
Micrologies 1.2
Morphologies
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ISSE MALOI
Himalayan Bath Salt
By Ashley Naftule
“Hey, I can do that” is one of the most effective lures
into the artist life. Phoenix painter Isse Maloi knows
the power of that particular motive. Chatting about
his background as an artist, he talked about his time
studying graphic design and how visiting a student
show after he dropped out changed his life. “I saw
the art and just felt that I could do that,” Maloi says.
“A friend of mine painted a very nice piece for the
show, and I looked at it and it inspired me to paint
again. I had painted in high school and just hadn’t
picked up a brush since then.”
Inspired to leave his mark on the art world, Maloi has
been working steadily ever since, producing bold and
brightly colorful paintings and showing them across
the Valley. “I did a lot of showings at coffeehouses,
restaurants and salons,” Maloi says. “My last big
show was at the GreenHAUS Gallery.”
Maloi has also exhibited at Chaos Theory shows
and made the scene all over downtown, running into
influencers like Michael Oleskow, the cultural curator
at FOUND:RE, who approached him about putting
together the show that would become Himalayan
Bath Salt.
On view at FOUND:RE until July 31, the exhibit
showcases the depth and breadth of Maloi’s work
as a painter. In a statement the artist released about
the show, Maloi said that it wasn’t built around any
particular theme or motifs. “My art doesn’t really
have a theme, and neither does this exhibit. It’s not
one set idea. It’s just me.”
While Maloi says there are no set themes, there are
some constants that appear throughout the show.
It highlights Maloi’s mastery of portraiture: he pays
loving tribute to the human form by painting vivid
depictions of his friends and idols. “I paint people
that I like and people who inspire me,” Maloi says.
But the paintings aren’t straight depictions of reality;
Maloi adds playful touches, like when he puts Mickey
Mouse ears on a portrait of Michael Jordan sailing
into the sky to sink a basket.
He also has a very tactile painting style. One older
work depicting a man in a gray suit holding a fat,
pink bunny renders the suit threads and rabbit fur so
perfectly in acrylic paint that it’s hard to resist the
urge to brush your fingers across the canvas.
Maloi also uses typographic elements to give his
pieces an extra layer of meaning and punch. “I love
fonts, lettering, words,” Maloi says. “A word can
push a piece over the edge and really state what I’m
feeling. Words can influence and provoke emotions.”
While being an artist isn’t his full-time day job (yet),
Maloi spends as much time as possible tracing the
outlines of his shapeshifting muses on one canvas after
another. “I have a regular nine to five, but I still paint
every day,” he says. “If I don’t have a paintbrush in
my hand every day, I’m doing myself a disservice.”
Isse Maloi’s Himalayan Bath Salt
FOUND:RE
1100 N. Central Ave.
Through July 31
foundrehotels.com
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MAGAZINE

ROLAND’S HITS THE MARK
By Sloane Burwell
Roland’s Cafe Market Bar is the new mashup between venerated pizza guru and
all-around nice guy Chris Bianco and the Chihuahuan cuisine enthusiasts behind
the foodie obsession Tacos Chiwas, Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez. It’s
located in the lovingly preserved and renovated 101-year-old building that once
housed Roland’s Market – the building still maintains its neon signage out front
proudly proclaiming “Se Habla Espanol.”
Gorgeous red brick has been salvaged and paired with glass, giving an amazing
view of downtown and the city at large. A peek upward reveals the stunning
pressed-tin ceiling, and a glance past the enormous open kitchen – complete with
wood-fired oven – reveals a wall-sized black-and-white photograph that captures
the stark beauty of our natural desert landscape.
Roland’s houses a tiny market, and by tiny I mean Cutino’s Hot Sauce’s entire line
(so good), a smattering of Bianco-branded tomatoes, and a random and changing
offering of seasonal goods and breads. While some super-tasty baked goods
were present when they first opened, I haven’t seen them on any return trips. No
matter, I’ll happily continue to eat here.
And drink here – in order to enter you must pass an impressive espresso bar,
proudly serving local ROC beans, or a full-service bar in the back near the
gorgeous wall art, serving an array of craft cocktails and tequila flights.
But I’m a breakfast fan, and we’ll start there. First of all, kudos to whoever
decided to serve the lovely coffee in giant mugs ($3). Nothing starts any breakfast
better. Second, I never thought I would eat a tortilla that would make me say,
“This is better than Carolina’s.” And now I can. Served with Roland’s superb Pork
Chop ($13), this warm piece of heaven is the perfect delivery mechanism for eggs
and hot sauce, and, well, anything else. And about the pork chop, it’s really two
small chops, grilled to perfection.
