Geisai Museum 2

One of the best parts about Geisai is running into some of the folks who are older friends, and some who are new. Some are well known, and some unknown. People come out to Geisai. who are as great and influential as KAWS and Masamichi Katayama.

Sashie with his hair cut.

I won't even try. 

Mr Ohata

Takashi Murakami Davy Jones' Tear Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

Takashi Murakami's show Davy Jones' Tear opening took place at Blum and Poe. I'm sure everyone wants to know how much everything is. I never bothered to find out, but they weren't free or cheap. They probably hit the 7 figures+ and I heard they were all sold. From one of his past associates, I found out it's not uncommon for an artist to follow up a big ass show in the same city with another exhibition to make some sales, pretty much as I thought. The art continues to be great, in a sort of continuation from the latest works at MOCA. These really need to be seen in person to get the idea of what they're like. From an image alone, you don't get the idea. 

These works follow up on the second floor of the MOCA exhibition.

I heard that these works were entirely silkscreened. Many colors no doubt and huge and meticulous. I think it's the first time he produced work in this manner. 

These works are actually amazing and will continue his tradition of art. The piece above has a little bit of old school and new. The latest flower style which you see on his mugs, and his newest style of his backgrounds.

A lot of folks steamed up the rooms. I'm sure it's not so great for the works, but for a night, it's all cool.

Seonna Hong, who I'll be seeing in Tokyo next week. She'll be there tomorrow.

Takashi Murakami and Mark Ryden

Kurobuta and baby bok choy and tomato at Wilson Food and Wine. 

Kobe style beef on an eggplant slice, asparagus, and flat bread and guacamole.

Tim Blum makes a quick speech. Tim Blum and Jeff Poe have done a lot for art in LA and maybe the US. Granted, it's mostly high art, and it definitely caters to the heavy hitters, their clientele, the work by Murakami has transcended to the masses. They also handle Yoshitomo Nara as well. It's work that's infiltrated popular culture and brought a style of Japanese art to the US and they were into it before it was cool or hot. I'm sure they're doing quite well as a result of their vision, and look at how many people they can host to a nice meal.

Tim Blum, a woman (I found out! It's Tim's wife), me and Chiho...

Takashi Murakami New Paintings at Blum and Poe May 3 - June 14th.

It's going to happen. Takashi Murakami is doing another show. This time in the confines of a gallery. A funny and cool follow up to his huge MOCA and Brooklyn Museum show, which are retrospectives. The great thing about having this show for Murakami, is the fact that instead of reaching to another huge establishment, he's working with his old buds, Blum and Poe (who brought him out), and doing something quite the opposite - a small show. Who knows what the works will be like, but his momentum is rolling on. He's got bills still, right?

I'll follow up with more info on how this all is, and maybe at what price everything is. I'll bet it's all sold. 

*forgot to mention, Murakami makes it to the Time magazine's 100 influential list!

I'll probably be seeing him there and at the post dinner. If not, I'll be seeing him in Japan when I'm out there next week. More info to come. I'll be hitting Shanghai and Beijing.

Jay Ryan The Bird Machine

Inspection time. This is a preview shot of the new poster for Shipping News. The artwork is always by Jay if he's printing it, and it features a multicolored, geometric abstraction image that's more fine art than ever. He's using gradients and they come out perfect with a nice transition of color. Jay's an amazing artist from Chicago and it was great to see his studio. 

Jay is sort of an eco dude. He's growing sprouts outside the studio door. That's Tim Hugh who runs the Asian film fest in Chicago. 

Jay in his front room where the magic begins.

Cai Guo-Qiang At the Guggenheim Museum I Want to Believe

Murakami might be in Brooklyn, but Cai Guo-Qiang is at the Guggenheim. Two of Asia's finest artists are doing insanely well in the world market. I don't need to say much about Murakami, who's going the Louis Vuitton thing in Brooklyn as well, and Cai Guo-Qiang did his exploding car thing as well, and showed his stuffed animals and boats with arrows. He also showed his explosion paintings as well. It's amazing that two artists from Asia can make an impact in perhaps the leading city for "high" art in America at once. If you're in NYC, I'd highly suggest you check out Cai Guo-Qiang. I last saw his work at MassMOCA, and it's great that he's also going to do the fireworks for the Beijing Olympics.

