Biennale Take Down -Souther Salazar and Albert Reyes

That's Souther sitting in the cubby hole next to his pieces. While it's slightly sad that the show is over, and it's on to the next, it's also great to see people stop in to take down their work, or in Souther's situation, to photograph it all. It's sort of like the party that wanted to keep on going. We need to figure out how to get that done for next time.

It's amazing what you can do with scraps of wood, Sculpey, and nails.

Souther Salazar Interview

Perhaps the most gracious person in the show was Albert Reyes. He took down his work in a matter of minutes and off he went into the smog. He's holding up Winona Rider. She's quite great in my opinion. But what is the Matt Furie text in the background mean?

Giant Robot Biennale Closing Party

The actual show closes this sunday, so you have a few days left to see it. But above are cupcakes by bigmanbakes. He's a huge dude and bakes tiny cupcakes. He's in downtown LA. That's how the night started, staring at these cupcakes. It was raining, but 600 people made it out which is a decent crowd. Imagine, some of the openings don't bring in 600, so this worked out well for a closing night. At three months, this was a fun show, a lot of people came through, it was super nice to meet folks who were either inspired by or do art. I got a lot of congrats, and I'm glad people had a good time. The Japanese American National Museum will be open through sunday.

That's The Binges / GR Table. Honest Tea also set up and gave away some drinks. See the hand at the bottom right? That's a beer, but there was no beer there. Hmmm...

Half of The Binges.

Albert Reyes drawing.

James Jean, Gary Baseman, and Denise Gray. Gary texted a congrats. That was nice.

DJ Puffs. I want one of those speakers she has on the right.

The Choe, Bobby and Enna.

Raina, Albert and John Pham. Albert got a camera finally.

Ali and Me. Someone should make a movie called that.

Ben Clark photo.

Monica and Souther. I finally made it upstairs and lo and behold, Souther was there.

Uh oh forgot her name, and Aaron Brown.

Aw how am I supposed to remember? Amir and Calvin are on the right.

That's me, Jessica (Perfect Day in Hawaii Jessica), and Chris.

Ako, Rob and James drawing while The Binges played.

The Binges rocked it. The lead singer came late, after the first instrumental, and they played on until after 9pm - closing time.

Kat, gets a drawing by Rob Sato. Her collection must be large. That's Pryor in the middle.

Anna Serrano and her friend. Anna has a piece in the show.

Deth P Sun only the brave

Deth P Sun work is looking good online and in the shop. The piece above is awesome, and glows in the dark! The below is the big collection of 5x5s. This looks awesome in person. I say one day he does an entire wall.

Deth P Sun at GR2 Saturday

I'll be at Deth P Sun's art opening at GR2 tomorrow. It should be fun. He got a little write up on Flavorpill which is always nice. Thanks Flavorpill. I know there's a lot going on, so I hope to see you there. gr2.net Also check out flavorpill's post.

Also know that tomorrow is FREE TARGET saturday at JANM. So during the day you can see the Biennale for free.

Dirty Hands - Biennale show

Dirty Hands played last night. I saw Harry Kim do a lot better in his Q and A then ever. He even stands better at the mic that before. He even signed some posters and that was public event number 2 for the Biennale. More to come.

Dirty Hands documentary playing this thursday in LA

Common down on thursday! Museum is free 5-8p the movie is $8. Fun filled.

Daniel Dae Kim JANM

Daniel Dae Kim chillin' on a Honda. It's the special Mike Shinoda version. I'd say he should get this monster. I gave him a tour of the grounds of JANM and the Biennale while visiting the mainland from his day job on Lost. Check out the photo below... is he taller than me?
Read the Chiptunes blog post on the www.giantrobot.com/biennale.

Biennale LEDAVHARA monday

Finally, this is how it's supposed to look. I'll head back this weekend to check it all out again. Anyone want to come?

As for LEDAVHARA? It's going up on monday online.

Smiling Good

Look out for these in 2010. That's Aki from Good Smile. A cool dude who made it across the ocean from the pacific to be there. Glad we got to hang out. It's fun thinking with him. That's Enna on the right. A GS staffer.



She had some heels on! 90210, Lipstick Jungle, and now Witches of Eastwick star, Lindsay Price came though. I'm a fan.

Bangals and Dave's.