These pinkish chops are precisely what I ate on the ranches of my childhood, and
they remind me of the kind of pork that comes from raising it yourself. So good,
it’s like my grandmother moved through time to cook these in her wood-fueled
stove. So try it. The eggs alongside? Also perfect. As are the handful of potato
rounds cooked in just the right amount of caramelized onions. I’m going to be
saying “perfect” a lot today. Because it is. Like the chorizo quesadilla. My co-diner
thought it needed more cheese. Blasphemy! This quesadilla is more cheese crisp
than quesadilla, cooked until crisp and stiff enough to be picked up and eaten like
a slice of pizza, with just the right amount of spicy chorizo smattered on top.
At this point, I can also say I’ve eaten their entire lunch and dinner menu, and
I’ll give you the highs and one low. You’ll love the tacos ($3 each). I am literally
in love with the carnitas, a pile of flaming-hot grilled pork, diced and served
alongside white onion and forkfuls of cilantro, atop a perfect corn tortilla. Ask for
the salsa trios and then dot with the salsa verde – a kicky tomatillo concoction
that packs a punch, although this one won’t linger like the fiery red sauce, which
is hot. I mean sweat-inducing hot, and it’s worth it, so plan accordingly.
I adored the Entomatadas ($12): light-as-air corn tortillas stuffed with a thin layer
of asadero cheese and then loaded with an orangey red sauce and topped with
queso fresco and bits of cabbage. This soft and tender dish was consumed with a
respectful hush. It’s unique and tasty and makes you really think about what might
make the sauce that color, and that perfectly balanced. It’s not really smoky, it’s not
really sweet, it’s not really spicy, but it is savory and, well, perfect.
Like the Wood Fired Tostada ($12), a crispy disk covered in kicky chicken tinga. It
was so crunchy, breaking the shell into pieces launched chicken shreds across the
table. And we ate them all anyway. This is probably my favorite thing on the menu,
and it comes with a bonus side of fideo soup. If you’ve never had fideo, it’s what
Rice-A-Roni wishes it were – toasted pasta strands cooked in savory chicken broth
until you spoon it into bowls and slurp it down. This is the real treat – so buttery
from the reduced broth. This was always eaten with enthusiasm.
And the Empanadas ($13), three perfect moon-shaped pastries stuffed with cabeza
and chile posado: These were amazing. Flaky crusts, sumptuous filling – dotting it
with the red sauce was like gilding the lily. The garbanzo dip served alongside was
rustic and chunky, accompanying the dish like a more savory hummus. I wouldn’t
call it a dip, since we broke our empanadas in bits trying to dip, but it was tasty
when eaten by fork. I couldn’t resist pouring more salsa verde on top, though. It was
excellent, if I do say so myself.
What wasn’t so excellent was the Frutiras ($6), a handful of cabbage and perfectly
sliced radish on top of what was called a “flour chicharrones.” These used to be
called “duritos” when I would buy them from a guy on a bike in my neighborhood
– small squares of a flour-based pasta kind of thing that was deep fried and served
with hot sauce. Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly executed here. But it feels like
a vegan salad at the best steakhouse you’ve ever been to – something chefs have
to have on the menu. It was okay, but in the presence of so much perfection, it
suffered in comparison.
No matter. We cleansed our palates with the most perfectly cooked fresh cake
donuts you’ve ever eaten, covered in cajeta caramel and served with more on the
side. Hot and delicate, these four were inhaled in about 3.4 seconds. I’ve never
wanted to order another dessert so quickly in my life. The caramel was so sweet
and balanced, with the tiniest hint of salt, and when you dipped the hot donut into
it, the donut fell apart. Which we loved – it forced us to use the fork to dredge the
hot donut out of the melted caramel.
And the staff – each and every person who greeted us on every visit was efficient
and kind. Each person, even if they were just filling our water glasses, seemed
genuinely interested in making sure we were content. And we were.
So what happens when you combine a pizza legend and a taco team sensation?
Perfection, evidently.
