He calls these characters "lucha squids," because, who wouldn't think of combining luchadors with squids?

...this piece will be part of the Germs solo show there.

Cheech has already acquired several pieces for the permanent collection.

The museum will be located in Riverside CA, can't wait to visit when it opens.

Heh

And it looks way better in person.

What an imagination!

...probably around 100 pieces.

Most are small to medium sized.

This is one of the larger ones that I have, but he works larger - 7-10 feet in height, 4-5 in width, plus he has done a number of murals on walls both indoors and out.

I started collecting his work around 17 years ago, when he was basically unknown, and his prices were very affordable.

I have also collaborated with Germs on some stuff, most notably the Germs Lamps (below) which were first shown at the Vincent Price Art Museum, and I have done a lot of digital art for him when he needs it. I've also done a few limited edition print runs of Germs art, so, for my "service" I typically get the half-price deal if I can afford it.

I’ve been collecting art since my first real job even instead of buying actual furniture 🙂. The funny thing is I had a chance to buy a couple of pop art prints in the early 90s. At the time they just didn’t appeal to me. Fast forward 20 years and saw them again in a gallery and loved them. I could only manage to afford one. Could have gotten 10 or 15 for the same price back then. Oh well, tastes change!

...I wish I had that one.

The car depicted in the painting is the Gilbert “Magu” Luján car. Magu was one of the original Chicano Art pioneers.

One of Germs' collectors was able to acquire the car after it had basically disappeared and then reappeared on Ebay after the passing of Magu. It was in bad shape, so he had the car restored, and loaned it to the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles as part of their Low Rider show. He also commissioned Germs to do a Germs-style painting of the Magu car, which was then sent around the world on a global museum tour.





Too bad you passed on the pop art prints back in the day, but at least you got one.

My greatest regret was allowing an actual Campbell's Soup Can drawing by Andy Warhol - signed and dated 1974 on a page of my 8 x 10 drawing pad from art school - to completely deteriorate into literally a frayed, torn, almost completely faded, stained with ink (my loony art student girlfriend threw a bottle of ink at me, but hit the Warhol instead) total piece of shit. Ten or so years ago, a similar Warhol drawing on paper, exactly like mine, was worth $10,000.

Heartbreaking on your Warhol drawing. Please share he came to be drawing in your sketch pad! My favorite of his is his camouflage series. They really hit me and I wanted one of them, but the gallery would t break the set.

You must be an artist as well?

Funny how some of one of my favorite pieces took a lot of saving and some one only cost $20. I got it when I worked in Shanghai for a few years. Here are two favorites, you guess which is the $20 one. You can’t tell by the frames haha. I had them both nicely framed.

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...and then Germs did the painting.

Warhol story is, I was on lunch break on my first day in art school in Chicago.

I took a walk around the area, and came upon a bookstore where Andy was sitting on a chair in the window (facing the inside of the store, so I saw Andy's back and hair) with an assistant. People were standing in line with a copy of Andy's new book (this was 1974), and he was signing them by drawing a Soup Can with his signature and the year. I stood in line with my sketchbook, which was brand new, unused, and when I got to the front of the line, handed the sketchbook to the assistant, who handed it to Andy, and he did a full page Soup Can with signature and year. The book was almost half the size, compared to my sketchbook page, so I had the superior version of anybody buying the book, for free, without having to buy the book.

When I went back to art school after lunch, everybody was astounded that I had an "original Warhol" on the first page of my sketchbook.

I dropped out of art school after two years and went to Los Angeles, where I have been trapped, ever since, working as a "commercial artist" while producing and releasing all sorts of music hardly anybody has heard.

Your top picture looks very familiar to me, pretty sure I've seen it in a book I have, but not sure where the book is. That's the 20 dollar one, right? I like that Chagall image a lot!

I have a poster of his smoking Simpson painting. Very close to the entrance of my condo so people won’t miss it, coming in or exiting. I love his vibrant tentacles and his bold colors, and his Lucha libre motifs!

Back around 2006 or so, I commissioned Germs to do the cover art for a CD I produced.



This is the original 12" x 12" art, the print is actually larger, approx 15" x 15" on an 18" x 20" paper size.

I only printed four of these, and they are signed/numbered by Germs.

If you want #3, let me know. I'll throw in the CD, too.

I’d be delighted to have it!

I’ve always loved the skeleton motif. The celebrations of the Day of the Dead has always appealed to me. I painted some skeletons dancing and boozing when I was 11 years old. The theme was a favorite of mine. Always has been.

...hopefully sometime this week.