Ramiro Gomez remembers ‘The Forgotten – Los Olvidados’ (video)

ramiroLos Angeles artist Ramiro Gomez, Jr. first captured our attention when he began placing carboard cutouts of immigrant laborers in front of fancy mansions in Beverly Hills. Why? He wanted to celebrate the workers who are usually invisible by making them visible for all to see.

Gomez subsequently began creating cutouts memorializing immigrants who died on their journey to El Norte, and installed these new figures in the Sonoran desert on the border with Mexico.

Gomez and his partner David Feldman documented the project in Los Olivados — The Forgotten. Their documentary — which has been playing the film festival circuit for a year — is now online for the first time.

Here’s what they wrote on YouTube:

Mas…Ramiro Gomez remembers ‘The Forgotten – Los Olvidados’ (video)

In Beverly Hills, a cardboard gardener ‘represents’ (photos, video)

bigramiroWe first met West Hollywood artist Ramiro Gomez when he began placing his hand-painted cardboard figures of immigrant laborers in prominent public spaces in Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

Even as his audience has expanded via out-of-town art exhibits and a documentary film, he still plants cutout cardboard workers in places where their real-life counterparts have been before. Gomez’ aim? To make workers who are normally INVISIBLE become visible to passersby who look away or look but never see.

This gardener with a hose popped up Wednesday just before sunset in Beverly Hills near that famous hotel. Like all Gomez’ creations, he has a name. Meet Sergio.

Mas…In Beverly Hills, a cardboard gardener ‘represents’ (photos, video)

Behind the scenes at the L.A. County Museum of Art (photos)

lacmapostcard04POCHO amigo Ramiro Gomez, a SoCal guerrilla artist who we first met when he started placing cardboard cut-outs of previously-invisible immigrant workers around Beverly Hills and Hollywood, now has his work in art museums (as well as in the homes of private art collectors.)

Recently, he visited to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where he saw more immigrant laborers toiling tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the museum clean and tidy.

Gomez snapped some photos of the museum custodians and then painted their images onto postcards from the LACMA gift shop, like this postcard of the Urban Light sculpture/assemblage.

He described the image this way on Facebook:

I am greatly inspired by the way The Impressionists saw a scene, and by the Social Realists who wanted to draw attention to the everyday conditions of the working class. The figures I paint are my impressions of people I’ve seen working. In places like LACMA, the art on the walls is not what captures my full attention, but rather, my eye is also drawn to the people walking around maintaining the space. If there is anything I’ve learned from art history, is that my job as an artist is to capture what life is like in my time period, and scenes like this, I feel, best represent what I see. [Custodians near Urban Light, LACMA 4″ x 6″ acrylic on postcard]

Can you match the laborers on the postcards with the janitors in the photos?

Mas…Behind the scenes at the L.A. County Museum of Art (photos)

Ramiro Gomez: ‘Silvia waiting for her check’ (toon)

silviawaiting640Artist Ramiro Gomez — whose work aims to make visible the usually-invisible immigrant laborers who keep Los Angeles running — writes:

Painting directly on the magazine is therapeutic for me to express the brief moments in life I see at the end of a long work day in private households.

I ask myself many questions without answers, and let myself feel the weight of what I see. There is definitely anger at the purposeful omission of those who maintain the luxury being sold in the magazine, but an angry protest will only receive an angry response.

I am whispering. Sometimes a quiet image can be louder than words.

Here’s the full version of Silvia waiting for her check (9″ x 11″ acrylic on magazine — click to enlarge):

Mas…Ramiro Gomez: ‘Silvia waiting for her check’ (toon)

Flowers that bloom in Bel-Air, tra la, need immigrant gardeners (fotos)

Installation artist Ramiro Gomez — who makes invisible immigrant laborers visible by installing cardboard cutout painted figures around Los Angeles neighborhoods — emailed Tuesday evening:

My newest piece is in front of a home in Bel-Air. I drove around for a while looking for a place that felt right. At first I placed them in front of the Hotel Bel-Air (see below) but the sun was setting fast and it didn’t feel right, so I continued driving down the street and found this house. As I approached this home on Strada Corta Rd. near the Bel-Air Country Club, I was immediately drawn to the colorful spring flowers, the sun shining at the right spot and my instinct was to place them here.

If you could mention that my UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center show “Luxury, Interrupted” closes April 8th I would really appreciate it.