Roland’s Cafe Market Bar
1505 E. Van Buren, Phoenix
Sunday & Monday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Tuesday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 8 a.m. to midnight
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Moxy
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Photographer: Jonny Stalnaker @shotbyjonny
Model and makeup: Tara Hutchison @tarahutchison73
Model and makeup: Lauren Perry @Luckyzombie84
Wardrobe: Looks Good Anya Fashion looksgoodanya.etsy.com
Location: Moxy Tempe
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RAFAEL CASTRO AND DORA CASTILLO
DEVELOPING A DREAM
By Jenna Duncan
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Driving through central Phoenix on East Oak Street, in a transitional neighborhood known as Harvard
Place, it’s impossible not to notice a cluster of newly built, angular white stucco homes gleaming in
the sunlight, opposite the weathered exteriors of the mini ranch homes that have historically lined
these streets. This little commune of design-forward gems is the work of RD Design Team, owned
and operated by Dora Castillo and Rafael Castro. The husband-and-wife duo have been designing and building
together for nearly 30 years.
Castro and Castillo work with numerous artisans and specialists to create provocative details throughout their
residential developments. The home they named 29Shadows has a stunning steel entry gate that swings open
on a single counterweighted pivot. The name of this home was inspired by the interesting shadows that the
gate casts into the front yard as the sun sets. Gabion-style outdoor walls (stacked stones enclosed in a metal
wire/mesh frame) face forward toward the street. Castro says this type of outdoor wall not only looks better
than concrete block but is actually stronger.
Inside there are high, clean white walls and an open concept that connects the kitchen with the main living
area and features many interesting metal, wood and concrete details. “All of our floor plans are very open,”
Castillo says. “We always create nice interior environments and like to add courtyards to bring a little bit of the
outside in.” In the master bedroom, there is an interesting feature built in to the wall – a floor-level window
box, showcasing views into the back patio. It’s a nice way to bring some outdoor elements into the space.
The backyard fence is made of corrugated steel, specially treated to rust. Castillo and Castro say that in their
architectural designs they prefer to expose the materials to create an honest expression of the design. In this
way, the architecture is clean and modern and celebrates the earth’s elements. The floors are made of concrete
that has been ground to expose the aggregate, then sealed to create a smooth, cool finish. “We expose the
concrete. We expose all of the materials. When we have wood, we expose the wood,” Castro explains. “So
that’s the contrast of the house: the raw material elements against the clean architectural lines.”
In almost every home they build, the interior walls have a smooth white finish that goes floor to ceiling. Castro
points out there are no baseboards or trim, reducing visual clutter. Windows are also inset, so there is no extra
window ledge indoors to collect dust. They use spray foam insulation in all of the walls and beneath the roof,
so there is no need for attic space. Less energy is consumed for better sustainability – not to mention more
affordable electric bills in the summer.

Another unique feature that Castro and Castillo like
to add to every home is a specialized water feature.
At 29Shadows, guests on the home’s main patio are
treated to a rectangular fountain finished in black
metal. Adding details like fountains and one-of-a-kind
mailboxes brings character to each home. They often
work with the buyers at the time of sale to create
custom elements, Castillo explains.
The largest home RD Design team has undertaken to
date was 7,000 square feet in the East Valley. They
are currently working on plans to remodel an existing
10,000-square-foot residence in Phoenix, which
includes a 10-car garage.
“We both were architects in Mexico,” Castro says.
“We started our business there, but then we decided
to move to the United States.” Castro explains that
the move was prompted by an economic downturn
at home as well as an appreciation for Frank Lloyd
Wright’s desert architecture. The climate and
geography of Arizona are similar to the Baja region,
where Castillo and Castro went to design school and
started their practice, making it an ideal place for
them to relocate.
Castillo does most of the design, Castro says. “And
I’m the builder. Even though I’m an architect, like
her, I’m more in the field.” Castillo and Castro have
been working in Phoenix since 2000, although they
have been building and designing homes since 1991.
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Jointly they hold architect, contractor and realtor
licenses. City officials have thanked them for their
infill projects because of the difficulty and expense
of sending pipes out across the desert, digging
foundations, adding drainage and building new
streets. Sprawl simply costs more, Castro says.
Their business is not just demolishing old houses
and building new ones from the ground up. They
also restore homes, especially mid-century ones. RD
Design has just started another remodel project on
Catalina, near 16th Street and Thomas. “They are fun
to work on,” Castro says of the remodels. “You never
know what to expect. You open a wall, and think
you’re doing one thing, and all of a sudden you have
to replace the whole sewer,” he laughs.
In 2008, due to the recession, there was very little
construction going on in the Valley. Phoenix had
incentives in place for infill and rehab projects. RD
stayed busy during those tough times and kept a
lot of people employed. “There were a lot of badly
damaged houses that we had to totally rehab,”
Castillo says. Since 2008, they estimate they have
completed more than one hundred rehab and infill
projects in the Valley.