THURSDAY at store opening David Horvath's Biennale Dave's on sale in all stores LA, SF and NYC and online 12 noon PST.
FRIDAY Le Merde Biennale Bangals on sale in all stores LA, SF and NYC and online 12 noon PST.

Keep checking back on the art pieces. It's most likely Monday for the Ledavhara originals.


I shouldn't have to explain any of this, but there's a strong segment who are very clueless as to how a museum show works, and for good reason, how often does anyone get to do anything at a museum? Not often. So let me try to explain.

I saw a someone addressing JANM not being able to sell the art because it's not for profit. I know there were some of you who were miffed that you couldn't buy the original pieces right out of the case. Sorry! Here's an explanation: imagine if you went to MOCA and saw a price tag on a Picasso, a Renoir, or a Basquiat? Can a museum use their advantage of getting public funds and enjoying the tax benefits of being a non-profit and using their gigantic walls to bring up the value of art in order to sell it and even a higher price? That would be unfair.

So, why is it that Giant Robot can sell it? 1) We're not a non-profit. 2) The art that's there displayed does not belong to the museum, it's not part of a permanent collection. 3) At the Takashi Murakami show at MOCA, some of the art was property of Blum and Poe. It's for sale. 4) Sign up list? What's the difference between a list and taking people's business cards? We did blast the information that art would be available at a later date. Join our list.

Can a museum have a gift shop? I don't know the ins and outs exactly, but the gift shop is also part of their business. Even if it's not for profit, museums can have gift shops. Even if it's non-profit, people who work there still need to be paid. The gift shop had Dave's and Bangals for sale.

That said, I do hope you check out the show, etc. It was a lot of work-more than just producing a new toy. This is about pushing the medium and such in a much higher institution than a store website or even a gallery. This show is up three months and will do a lot for vinyl figures. If I were the typical business person, this would only be a toy sale and only online! This is much more than that and it's something that Giant Robot helped put together. So let's be calm and enjoy what's there. Ask questions if you have them.

Biennale photos.

That's Martin and I standing in front of the wall of magazines. 62 issues doesn't quite look like 62 when they're hung this way. Actually it's short one, you can figure it out. But by the time you see it in person again, it'll be right. Yet, it's a powerful wall and I'm glad it's there at JANM. It makes me laugh how many people trip out of the suits. This being a museum opening, and I suppose people expect us to dress in street clothes, so the idea is the flip it and go clean.

That's me, ex-Secretary of Transportation and the namesake of the San Jose Airport, Norman Mineta, David Choe, and Albert Reyes. I gave a short tour for Norman Mineta who's a big part of the museum and does support GR. It was great to have him here. I wonder where is Secret Service agents were at? That means they were doing a great job.

Gary and Goh stalk the grounds.
It was big smiles for both of them.

That's Deth P. Sun. It was great that he made it down. Late of course, but that's Deth, he can be an enigma. He even waited in line to get to see his work.

That was a gift from Mari Inukai.

GR Staffers. Keyla, Luana, myself, Serina, Sasha, and Seth. Quite a crew. Aaron Brown and Dario B were there as well.

That's me and Marc Gerald.

Chris Bettig and kozy from kozyndan. She was dressed nice.

Jim Lee. Have any ideas on what was the Brand New? Heavies?

Whoa... Horvath, a chika (I swear she's for real), Sam, and Le Merde.

James and Wen.
Big smiles.

Rob 62 Sato wearing his map bag.

The band.

David Choe's mom and Dave. Proud parents and supportive too.

The artists who were in the foto.

That's us on stage.

Michelle Borok

Rama Hughes Christine Castro

Cate and Clement.

Amy Hill.

James and Dan (kozyndan)

Joe Hahn in back and Anthony Batt (buzznet.com)

interviews.

Stella Lai runs to the red

Giant Robot Biennale 2 videos

That's David Choe's dad sitting in front of Dave playing drums at the Giant Robot Biennale. I'll post photos soon, but here's some video for you to check out. The below is David Choe on drums, James Jean on keyboards, and Goh Nakamura on guitar.




The below video is George Takei doing an introduction of myself. It's overwhelming, but also fun.

David Choe Death Blossom

David Choe Death Blossom raffle was picked and emails will go out soon. Congrats to those who won.

