Da Street Corner

Ernesto Yerena Montejano was born in the small border town of El Centro, California just 15 minutes north of the large metropolitan Mexican City and capital of Baja California Norte of Mexicali. As a child, Ernesto went to school and slept in the U.S. but between school and bedtime most of his time was spent hanging out with his family south of the border in Mexicali. The constant crossing of the border gave Ernesto a unique perspective and in his eyes the best of both worlds; the free education of the first world and the cultural richness and authenticity of the third world. Ernesto began college at the age of 17, has since graduated and received his BA in Graphic Design and has been working as artist assistant for Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant). Ernesto focusses mainly on cultural subjects and issues within the Chicano community. Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.