“We like to use high-quality, sustainable materials,”
Castillo says. For example, the white coating on the
exterior walls is an advanced product that will last
many more years than traditional stucco. Castillo
also likes to creatively re-use materials. She uses
reclaimed wood from pallets for her barn doors. She
has become so intent on getting hands-on with her
projects that she’s learned to weld. “The guys never
think she’s a girlie-girl,” Castro jokes. “Because she’s out
there working with them – welding in high heels!”
Phoenix has a recent building code that requires new
residential construction to provide a water retention
area, due to the increased risk of flash floods. Instead
of making ugly pits, Castro explains, they would
rather make something beautiful. For one of their
newest homes, they built a steel bridge with a glass
top to cover the retention basin.
A couple of years ago, Castillo and Castro acquired
the block of land bordering Oak Street to build a
cluster of infill homes. However, many copycat
developers and flippers have since moved into the
neighborhood. The home values have gone up, and
it’s truly a seller’s market right now. It’s become more
difficult to find lots or homes to buy. So, now Castro
and Castillo are looking for a new neighborhood to
start buying, remodeling and building on infill lots.
The new homes by RD Design Team in the Oak Street
neighborhood are selling for between $360,000
and $400,000, they say. “We are not building
tract houses,” Castillo says. “We develop good
relationships with our buyers and sell these homes
like pieces of art.”

Castillo’s favorite project is called the Courtyard
House. It is decorated with reclaimed wood and
handmade barn doors and includes a secondstory
patio on top of the garage. Not many
people know, she says, but this is the place that
the couple calls home. They enjoy entertaining so
much that they turned the garage into a full bar. “I
love all of our homes, but I think my house is the
best,” Castillo says. “The courtyard is important to
us because we are from Mexico, and we have the
history of haciendas.”
Castillo and Castro first met in middle school when
Castro’s family moved from Sonora to Mexicali,
where Castillo lived. They didn’t hit it off at first.
“I was very short then. And she was very skinny,”
Castro teases. “She was my bully.” They weren’t
even friends, and after high school, they went their
separate ways. “We met again in college. And I was
taller,” he explains. “And, see, I don’t like short,” she
laughs. Eventually, she started giving him rides to
school because he hitchhiked all the time. And from
there, they became a couple.
Castro has always enjoyed jazz, and for years the
couple would seek out live music venues. Then
one year, Castillo bought him a saxophone. He took
lessons and now he plays, although only for private
audiences. They also enjoy supporting flamenco
dance in the Valley and exploring craft breweries. “I
like IPA and he likes stout,” Castillo says.
“We’ve had a lot of magic in life, a lot of miracles,”
Castillo says. The couple has two adult daughters:
Danielle, who lives in New York City and performs in
musical theatre, and Alejandra, who is a filmmaker
in Los Angeles. They get together as a family and
love to travel, Castillo says. Within a year, they will
journey to Cuba for the first time.
The first project the couple worked on together
was Castillo’s uncle’s house, when they were still
architecture students at Universidad Autonoma de
Baja California. During that time, just for fun, they put
an RD logo on a piece of plywood and leaned the sign
against a palm tree. While they were working, a man
drove up in a brand-new Grand Marquis and asked,
“Who’s the architect?” They said, “It’s us!” And the
man asked to hire them for a property remodel. He
became their first actual client. “He just handed us
his card and said, ‘Go to my office. I have a job for
you guys,’” Castro says. Soon they were working on a
six-family housing project.
That first client led them to their first investor, a
politician in Mexico. “We were 22 years old when
we had this guy come to us and say, ‘I want to invest
with you.’ We were like, ‘Really? Invest with us?’”
Castillo says. But the hopeful man had a vision, just
as Castro and Castillo had a vision that they could
build RD Design into something big.
A few years after they married and started their
design firm, they decided to sell everything and go
to Europe in 1992. They enjoyed their time in Spain
and decided they very much wanted to leave Mexico.
But they couldn’t decide between Europe and the
U.S. They bickered about it for almost a year before
a family member said to just flip a coin. And the rest
is history.
The couple is into meditation and will be going on
two-month meditation retreats this summer and fall
at a monastery in Spain. Castillo will be in Barcelona
for two months, and when she returns Castro will
take his turn for two months. “It helps us a lot in this
stressful environment,” Castro says. “It always helps
us relax and make better decisions. That way, the
design comes from the heart, not just the mind.”