Biennale - The Banner and last photos pre opening

James Jean stands in front of his banner art. It's 17 feet wide and nice. It looks great. This is a one second exposure! James Jean and David Choe's art looks great, it's on the second floor along with Souther Salazar's 25 foot painting, Stella Lai's 3 pieces and Jack Long's work. Keep an eye on www.giantrobot.com/biennale for every update I could do. Presentation tonite is at 7:30pm.

Figures and tons of them.

David and Le Merde are working on their wall art.

That's Le Merde and David before they took off. They did a fine job repping Dehara too.

Ako Castuera

Rob Sato getting flicked by Audrey Mag

Biennale update photos.

Souther Salazar. A guy I've known for a while. This is an in progress of an installation which looks great. I'll add some more photos. This photo does not justice to it, but his large painting that's coming will be something amazing. Also 7pm. Yes, that's when you should come by. I'm going to intro the artists on stage at the hall at 7:30pm. Then it's party time. Music, etc.

Stella Lai

Jack Long

Bill Farroux and Ben Clark

Le Merde and Pryor who's cutting an install documentary that'll play throughout the exhibition.

David Horvath and Le Merde

LA Weekly week of Oct 22, 2009 Biennale

It doesn't say too much about the art show, but oh well. It'll all make sense if you show up. But keep your eyes peeled, there'll be more to come, we hope.

More Biennale Install Shots

James Jean's new painting is ready to go up. It has a patriotic color scheme. Meanwhile, below, Jeff Soto's work is up and ready and looking good. There's going to be a special presentation at 7:30pm on saturday to introduce the show and the artists. Also, word is, there's going to be live music played by some of the artists.

Dave, hanging out at his installation.

Jason, putting up some of Choe's work.
I like the red painting a lot.

Some of the last bits of Choe's pieces.

LEDAVHARA t-shirt for the BIennale

When did all three greats, David Horvath, Le Merde, and Yukinori Dehara supposed to come together and do a project like this?! In S-XL and girls M.

JANM Biennale install shots.

Here's just a few suspects. Joe Hahn, David Choe, Albert Reyes. They're messing with aerosol and having fun. Below you'll see James Jean. Did you know he has can control? Most don't.

Here's a shot of Dave painting inside.

David Horvath - Le Merde and Yukinori Dehara Trailer - Giant Robot Biennale 2

Here's Trailer number two. Yes it was actually raining that day in LA. Hope you like it. The trio of figures was conceived a while ago. What's the point of having a show without the collaboration of these artists. I think making something "site specific" is always cool and that's what I hope to do and show as much as I can.

Bangals and the Choe book

The Bangals are really coming and will be here in LA quite soon. It's an honor to work with Le Merde on this. We also got a rare shipment of the David Choe Lazarides book. Another honor to have it. While there's so much to do, I still enjoy products and maybe that's why I own a store and more. Both of these items should be available in some quantities during the Biennale. Keep in mind product fans, Giant Robot stores will have them available too.

Goh Nakamura playing at the Giant Robot Biennale

Goh Nakamura trailer. The other day, I was watching a webcast of a Goh show at GRNY. Pretty fun. So why not bring him to play LA? His music's good, he doesn't annoy, people can't complain that he's too loud, or not loud enough (he can wail too). So, enjoy!

Giant Robot x Gargamel X Le Merde Bangal

For the Biennale... Le Merde's Bangal. More info soon.

The Giant Robot Biennale 2 James Jean trailer

The Giant Robot Biennale 2 James Jean trailer. 1 minute long. Here it is. A few more with some of the artists may get made, so watch for them. I hope you like this even just a little. Shot with Flipcam and edited with iMovie.

Dave by David Horvath (not an Uglydoll!)

Dave! Two special color ways! Edition of 50 each. So good looking that you can eat them. These will be released quite soon. Keep your ears out for when!

Biennale E Flyer Update. Here's the latest

Ok, some more tweaks, and this is near the end of the messing around. So here's the latest three cards. It's becoming a fun ride, and we'll see how it all goes.

Mr James Jean and the Giant Painting

James and Taffy...an unlikely pair, but they get along pretty well. Look at the size of this piece. A side of a bus? Maybe. Look for this one in Miami, it's an amazing journey of a piece, and will cost you. You'll need escrow help. I'll cut a quick PSA for the Biennale quite soon. James is working hard for the show.

Happy Birthday... Batman. This looks like a scene out of Gummo.

Card 3 Biennale The Horvath, Le Merde, Yukinori Dehara

Click on the flyer to make it larger!