Videos / the thief and the musician

The thief struck a Giant Robot art exhibition in SF. Know who this is? This person stole a piece by Susie Ghahremani. Notice the lack of fear or any kind of hesitation. This person is bad person. Could you do this without any hesitation? Would you even think about it? And would it eat you up later? It's sad to say, some people just don't care and won't hesitate to steal from a young artist. Sad times and a sad world we live in. Imagine that this is a stolen art piece, and not a murder, terrorism, war, or anything like that, and yet, this person still has to fuck up something that's fairly pure.




The next video I shot while on Virgin America. Did you know they'll let a passenger play the sax in an aisle? I'd much rather see a gymnast do flips, or maybe a stripper doing her thing, or how about a skateboarder pushing mongo-style? Virgin America is a lot more open minded in letting people entertain themselves on a plane which is shocking since eventually it'll cause some kind of problem or complaint. I remember after 9/11 they didn't want people getting out of their seats. If you hung around near the bathrooms, it meant bad things. Maybe it's great that we're more lax, and security is improved to the point that we can fly with a smile and more comfort.

Ny Kaiju Toy Tokyo

Toy Tokyo does it weird sometimes, but overall, they're hustling and pushing the kaiju. It's streetwear mixed with toys, if that makes any sense. But it's working for them. I'm not sure kaiju fits, but if it's not, they're making it fit. So here's more pics from the exhibition. It's neat to see toys get front and center attention. It's not the first time, but maybe it needs to happen more.

The Lord!

She likes head.

Koji Harmon paints kaiju 

Kiyoka Ikeda sculpts and paints well himself.

Le Merde

I know some of you toy folks are saying you'd hit this.

This is a great collection of Real Head dolls. I wish I had a collection that looked like this.

Whoa, this is a diorama of strangeness

NY day one Comicon, Buff Monster GR2, Kaiju NY, and frites

The NY Comicon is improved from last year. That's the first thing worth talking about. Our booth is not among the toy people, which is how we do it in San Diego. I'm not quite sure why, but I think we're happy being near the indie comic book folks, more than the toy folks. I hope the toy folks don't mind. I flew in on the first flight and caught some of the action.

Anne and Michelle on west 32nd 

Buff Monster shows off his kaiju technique

Buff in style

Jimmy - the guy who comments a lot. He's a tall Asian guy. Notice the hipster 15 degree clockwise rotation of the designer cap.

Kiyoka Ikeda's Gargamel pieces at the Kaiju event.

Toy Tokyo's space AKA Lev's Apartment

Frites on 2nd. One of the sauces is a curry ketchup, the winner!

Night over.

DEHARAVATH GR2 - Saturday

Yukinori Dehara and David Horvath are like brothers from different mothers. That rhymes and it sounds funny, but in this case, it's true. David is Dehara's biggest fan, and it's great to have them together at GR2 in person. It's pretty much a super star exhibition, and sad to say, I have to leave to NYC. I'll miss the opening, but I did check out the hanging of the work. I'll put up from pics on flickr. 

We have a no line up rule and instead and planning to raffle off tickets to be able to purchase what we think will be the hot item... the handmade plushes. With a new baby, the handmades are at a slow point, they're hard to make, and hard to get. 

That's us in the early part of the day. If I did art, I'd be holding it. Instead I'm repping gr 53. David has a box of dried mentaiko powder, Dehara rocks the handmade two faced Wedgehead.

Japanese American National Museum Board of Governors

Norman Mineta... Read his wikipedia entry. He's had an amazing career, including an airport named after him. He's the first Asian American mayor in the US (San Jose). The San Jose International is actually in his name. And he was the only Democrat in George Bush's regime. That's out of control. Tonite I met him, Senator Daniel Inouye who I actually met before, and many others. Why? They're part of the Board of Governors. At first, I thought they'd be like Arnold Schwartzeneggar, but they're more like Asian Americans on a mission. But tonite, it was a special dinner to talk about the museum, it's possible future, the next GR Biennale that's in 2009, and how they fit in. The talk was maybe 30 minutes, and I went through a few slides. 

The Senator from Hawaii rolls without any secret service. Am I supposed to say that? Daniel Inouye has been a Senator since 1959. He must love his job. I can't see him ever losing another Senate election. I'll bet his punk rock son, Kenny could run in his father's place and win right off the bat. Daniel Inouye is like Ironman. Also in the house was George Takei, my main man. He's a cool guy, and is a part of the GR team, especially when it's museum or popular culture related. When 2009 rolls through, he's definitely going to be a part of this entire party. 