The last time the couple traveled to Barcelona, they
started the process of obtaining building permits
for a project they named the Divine House. “This is
the first time we’ve gotten into obtaining the permits
[in Europe],” Castillo explains. With the Divine House
project on the table in Spain, there is a good possibility
of RD Design opening a European branch.
rddesignteam.com
facebook.com/RdDesignTeam
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AUSTIN OWEN
LOS PUCHOS
A MUSICAL JOURNEY
By Tom Reardon
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If you have ever traveled south from Phoenix
and visited Biosphere 2, you have an idea
of what a lovely piece of Arizona the Oracle
area is. Nestled beautifully on the northeast
side of Mount Lemmon, Oracle is also home
to one of the most exciting new-ish bands
in Arizona, Los Puchos, a passion project of
ex-Phoenician Austin Owen.
Owen, 31, is tall with longish, curly hair and an
easy smile. Imagine if Heath Ledger and Rosanna
Arquette had a son who was totally into the music
of the late, great Harry Nilsson, especially if he
had gone through a garage rock phase, and there
you go. The multi-instrumentalist, known in the
Valley for bands like Ladylike, Wooden Indian
and Slow Moses, started Los Puchos in 2013
to challenge himself to write more of his own
material, but timing was not on his side for the
band to come to fruition at that point.
Before Los Puchos could become a full-fledged
band, Owen spent two years in Paraguay between
2014 and 2016 with the Peace Corps.
Figuring out the next step was on Owen’s mind
as he returned to the United States. With a
degree from the University of Arizona in business
management, Owen felt as though joining the
Peace Corps was sort of a last hurrah and that
music, which had been a primary focus for him
prior to his Paraguayan adventure, would take a
back seat to moving on with “real” life when he
got home. The music bug, though, never left, even
while he was abroad.
“Because leading up to Peace Corps, it was like
the whole hustle, bartending and all that stuff,
and playing in a million bands trying to make it,
but always being like, ‘I have a degree and I’ll
probably end up doing something to pay the bills
at some point, in business management.’ Peace
Corps was supposed to be the farewell to trying
to do anything, trying to make it in any way with
music,” says Owen, before continuing:
“But then I found out that in Peace Corps, music
was just as much of a tool as anything else that
volunteers did in that country. And so, when I
came home I was just kinda like, ‘I’m going to take
a shot at music, and I’m not gonna do anything if
it’s not music related for six months or a year and
see how it goes.’ It’s been going really well.”
Prior to Owen’s heading to the Southern
Hemisphere, Rubber Brothers Records released
an EP of Los Puchos material on cassette, as
well as a split cassette with Owen’s former
band Wooden Indian. These early songs are
delightful and have a great garage rock vibe.
Imagine early Sebadoh meets Beach Slang with
a hint of Nick Lowe. Definitely worth checking
out if you have access to a cassette player.
During his time in Paraguay, Owen wrote
several of the songs that will appear on Los
Puchos’ first full-length release, Droom Tapes,
which will come out later this year. Of the
newer songs written for Los Puchos during his
Peace Corps stint, “Floating on the Water” has
a decidedly strong nod to the aforementioned
Nilsson’s fantastic 1970 album The Point,
and could even be a lost track off that record.
Inspired by a trip to the Rio Manduvira with
friends in Paraguay, “Floating on the Water”
is one of the best songs on the album and
will surely bring a smile to the face of many
listeners as Owen confidently sings:
“Cool water deep, I’d like for you to carry me.
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I’m trying to take it easy. And just to make it easy,
I lay back my head.
Floating on the water.
Floating on the water, no one else around me
makes a sound that I can hear at all.
It’s like I disappeared when I got in here. And life
is just a breeze when you disappear.”
“Good Love” is another great song Owen wrote
while in Paraguay, about his feelings for his
longtime girlfriend, Tina Bolt. The two were in a
relationship prior to Owen joining the Peace Corps
but decided to go their separate ways while Owen
was out of the country. As the time approached for
Owen to come back home, he realized he wanted
to broach the subject of rekindling their flame but
didn’t know how to bring it up. So he wrote “Good
Love” and sent her the demo.
Luckily for both, the song was a hit, and while it
is reminiscent of the indie rock stylings of James
Mercer (The Shins, Broken Bells), it is nothing
short of brilliant. Like Natalie Portman’s character
Sam said of The Shins’ “New Slang” in the 2004
film Garden State, “This song will change your
life.” Indeed, “Good Love” changed the lives of
Owen and Bolt, who remain together to this day.
Romance is a key element in Los Puchos’ songs,
and Owen clearly displays a deftness for crafting
hook-laden songs featuring well-turned lyrics that
tug the heartstrings.
