Cracked Velvet: An Artist Talk with Eugene Rodriguez and Louis Jacinto

Artist Eugene Rodriguez, joined by artist, curator, and collaborator, Louis Jacinto, will be in dialog examining the creative forces that inspired the exhibition Velvet Notes: Conversando con Pedro Guzman. The conversation will trace the inspiration, ideas, and experiences that helped shape the artwork featured and tracks the creation and dissolution of the Cracked Velvets.

Saturday, June 13 from 12 - 1 PM

About the Exhibition

Velvet Notes: Conversando con Pedro Guzmán by Eugene Rodriguez presents a series of vibrant, pop-art inspired short films, sculpture, prints, and paintings that reflect on themes of artistic creativity and agency through a deeply personal lens. Rodriguez’s alter egos presented in these films examine how images, familial bonds, and cultural heritage construct identity and determine who is seen, heard, and remembered. The exhibition debuts his latest film, The Great Masquerade (2026), which discusses art, artifice, commerce, and politics in the creative industries.

About Eugene Rodriguez

Eugene Rodriguez is a San Francisco-based visual artist, working in painting, printmaking, film, and installation. Rodriguez began his career in fashion design, earning his degree from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). Through his experiences and exposure to art and global culture during his time as a fashion designer, Rodriguez would go on to shift his focus to painting. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally, and his films have also been featured in numerous national and international film festivals. Rodriguez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Painting from San Francisco State University and a Master of Fine Arts in cross-disciplinary work from Mills College. He continues to teach arts programs in California’s Bay Area.

About Louis Jacinto

Louis Jacinto began photographing in 1975 and is noted for his late ‘70s Punk Rock music scene images in Los Angeles. Jacinto and the East L.A. art collective, ASCO, crossed paths in the 70s and 80s, most notably in the series documenting ASCO’s “GRONKPATSSIPARTY” in ‘78. Three images from that event were in the 2011 ASCO Retrospective at LACMA. In the early 80s Jacinto was the photographer for the Sunset Junction Street Fair in Los Angeles. He captured a neighborhood coming together – gang youth and the queer community – working side by side for the betterment of all. Since 1980 Jacinto has exhibited in galleries and museums both locally and internationally. Recent museum exhibitions include Copy Machines Manifesto at the Vancouver Art Gallery Museum and Resonantly Me – A Queer Artist’s Invitational at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Jacinto was one of several American artists invited by the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina to exhibit their work at the U.S. Embassy during Pride Month in Buenos Aires. In 2020, Jacinto was named a Cultural Trailblazer by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.