Mas…Flowers that bloom in Bel-Air, tra la, need immigrant gardeners (fotos)

Ñewsweek: Jenni Rivera RIP, Disneyland LOL, 12-14-12 :(

The tragic death of Long Beach homegirl Jenni Rivera and the school massacre in Newtown, MA inspired two editorial cartoons from POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz this week. And then there was the guy who emailed some Photoshop experts asking for helping removing the Mexicans from his snapshot of Disneyland.

These are the stories that broke the ñews this week on POCHO:

Mas…Ñewsweek: Jenni Rivera RIP, Disneyland LOL, 12-14-12 🙁

On Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive, it looks a bit like Christmas (photos)

Ramiro J. Gomez is a West Hollywood installation artist who makes and places cardboard avatars of immigrant laborers around Southern California’s richer neighborhoods; his mission is to make normally invisible people visible, if just for a short time.

Monday around 4:30 Gomez was busy populating the cardboard labor force on Beverly Hills‘ famed shopping street, Rodeo Drive, where it’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas — Beverly Hills style, that is. Weather? Sunny, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s ℉.

Here’s what he posted on Facebook:

Finished with the cardboard installation spree today. My heart inevitably was racing, especially when I placed the cutouts on busy Rodeo Dr. but that is the most liberating and rewarding aspect of my project, the ability to go in plain sight and creatively make a statement.

Eloisa is the elote seller, Rodrigo is the paletero, and Mayra is the woman with the balloons. Here’s the view from Gomez’ camera:

Mas…On Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive, it looks a bit like Christmas (photos)

Did Romney’s (underpaid?) housekeeper show up in RNC video?

Who is that woman washing dishes or doing laundry in the Romney family home?

Colorlines writes:

Before Mitt Romney was introduced at the Republican National Convention on a Thursday night viewers saw a 10-minute video created to humanize Romney. The video featured the Romney family inside their home several times but in one of the scenes a women who appears to be working for the family in the background was simply ignored.

Is she one of the four housekeepers the reports have alleged Romney is underpaying? It could be, but more importantly some say the video made her invisible.

“As I’m watching Romney’s RNC video spotlighting his family, I find it interesting there is no mention of the woman in the red shirt in the background, who is obviously there helping,” said artist Ramiro Gomez, who’s art looks to start conversations about the labor force that takes care of families and homes.

Colorlines has the whole story and the video.

RELATED: Ramiro Gomez’s latest creation, Antonio, sells Maps to the Stars Homes

Video screen capture courtesy Colorlines via Ramiro Gomez.

Ramiro says his name is Antonio – here is his life so far (photos)

Installation artist and painter Ramiro “Jay” Gomez continues to populate the streets of Southern California with immigrant laborers painted on cardboard.  His quest? To make visible the invisible people who keep L.A. — and Beverly Hills — running.

Here, in the artist’s photographs, is the life story of Ramiro’s newest creation, the guy who sells tourists Maps to the Stars Homes. Ramiro says his name is Antonio. He works his trade at the eastern edge of Beverly Hills, at Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny, on the border with West Hollywood. Will he be there Thursday morning?

Does the woman with the stroller and the smartphone even know he’s there?

Mas…Ramiro says his name is Antonio – here is his life so far (photos)

Cinco de Mayo installation art in Beverly Hills (video and photos)


Ramiro Gomez is an installation artist who makes the invisible visible by inserting cardboard versions of usually-overlooked Mexican laborers into actual settings. Last night he emailed:

Fresh piece I just installed this afternoon on the westbound corner of Mountain Drive and Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. If you’re driving around that part of town, stop by and check it out before it’s inevitably taken down.

Like Gomez wanted, POCHO stopped by the intersection the morning of Cinco de Mayo and shot this video. It reminded us of a Folgers Crystals instant coffee commercial: “We’ve secretly replaced your ordinarily-invisible immigrant gardener with a cardboard replica. Let’s see if anyone notices!”  And we have photos from Gomez, below.

Mas…Cinco de Mayo installation art in Beverly Hills (video and photos)

Photos: He’s a real nowhere man lost in paletero land

The Mexican ice cream man, or paletero (he sells paletas)

Artist Ramiro Gomez, Jr. makes the invisible visible as he inserts cardboard images of hardworking Latinos into the landscape of Los Angeles and documents his installation art with photos. At half-past midnight he emailed POCHO:

I went up to Hollywood Blvd. this afternoon and put up my newest cardboard installation. It is on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Curson Ave. I went back tonight and it has not been taken down yet, hopefully, the location I chose allows it to ride for a while.

The big versions of Gomez’ photos are below.

Shoutout to Hollywood peeps: Is the paletero still there? Please share your updates in the Comments section below. Gracias!

Mas…Photos: He’s a real nowhere man lost in paletero land