Owen shows a remarkable talent for storytelling
with lyrics, and it takes his fantastic musicianship
to the next level in Los Puchos songs. Every
track on Droom Tapes has a story behind it, and
according to Owen, there were more than 30
possible songs to choose from before he selected
the 11 songs to release later this year. There is
a diversity in the sound across the album that
is refreshing, as Owen draws his work from a
variety of influences, including what seems to be a
tremendous amount of inspiration from his partner.
Another standout track on Droom Tapes, “Found
Letters,” was inspired by Bolt. After the couple
moved to Oracle, Bolt found an old letter from
1982 whose author was most likely in her teens
and writing to a friend about her sexual desires.
Bolt suggested that Owen write a song about the
letter, and while the two were on a drive from
Oracle to Tucson one night, they saw a full moon
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ising over Curves Cabaret (an adult entertainment
establishment on Oracle Road in Tucson, for
those familiar or curious). At that moment, Owen
decided to write the song. The finished product
is tinged strongly by Owen’s neighbor Matthias
Düwell’s skronky saxophone, which is reminiscent
of early 1970s David Bowie songs.
Apparently Düwell had been in some post-punk
bands in Germany in the late ’70s and early ’80s,
along with being a visual arts instructor at Pima
College in Tucson. Owen was pleased to see him
standing outside his house smoking a cigarette
as he walked back from the studio one day after
recording the drums and guitar for “Found Letters.”
Owen put on a German accent as he quoted
Düwell: “This riff you play, I like this riff. But
do I have to hear it anymore? I would change a
couple of things about it, but it’s a good riff.”
Owen continues, “I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re done.
You don’t have to worry about it. Do you want to
play saxophone on it?’ And he was like, ‘I will
play saxophone. No melody though. I don’t like
melody. I make noise.’ And I was like, ‘Great.
That’s perfect.’ And so he came in and did it in
two takes.”
In addition to Düwell, longtime Owen
collaborator Wally Boudway (drums) and Andy
Hillard (guitar), Stephen Booth (bass) and
Cougar Miller (percussion) are all part of the
live version of Los Puchos. At 15, Miller is the
youngest member of the group by 16 years and
a neighbor of Owen’s. Thanks to Owen’s dog,
the two have become fast friends and musical
collaborators.
“Yeah, his dog comes up, eats all our food, then
goes back to his house and throws it all up.
First time I met him I fell out of a car. That was
unusual,” shares Miller.
Miller’s grandfather, renowned Tucson artist
Andrew Rush, is creating the album artwork for
Droom Tapes. Rush is a founder of Tucson’s The
Drawing Studio and lives at the Rancho Linda
Vista arts community, where Owen and Miller
also reside. Working with Rush has been a
dream come true for Owen.
“If I’m half as open-minded as Baba [Rush] is
when I’m 85, I’ll be doing good. It’s an honor
to have him doing the artwork, and he has had
me extremely involved in the process since the
beginning,” says Owen.
If Los Puchos were a stock, our advice would be to
buy, buy, buy and buy some more before everyone
else grabs all they can. Owen’s songwriting is top
notch, fearless and ready for the next challenge
to come along. The band is looking forward to
their first Phoenix performance and are currently
in the process of booking a show at one of the
downtown venues for late summer or early fall, so
keep your eyes open. But for now, if you’d like to
check them out, you can find live videos of several
new Los Puchos songs on YouTube and some
older material from 2014 on the Rubber Brothers
Records bandcamp.com page.
Photos: Ivy Miller
JAVA 37
MAGAZINE

GIRL ON FARMER
The Smell of Romance
BY CELIA BERESFORD
At what age did my armpits start to smell? I’m not
sure, but I’d have to guess it was later than everyone
else’s and I was jealous about it. I can safely say that
whenever I did notice I was starting to smell, I did
everything in my power to hide it from my mother, not
because she was a shamer, but because the thought
of discussing any sort of body issues mortified me.
This mortification led to me inventing the double
tank-top look during one summer when I was in
middle school. Instead of telling my mom I needed a
bra, I would double up tank tops in hopes that no one
would notice that my boobs were actually just pointy
nipples. This was the same summer that I enviously
noticed Jan Brimmer’s armpit hair at a pool party. I
assume her pits had already started to smell.