Read about Mineta
Read about Inouye

I heard some say that I did a fine job tonite. I tried to give a background of what GR is about, what we like to do, how we do things, and then I tried to show the museum and our exhibition, what it meant to people, and how diverse of an audience it attracted. In the end, we'll need their understanding and support to make a Biennale or other shows, work. I also told them that all of this wouldn't be worth doing if we didn't have their support. Why would I ever want to faction out a place that desperately needs to be cohesive? That said, I think we're all on the same page and on the same team. The last photo is all of us eating the leftovers. If I'm ever a "governor," I guess I'll eat with them. For now, I'm happy to hang out with these mofos.

Next stop Comicon NY. Be there later today or if not, I'll be there on Sunday for sure. Depends on how early I can get in. Then the talks in Chicago. The first at UIC, and then a special morning session. 

The Yard, My Playground

Digging through some old photos, I found this little sequence in a set. It's the trainyard in West LA about 2 blocks from where I grew up. It's still sort of there, but not, since trains no longer run on these tracks. It's behind the corner of Pico and Sepulveda. This was a playground for me when I was in later elementary and junior high school. This photo says a lot. The tracks, the wall, and businesses of some sort on the other side. Sometimes, we'd (my friend Anthony Lupton - son of actor John Lupton) be there in the early morning. 7am! Riding our BMX bikes over the tracks and around the area, as if we were on patrol. It was our yard and was adjacent to a parking lot for the warehouse for huge store called Zody's. The graf guys who came by, were mere welcomed visitors.

I saw gang members get arrested, a couple having sex in a car, a stray dog who had puppies, a dumpster which was always full of interesting treasure, and the rare homeless person who we'd befriend. I remember one asked if I was a pimp. I think I was 12 years old.

At some point, I don't remember when it was, but all of a sudden colorful graffiti started to show up. I don't think it was illegal, but I'm not sure who condoned it all. I remember when the walls were blank, but all of a sudden became a canvas. People would paint in the day and night.

I remember a few who'd come by. P-Jay, Brisk, Jay, and others. I forgot their monikers. I'm sure a lot were in it just for a minute. I'm embarrassed to continue to say more since it rhymes, but a lot "were in it to win it."

I think I shot these photos for the heck of it. I might have been 1983, but I'm not sure. Maybe it was 84 or even 85 or 86? It's a blur now. But I'm banking on it being in the mid 80s. Maybe one of the graf guys can tell me, they're still around, and enshrined in some places as being legends of the game.

See the Vespa sign? They fixed Vespas up on the other side of the wall. We used to play there too. Riding our BMXs around and bothering the mechanics was part of the fun. I remember mods would show up on their Vespas with the tons of mirrors and of course we'd be weak 100 lbs punks saying stuff like "ANTI MOD" under our breaths. Punks didn't like the mods back then, and vice versa. Only now can almost everyone who made it out of the 80s haze of figuring things out, be friends.

Miner was my favorite. I never met him, but when he'd paint, I'd always appreciate it. I'd show up in the morning and there it would be - a new Miner piece. Another awesome painter here was Risk. Another, named Wisk. I think Risk is quite a famous guy these days. It's ironic that if you were a train conductor passing through, you'd see this graf on the walls and not on the trains. It wasn't like that in LA yet.

If you put together all of the pieces, you actually get some type of assemblage of a wall sequence. Pieces are missing here and there. My best friend, Anthony from what I last heard became an addict and lived on the streets. The area now has more retail and the warehouse is an office building. These photos don't show the surroundings too well and are void of the local characters and flavor, but I end up filling those in myself when I see these photos.

Sculpey Sunday

The Sculpey Kids are back. Working with Mr Salazar who's seated below, we were up to making critters, creatures, gangs, noses, snakes, dogs, mushrooms, and even faux fingers. It's been hot in LA, and getting to Souther's studio with the AC on was relaxing. It's odd how Sculpey body parts are so strange. It's also odd that Sculpey is spelled "Sculey" on the box and it hasn't been fixed.

Mr Salazar wearing his Dead Moon shirt

Beware.... The animal head gang...

