Sign in

Ruben Castillo

@rubenbcastillo.bsky.social
284 followers 217 following 46 posts

NY-based artist & educator

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Aruna D’Souza @arunadsouza.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
One of the ideas in my book “Imperfect Solidarities” is that you can align with people momentarily and provisionally to move things forward—to be in solidarity does not have to mean agreeing with every single thing they’ve said and done ever. Solidarity is not an identification, it’s a strategy.
2345
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
adrienne maree brown @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
“The most important thing is he changes the way his teammates think about their own play,” Lebron James on Nikola Jokic. “When you’re able to inspire your teammates to play at a level that sometimes they don’t even feel like they can play at, that’s a true testament of a great one.”
0734
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 27/02/2025
"daddy, what did you do in the war" son, i archived all 6,793 videos from the Kennedy Center before they disappeared from the internet we all did our part
722470245180
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
fío avocado (they/them) @fioavocado.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
queer time, CMYK screenprint on cotton hanky. Made for the Salt and Blood of Hidden Kinship print exchange.
091
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.
608403146905
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
I’ve been leaving out a mini library from my collection for my Queer Archives/Queer Ephemera class. Here are some fun selections I’ve been adding.
Top (left to right): Strange Mutualisms by Vernal Pools Press, Exuberant Possibilities by Queer Ecology Hanky Project; Copy Machine Manifesto. Bottom (left to right): Queer X Design by Andy Campbell; Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects; The Unruly Archive by Stephanie Syjuco; Biological Exuberance by Bruce Bagemihl
3181
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Thinking about this in contrast to, perhaps, some of my pessimism over the fascist policies hitting higher ed. I teach Emergent Strategy in my studio classes (actually, discussing tomorrow) and it’s this exact sentiment of care and solidarity that I am leaning on. People save people.
080
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Applications that ask you to type your CV/resumé are forever the bane of my existence.
160
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
In all honesty, I don’t know how we navigate all of this anti-DEI policy in a higher ed setting. I’ve never felt institutions to be the place where one can most effectively challenge structural oppression within the world. It’s scary times, and I hope we can just stick together and help each other.
1200
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Paul Soulellis @soulellis.com · 16/02/2025
The Dear Colleague letter that went out on Friday, banning *all* DEI activity at schools (who received this, college presidents and public school superintendents?) www.ed.gov/media/docume...
ed.gov
021
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Paul Soulellis @soulellis.com · 14/02/2025
erasure is happening all the time. I’m thinking about this project I did in 2018 that recorded all of the emails that went into the deletion of climate change-related terms on the EPA website, also the result of an EO. A 734-page book of all of the emails leading up to the purge
173
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Emmett Merrill @stagprint.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
0251
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores @insurgentthought.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
The only thing I know about the Super Bowl is this.
Protestor holding up a Palestinian flags. Reads “Sudan and Gaza”
216245
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Mary Claire Becker @maryclairebecker.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
hyperallergic.com/988542/nea-t...
hyperallergic.com
NEA Throws Out Grant Program for Underserved Communities
The NEA announced that it is scrapping its Challenge America grants and focusing on projects related to the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
021
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Paul Soulellis @soulellis.com · 08/02/2025
New compliance doc for NEA recipients www.arts.gov/grants/legal...
1511
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Skipped on ice today, cartoonish fall, and now both wrists sprained. Let’s see how this portfolio exchange gets done 😅
160
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Jenie Gao @jeniegao.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Starting a list for #printmaking professors, instructors, and educators. 🥧 I need your help building this list! Comment if you'd like to be added to the list and tag other print educators you know. 🙂 🧵 Follow the feed for print-related content by the people on this list. #printsky
214112
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Paul Soulellis @soulellis.com · 04/02/2025
For anyone who was interested in this post—I’ve written a longer piece about the history of the rainbow flag (and other things) here: open.substack.com/pub/soulelli...
open.substack.com
Flagging*
Making legible with “world-words”
1208
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Not going to SGCI Puerto Rico, but color proofing prints for the Salt & Blood portfolio organized by Ron Abrams and @vernalpool.bsky.social Now to work on the etching component
0180
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Mitch Goldstein @mgoldst.com · 03/02/2025
a helpful diagram. #art #design
a venn diagram: one cirsl says "f*ck around" , the other says "find out", and the intersectuon says "creative practice."
213122
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
🏳️‍⚧️ Aileron | Bad Hands Sam 🏳️‍⚧️ @aileronbhs.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
There was an exhibition on campus that made me cry today. It was a showcase of 50 years worth of news clippings of Seattle Gay News. Left a QR code for visibility. It's extremely important rn to see how far we've come, what battles we've won and lost over the years, also some banger pics too lmao
Gallery space in western Washington's Viking Union Gallery showing off several news clippings of Seattle Gay News and the process talking about how this information was archived.QR code to scan the digital archive of Seattle Gay News"GREAT SEX! DONT LET AIDS STOP IT." Newspaper heading with two men putting their clothes back on. The bottom says "Great Sex is healing sex!"

The side graphics detailing sexual activities have the following info alongside em: "Don't let him come in your ass Don't come in his."
"Don't come in his mouth. Don't let him come in yours." 
"Don't rim." It was at this point I lost it, this shit is so funny. 
"Jacking off is hot and safe." 
"Affection is our best protection."