For me, most puberty-related things come with some
dose of shame, or at the very least, secrecy. I never
felt bad or dirty about what was happening to my
body, but I definitely planned to hide it from my family
and flaunt it to my girlfriends. And by flaunt, of course
I mean let them know that I was also experiencing
what they were. But I probably wasn’t, because, as I
mentioned, I was a late bloomer. This led to a lot of
making things up. It was handy that I had a variety of
friend groups. I could take one girl’s period story and
retell it as if it were my own, in the meantime cursing
my own stubborn ovaries for holding out on me. But
something like smelly armpits isn’t something you
can manufacture. It starts and then there it is. I bet
that most girls, eager to be older, start deodorant-ing
before it is truly necessary.
When I noticed that my friend Susan Waitt had
deodorant on her dresser, I naturally decided I needed
some. But I didn’t want to ask my mom, so I did the
obvious, which was to steal hers. I didn’t have smelly
pits yet, but the deodorant was more like a showpiece
I would put on display when a friend came over.
Other times it was hidden deep in my sock drawer so
my brother wouldn’t see it and make fun of me. The
deodorant was called Ban – just in case you didn’t
get the message that you smell and it should be
outlawed, this not-so-subtle name would leave you
with no doubt. This was in the roll-on era, where you
would roll a small, wet round ball all around under
your armpit. It felt gross.
38 JAVA
MAGAZINE

When I noticed that my friend Susan Waitt
had deodorant on her dresser, I naturally
decided I needed some. But I didn’t want to ask
my mom, so I did the obvious, which was to
steal hers.
But where does this come from, this desire to cover up our body odors? Why
do young girls inherently believe that armpit odor, smells their bodies naturally
produce, is something that should be hidden and eliminated? Usually the thing
that is covering it up just smells artificial. Young men are also conditioned to use
deodorant, but the messaging there is that men are just too manly to handle, and
the smell of their armpits needs to be kept in check to avoid a riotous outbreak
of wet vaginas. With women it feels like the message is more targeted toward
elimination, in an effort to stave off embarrassment and shame.
Teens these days have a bazillion more products that they are barraged with,
and they are assaulted by social media and sneaky advertising 24-7 with ways
they can look and smell better. At a family party recently, I used a bathroom that
two teenage girls share. There were products everywhere, but sitting on the
back of the toilet was their deodorant. It was a svelte pink spray can of Secret. It
promised to “eliminate” body odor. Just the word eliminate makes me think of an
army general, with gritted teeth, planning to kill people. It’s so intense! We will
annihilate that smell your dirty body is producing!
On a softer note, the fragrance was called Paris Scent: Romantic. What exactly
does Paris smell like? I’ve only visited once, but the smell of Paris didn’t stick
with me, and I certainly didn’t take a deep whiff and think, “Mmm, romance!”
Maybe croissants and baguettes or cheese and coffee? But this deodorant
smelled nothing like any of those delicious things. I sprayed it after I went to the
bathroom, and it smelled like stuffy bathrooms and baby powder. Coincidentally,
exactly the smell that I associate with those sprays designed and marketed to
cover up the smell of poop. So, I guess what I learned is that romance smells
like toilet spray, and instead of having body odor, it is preferential to smell like a
bathroom, post poo.
It’s been years since I’ve worn real deodorant. I’ve got some hippy sticks that
work, kind of, but mostly they mellow things out when my pits get particularly
smelly. And even then, I only really use it when the smell will possibly interfere
with my engagements in the adult world. But the essence of a human scent is
still there – it hasn’t been eliminated. It may not smell like a romantic toilet in
Paris, but I prefer it that way. That’s my Secret.

NIGHT
GALLERY
Photos By
Robert Sentinery
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1. Pretty First Friday attendee at Bentley Gallery
2. Layne Farmer’s show at the Icehouse Gallery
3. Cool painted attire on this handsome duo
4. In town from Philly for The Art of Sound
5. Denise Yaghmourian’s opening at Bentley Gallery
6. Sky Black and his lovely girl Alex, “Coterie” opening at
monOrchid
7. Chris Loomis and Yvette Craddock at SMoCA
8. Mello Jello at the Norman Lykes House for The Art of Sound
9. Lovely duo at JAVA Fuse Sessions I at Thirdspace
10. Joe Willie Smith at Denise Yaghmourian’s opening at Bentley
11. At Gracie’s with Kelly and her beau
ERIK JONES, The Machine
(detail), 2017, Watercolor, pencil,
acrylic, wax pastel, oil on paper
mounted on wood panel, 72 x 96
inches. Courtesy of the artist and
Hashimoto Contemporary.
See Proposal Winner
MARILYN SZABO,
Sanpaku, Strasbourg,
France, Archival
gelatin silver print,
16 x 20 inches.
*
*FREE
Admission!