Panayiotis Terzis and Ray Sohn

This came in the mail. Amazing work. The print above has a bunch of colors, it's designed with a lot of care, has that indie comic book, and a silkscreen style that feels like the Ft Thunder Paper Rad style. I'm not sure if it's all by a collective or not, but I do know the efforts of many are in the publications below. Critical Citadel is in a larger edition, it's nicely produced, and the cover text is a fun illusion that reminds me of something John Pham would do. Panayiotis and Ray.

This is by Panayiotis Terzis & Raymond Sohn. It's in edition of 100 and it's silkscreen printed in tons of colors, it's also black and white. This might be one of the nicer pieces to come through.

News bits.

Daily Bruin on the Subverses talk that's happening tonite. The flyer for the event is down a couple of posts. The article that came out today, gives an overview of the event. I didn't know who Daniel Lee is, and, I guess I know just a little bit now. The talk will feature us panelists, and someone will probably moderate us a bunch of questions. It's actually a long list that I'm going to refuse to read ahead of time. That usually blows it, and will turn it into a study fest. I'd rather go in raw, and that usually is more inspiring than researching someone else's work. Either way you slice it, a talk is a talk. Will it break down the barriers of pop culture understanding? No. Will it explain everything you need to know? I doubt it. These talks aren't going to change the world, but it might open up a few tired eyes, and might turn someone on to a new things or two, and that's more than what some classes will do at UCLA.

Read the Daily Bruin.


The good usually gets evened out by the bad. While one person is doing well in the world, another is taking a shit. In this case, we got two articles in a day. One good, that's the one above, and the bad, which is below. Read the hate and lack of knowledge by this human butt plug. Just the headline tells you where he's at.

GR's a mag for 14 years, we have other locations in SF and LA, we're a retail store, we helped pioneer the gallery in smaller shop concept, which spread like wild fire. We presented the Giant Robot Biennale at the Japanese American National Museum attracting 20,000 folks in 2 months. We helped launch many artist's careers who are now showing in some of Chelsea's galleries, and beyond.

He can say what he wants about the space and the clientele, but it's wrong when he messes with folks who have done so much for art like Jordin Isip and Melinda Beck. They (and the others) do not fit this type of quote:

"At the Giant Robot gallery there were crude drawings with lazy and forgettable paintings. I guess one could describe it as snarky wholesomeness. To be fair, this was a group show and some of the stuff was well done—in the “arts and crafts” sense—but everything exuded this trait and there was very little in the way of a genuine artistic aesthetic."

Our art might be 1/10 the price of the sometimes overpriced Chelsea gallery art. And to call our audience hipsters? Then what's the Lower Eastside? We're celebrating the sketchbook generation. The bedroom drawers. The art is a secret just starting to get out. And this teabaguette blames for faux bohemia? We don't bust out the bubbly and serve cheese, we do the Red Vines and Goldfish and serve soda. It's free, and you don't have to dress up, be rich, or act important.

Read the NYpress.

in the mail - Junkyard Sam

Junkyard Sam comments on my blog once in a while, and today a package came in the mail that caught my eye. It could have been a special book, toy, cigars, money, or a stink bomb. It's so simple to have a box made of wood. Is this handmade? It's a nice package for sure, and things like this come in once in a while. First, here's Junkyard Sam's site. Here's what's in it.

A nice note for sure, and nice stationery, but then on the right, is that a CD of music? It's personalized with the GR robot silhouette that I designed and it even says Giant Robot, and it has my name on the bottom. Rad.

It's not a CD of music, it's tin can with a window or art. It's like a mini book type of thing, greatly made with a lot of care. Something like what Mark Ryden did once upon a time with a collection of prints in a tin.

Check out the art? This work is awesome.

It's like fantasy and the highly illustrative work tells a story. So I went to check out his site and saw this post. He had a GR day. He randomly met Deth P. Sun and Marci Washington at Macy's, two great artists who are a nice couple, then he went to GRSF where he met me. Oh yeah! Now that I see what he looks like. I did meet him. But I swear he didn't call himself Junkyard Sam. Like Jeana Sohn, Junkyard Sam got into art from Giant Robot. That's cool and I hope we, or he, are inspiring for others.

Damien Hirst $ Warhol $ Levi's

At Fred Segal in Santa Monica is the debuting of the Damien Hirst $ Warhol $ Levi's collab gear. I wouldn't normally jump at seeing this, but I get a different perspective riding with Dr Romanelli, since he's involved in apparel, sometimes hardcore designer style and sometimes artistic. See that box on the left, when you buy some denim, it comes in the box.