As humorous as these slogans are, this was printed at the height of the AIDS epidemic that killed 39 million people and over 500,000 in the US during this time. It was easily spread through anal sex and was especially deadly and rapidly spread among gay men during the 80s. To put this in perspective, just over 7 million people have died to COVID since 2020. 


More Seattle clippings with the headline "AIDS virus isolated"
2358137
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...
blog.archive.org
End of Term Web Archive – Preserving the Transition of a Nation | Internet Archive Blogs
4803276412097
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
One of the hardest things as an artist/academic has been maintaining a balance of just being a normal person. Like, I kinda just wanna talk about trash reality TV and music.
3201
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Lunar New Year special at our favorite Korean place in Troy, NY, Sunhee’s Farm & Kitchen
Bird’s eye photo of a bowl of soup, rice, beer, and a plate of handmade dumplings.
0140
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Jake Lahah @jakelahah.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Being a printmaker is like being from Philadelphia. I can talk so much shit about the discipline all I want, but as soon as someone who doesn’t makes prints says anything, WE ARE FIGHTING!
051
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
brian wagner @hedgebitch.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Of Ill-Omen & Clipped Wings Thirteen-color lithograph caught in a knot of bramble and thicket, he plucked out a soft mess of feathers. my dear, love will not break your heart, but you cannot go back and you cannot survive. my dear, do you need a safe place to land? #contemporaryprint #lithograph
0301
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I wasn’t made to deal with emails. (Selfie to semi-introduce myself on this platform)
0280
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
naylandblake @naylandblake.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Unmentioned in this article, but this building is also home to a number of non-profits, including VisualAIDS and its archive. This is ominous news.
hyperallergic.com
Artists and Galleries Decry Sale of Iconic Chelsea Building
Hundreds of tenants could be displaced from the West 26th Street arts complex established by Gloria Naftali, now on the market for $170M.
3578
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
It is Friday afternoon of a wild, wild week. And yet for me a reassuring one. My greatest fear was not of what they would do. It's that we would let them. And I'm seeing a lot of beautiful intransigence. From federal workers. From people all over the country obstructing ICE....
342723547
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Jeffrey Dell @dellpesce.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Efficiency is not generally considered important in art. But my experience teaching print is that humans will create reasons to overcompensate, over complicate, and postpone completion. Being efficient in making your work will often make the work itself better.
2211
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Andy Campbell @andycampy.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
A rebuttal to the wrongheaded, outrage-fueled misreading of the NPG installation of Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled" Portrait of Ross in L.A., 1991-- disappointed to see queer folks taking the bait as HIV/AIDS funding is slashed and denigrated here + around the world. Calibrate your energies.
1183
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Shalesha @shalesha.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
A Black professor accidentally started an HBCU on TikTok called HillmanTok. Now other professors have joined in and are teaching actual courses with some offering certs that can be added to your resume Some courses being offered ⬇️
8936771267
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Marika Paz @marikapaz.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
I sometimes thinking about this Canon ad with Godzilla at a copy machine when I’m feeling sad
Advertisement for Canon. Godzilla stands next to a copy machine with paper in his hands.
10889802943
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Read, share, act.
3820521021
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 27/01/2025
In “The Radical Print”, author Esther Chadwick explores how 18th-century British printmakers like William Blake used art to challenge power and politics.
hyperallergic.com
Timely Lessons From 18th-Century British Printmaking
The Radical Print reframes the work of five artists who used the form to satirize and lampoon, actively dismantling power systems in the process.
06317
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
adrienne maree brown @adriennemareebrown.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
ok sweet - boycat is an app to support divesting from corps that hate us, buycat helps us find alternatives. this is one of the most accessible, discreet, consistent and effective ways we can be in solidarity with each other!
431347
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
One of my favorite moments from my installation at Print Center New York during summer 2024. Two intaglio prints with inkjet fabric decals.
0200
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Erica is utterly brilliant and this is a gift worth opening.
14970250
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 25/01/2025
Ours is an era of obsession as much as distraction. “To ascribe our woes to a society-wide attention-deficit disorder is to make the wrong diagnosis,” Daniel Immerwahr writes.
newyorker.com
What if the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction?
From the pianoforte to the smartphone, each wave of tech has sparked fears of brain rot. But the problem isn’t our ability to focus—it’s what we’re focussing on.
1026242
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Pieces (Summer Set), 2024 Woodblock on paper 33.75”x23” Created while an artist-in-residence as part of the Alfred IEA program the summer of 2024. It was incredible to make this CMYK laser engraved woodblock, printed with help from Thomas Logan on their offset press.
1261
Ruben Castillo @rubenbcastillo.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Beginning of the semester. My students are taking notes, and they’re listening.
1180
Reposted by Ruben Castillo
Paul Soulellis @soulellis.com · 16/01/2025
I wrote about the jacket, and my need to see more than what’s visible in the famous photo of David Wojnarowicz at the FDA ACT UP action in 1988 soulellis.substack.com/p/youtube-ty...
soulellis.substack.com
YouTube Typography
Scrubbing is a kind of reading
182