We T he
* PEOPLE
Contemporary American Figurative Art
Continues through Aug 5, 2018
Marilyn Szabo’s
Life &Death
: PORTRAITS
Now on Display!
SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!
Now Accepting Proposals
DOWNLOAD THE 2018-19
SEASON PROSPECTUS TODAY!
mesaartscenter.com/getinvolved
(click on the “Artist Opportunities” tab)
One East Main Street • Mesa, Arizona 85201 • 480-644-6560 • MesaArtsCenter.com

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12. Katharine Leigh Simpson with her piece at Modified Arts
13. Hyperbella headlines JAVA Fuse Session I at Thirdspace
14. Bassim brings the hookah to the party
15. The Art of Sound’s Soundhouse Experience with KJ and friends
16. Kyu from Conceptually Social catering
17. Melissa Rein Lively from The Brand Consortium
18. Chris and pal check out Match at the Found:RE hotel
19. Rembrandt and friends at Bentley Gallery
20. Damiana and Jaime at Match
21. Mellow yellow fellow at the Soundhouse
22. Campari popsicle toast at The Art of Sound
23. Joe and Chaundra at Icehouse Gallery
24. Wayne Rainy introduces the “Coterie” show
25. Nicole and friend at Bentley Gallery
26. All together now, Anita and friends at Soundhouse
27. Kit Abate’s show at Eye Lounge
28. Steve Hanson celebrates his birthday with Chris Trapper
29. Jesse Perry paints live at the Soundhouse

VISIT
US
ONLINE
w w w . J A V A M A G A Z . c o m

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30. Phoenix Ale House Central Kitchen with these lovelies
31. SMoCA opening with Athene, Alan and Abbey
32. Anthony Leroux in the mix at monOrchid
33. JAVA Fuse Session with these guys
34. Ernesto and friends at Thirdspace
35. FL Wright’s Norman Lykes House becomes the Soundhouse
36. Layne Farmer’s opening at the Icehouse
37. Look who brought their doggie to Bentley Gallery
38. Grant and his girl at SMoCA
39. “Adaptions” group show with Katrina Fengler at Modified
40. The Art of Sound participants Mike Ware, Claudia Kappl and Livio
Cuccuza
41. Taylor attends The Art of Sound welcome dinner at monOrchid
42. First Friday art goers
43. Fausto and friend at Gracie’s
44. Third Friday at Eye Lounge
45. The Art of Sound welcome dinner at monOrchid
46. “Adaptations” show at Modified Arts

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47. Tina and Lisa at The Cure vs. The Smiths dance party
48. Yvonne and Preston at the Van Buren club
49. Tracy and pals do Gracie’s
50. Yuko’s beautiful fruit salad
51. Phoenix Fashion Week event attendees at monOrchid
52. Wolfzie and his lady at SMoCA
53. Matt and Sage at the Van Buren
54. Long pocket skirts by KLaunderi
55. Media attendees at The Art of Sound welcome dinner
56. Joe gets to tty out an Austin Martin DB11
57. Sammy and Alexandra behind the bar at Lux
58. B-day boy Steve with Ashley and Sienna
59. DJing the Soundhouse
60. Jennyfer and Marcelle, The Cure vs. The Smiths dance party
61. Mindy and pals at the Van Buren
62. Rafael and pal at Gracie’s
63. Alassane plays JAVA Fuse Sessions I
64. Nicole and Danielle at the Van Buren

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65. Oscar and friend, Phoenix Fashion Week fete
66. Phx Fashion Week Top 40 model competition
67. Joe gets sandwiched at the Van Buren
68. Misha and pal, The Cure vs. The Smiths dance party
69. Brian Hill, the man behind Phoenix Fashion Week
70. “Coterie” exhibition artist Michael Viglietta and friend
71. Nader and his girl at monOrchid
72. Phx Fashion Week Top 40 attendees
73. Fierce model posing with shark art
74. Tara and her son Legend at SMoCA
75. PFW Top 40 model contender and his gorgeous girl
76. Livio from Sonus faber in from Italy for The Art of Sound
77. SMoCA Summer opening attendees
78. Look who showed up for JAVA Fuse Sessions I
79. Shane dropping beats at “Coterie” exhibition
80. McIntosh tower of power at the Soundhouse
81. Colorful faces in the crowd at The Art of Sound
82. KJ makes new friends at the “Coterie” exhibition
83. Tatiana Crespo opened for Fools Like Me at Lost Leaf

LADIES
NIGHT
LADIES
PLAY FOR
FREE
EVERY
WEDNESDAY

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