Dudes — Alive (Red) on Kraft

Hand-pulled silkscreen, Mars Red ink on repurposed kraft paper, 15" x 22”, Edition 1/1. Signed — Rene Juan de la Cruz

This is a pivotal moment in the collection, and in the mission. These aren't just prints. They are the physical proof that the two sides of the practice can merge. The hand-drawn dude, distilled into vector precision, then returned to the human hand through the silkscreen press. Three stages. Three languages. One being.

Alive in red on kraft is the most raw and human version of this being. The surface was not made for art, it was made for the everyday, for carrying things, for being useful and then discarded. Its fold marks and creases are visible, present, part of the work. A previous life embedded in the ground before the ink arrived.

Mars Red on warm brown kraft creates a heat that white cotton rag cannot produce. The colors merge, warm against warm, giving the being an urgency and earthiness that feels closer to the street than the studio. Two faces in one body, both present and expressive. The upper face with eyes looking directly out. The lower face grinning with full teeth, embedded in the body with its own eyes fully alive. An orbit energized around the midsection. Both arms raised with circle-tipped fingers transmitting upward, not in surrender but in pure joyful signal. Aerodynamic legs mid-stride, feet with fingers as circles. A large watching eye integrated into the lower form, aware of everything the forward motion leaves behind.

The ordinary elevated. The discarded made permanent. One of a kind in every sense, the surface, the pull, the being.