Robert "Bob Rob" Medina is an American artist, author, musician and educator.
In 1988, Medina founded the Denver-based punk/hardcore record label, Donut Crew Records, releasing the Colorado Crew series of compilation 7-inch EPs featuring The Fluid, Warlock Pinchers,[1] and many others.[2] He was a member of the bands Idiots Revenge, Short Fuse, Suede Fruit, Rotoflo, Savalas, Llamas Nova, Chocolate Kiss,[3] Cabron and Gnar Jar.
Medina is a prolific visual artist, having shown in over 50 group and solo exhibitions worldwide. In 2008, he presented a solo exhibition in Tijuana, Mexico, entitled Buttoning Up the Border.[4] In 2012 his San Diego solo exhibit, Where You From? A Collection of Sights and Sounds from Alexandria, Egypt drew coverage from National Public Radio.[5] In 2015, he published his first book, Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks (launching his own imprint, Robot Enemy Publications, in the process), a collection of illustrations as well as personal memoirs, photos and interviews documenting the punk scene of 1980's Denver.[6] Westword magazine named Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks the "Best Denver Music-History Book" of 2016.[7] Also in 2015, he contributed an article on early Denver punk promoter, Tom Headbanger, to the Colorado Music History series at Denver Public Library.[8] In 2017, Robot Enemy Publications published its second volume, Headspaces: Surrealistic Album Art & Collage by Sonny Kay.
The follow-up to Denvoid, Denvoid 2 Colorado Crew: A Collection of Tales and Images from The Colorado Punk Scene 1988-1996, is a collaboration with Sonny Kay and was released with much fanfare[9] in 2019. The book includes over sixty interviews featuring bands, record labels, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, academics, photographers, promoters, culture jammers, and media influencers including director/musician Mark Brooks, of Lil Pimp and Metalocalypse; Pete Lyman, who has mastered Grammy Award-winning albums by artists including Chris Stapleton; Matt Jacobson owner of the influential grindcore and death metal record label, Relapse Records; punk rock artist icon, Chris Shary who has designed album covers for the Descendents and Less Than Jake, and musician/author Jason Heller, among many others. The Denvoid books were a primary source[10] for Daniel Harvey's "Mile High Hardcore" paper in the Spring 2021 Historical Studies Journal.
In late 2020, Wake Up! Music Group released a 182-page volume of Medina's Day of The Dead artwork and writing, Y Con Tu Espíritu: Palabras y Muertitos[11] .
In the spring of 2021 Medina conceptualized and created the Calaca Tarot Card deck. The project was realized through a Kickstarter funded project.
Medina's work on the Denver punk scene has been featured in interviews including the Emo Brown podcast,[12] Low Key Arts' Movers and Makers, and a KGNU Metro Episode[13] talking about both books and the impact KGNU had on Colorado's punk scene.
Medina taught art at the American Community School of Abu Dhabi.