These are the special jeans, one of two. $80k. The other one is below. DR is about get one.

Yosi Evolutionary eating dessert that looked good.

A whole line of gear.

The Levi's jacket in gloss, and the denim to the right. See the Warhol tag on the jacket?

T shirts. Two of them, they are stitched together, thankfully.

"Extra..." say it like the prime time celebrity TV half hour show...

Here's some of Hirst's art. You can see how it was used with the Warhol and the Levi's.

Dirty Hands David Choe Documentary

Got my hands on the David Choe documentary, Dirty Hands, and yes, it's worth the five year wait. Five years?! At least. That's how much footage, and editing time that's gone into this work. I think there's been a producer or two, and from the earlier trailers until now, this has a very different feel. It went from what seemed like an MTV project perfect for the Real World to now being a lot more fun and real.

Harry Kim puts it together with tons of footage from all over the world. He's been following David for years. It covers his story from the days before I met him which was in maybe 1997. It's been a while, and somehow there's photos and footage from that period of time.

What does this mean for Harry? His technique, choices of edits, how things are arranged, and the bits of filmmaking technique puts him on the map. Yes, you'd think Harry is Dave's sidekick, but with this you gotta look at him as being a guy who can put together a production, and do a good job with it.

It has drama that goes up and down in different parts of the doc, from going to Africa, to prison, and much more. It contains a ton of interviews and imagery that keeps this pic moving. It's going to be a hot one and people are going to love this. The thing is, I know David, and what you don't see and won't get to know, is fodder for the next doc or story when you talk to him. I won't give away too much, since you need to get somewhere and see this when it comes out. This is an early sneak peek.

There's funny parts, and this is one of them.

That's David's dad, he's proud of him.

Patagonia Santa Monica store art show

Art show at Patagonia? Sure why not. Shops are doing it these days, and that doesn't exclude a shop as large as Patagonia. How would it work? The art is by Kitty Botke, Jeremy Collins, Chris DelMoro, Peter McBride, Nikki McClure, Geoff McFetridge, Jason Munn, Jason Stowell. Patagonia has the power to actually make this work, even without a real art space. How? Easels, small wall space, but integrated product, a warm and friendly environment, snacks, Honest tea, music, and that's good enough. Yes I picked up a few shirts.

Nikki McClure art. This is an important piece by her.
Recognize it? There were a few Nikki t shirts which are nice.

Geoff McFetridge. He's been doing shirts with Patagonia for a while now, and they're always great, and they're $29 which is a good price for the quality you're getting. No, his art work wasn't for sale.

Another important Nikki piece.

Live Simply by Geoff. Yes I picked one of these up but in Green.

Live music

That's the postcard drawing.

Whoa, that's the cover of his zine book

work by Jason Munn

The window of the shop.

Souther man redux

This is what an unfinished painting looks like by Souther. Is this a total bust or what? But in other circles, people will probably pay big bucks for the geometric abstraction he has going on. You can see what's going to happen. Below is cool, that's his studio. The painting higher up, that cat, is the left part of a large work he did. I have the middle. And my friend Diana has the right part. The three piece will or may never go back together again. But who knows. Reunions are in right now.

Scion Nomadaz

I can't get photos uploaded via blogger, since something is wrong, so if you want, just thumb through these and take a look. I met Nano the dude with the crutches while in Madrid, so it was good to see him again, but this time in LA. I guess on his first night he went ape shit, well and hurt himself. He'll be in SF, and NY soon checking stuff out, so if you see him, tell him hello. The photos are from the Scion show last night.

Albert Reyes - shave ice - the snow capped mountains

Albert Reyes came over to pick up some magazines, but now that I started this sketchbook with the Jarvis drawings, I had Albert add his 2 cents. I noticed he was turning the pages of the magazine while he was drawing. Does anything look familiar from issue 52? The funniest thing is he's most comfortable drawing while lying on the ground. So even though he sat in a chair in the photo below, he then moved to the ground where he felt best. I told him, that if he does a signing, he should do it on the ground.



Issue 52 also has a great article on Shave Ice. I had some today at Shaka's. I really don't know where else to get good stuff like this. I swear, this is near par with what's in Hawaii. Big size, and happiness all around.

The Shave Ice is probably about the same temperature as the snow in the photo, this is from the plane window on the way back from London. I'm guessing it's the Rockies or maybe it's Grand Canyon area (does it snow there?). I can't be sure.