Rob Sato - Biennale artist

Rob Sato laughing so hard, he's blurry. I'm a big fan of Rob Sato and maybe not enough of you know him, but he's showing in the GR Biennale 2! In photos, the man can't stay still.

50+ artist names in the Biennale group show

I felt that having a GR like big crazy group show during the Biennale captures something we do quite often. Here are the names in this unofficial Giant Robot press release.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years
October 24, 2009 - January 24, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday, October 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
janm.org
(213) 625-0414

In 1994, Giant Robot was born with the purpose of documenting and promoting new, up-and-coming, underdog, overlooked, and hybrid Asian and Asian-American popular culture. Fifteen years later, the self-published magazine has not only evolved from a stapled-and-folded zine into a full-color, glossy publication with an international following, but also opened trend-setting shops and influential art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. To celebrate the magazine's longevity, energy, and loyal readership, the second Giant Robot Biennale is being hosted by the Japanese American National Museum in Downtown Los Angeles from October 24, 2009 to January 24, 2010. The event will feature several exhibits, including the following:

To provide a visual overview of the Giant Robot aesthetic, publisher Eric Nakamura is curating artwork by individuals who have contributed to shows at Giant Robot's galleries, been featured in the pages of the magazine, or even contributed cover art. The main hall will include installations by David Choe, Theo Ellsworth, James Jean, kozyndan, Stella Lai, Jack Long, Albert Reyes, Souther Salazar, Rob Sato, Jeff Soto, and Deth P. Sun. A second hall will include the contributions of more than 50 others, including:

Aaron Brown
Aiyana Udesen
Ako Castuera
Allison Cole
Andrew Holder
Andrew Jeffrey Wright
Andrice Arp
Ana Serrano
Apak
Ben King
Bigfoot
Brian Rush
Bwana Spoons
Christine Castro
Christopher Bettig
Dan-ah Kim
Daria Tessler
Ed Trask
Edwin Ushiro
Eleanor Davis
Emilio Santoyo
Esther Pearl Watson
Hannah Stouffer
Hellen Jo
James Kochalka
Jay Ryan
Jeffery Brown
Jen Corace
Jeremy Tinder
Joe To
Jon Burgerman
Kaori Kasai
Katherine Guillen
Kelly Lynn Jones
Kerry Horvath
Luke Chueh
Marci Washington
Mari Inukai
Mark Todd
Matt Furie
Megan Whitmarsh
Mike Perry
Munkao
Nikki McClure
PCP
Phil Lumbang
Prodip
Rama Hughes
Renee French
Robert Bellm
Scrappers
Sidney Pink
Steven Weissman
Yellena James
Kiyoshi Nakazawa
Thomas Han


The photography of longtime magazine contributor Ben Clark will also be featured in a retrospective. Clark's powerful images from past issues will be displayed in a larger, more vibrant print format, accompanied by recollections, explanations, and other ramblings by editor Martin Wong.

The roots of Asian popular culture--the kaiju scene introduced by Godzilla, Gamera, other giant monsters, and the toy industry they spawned--will be paid tribute to by a run of collaborative works made by Japanese indie sculptor and artist Yukinori Dehara, UglyDolls co-creator David Horvath, and Portland, OR-based underground toy legend LeMerde.

In addition, five custom videogames have been developed by the Attract Mode collective in conjunction with some of Giant Robot's favorite artists. Many games were made exclusively for the Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF (March-April, 2009), and they be available for play once more throughout the exhibition's stint. The artist and developer pairings include Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong, and Derek Yu; Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy; Souther Salazar and Petri Purho; J. Otto Seibold and Kyle Pulver; and Deth P. Sun and Jonathan "Cactus" Soderstrom.

An opening reception will take place from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, featuring live music and attendance by many of the participating artists and key members of the Giant Robot family.

The show will run from Saturday, October 24, 2009 to Sunday, January 24, 2010. For more information about Giant Robot magazine or The Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

###

David Choe Biennale Unofficial flyer.

David Choe rips another one... unofficial GR Biennale Flyer.

Want to see it larger? Open our flickr.

Giant Robot Biennale Cards: The first two.

First two official postcard images for the Giant Robot Biennale. A third is in the making. Click on the images to make them larger! Pass them around. David Choe art above, the mural from two years ago and some extras, and below it's the James Jean card.

kozyndan's new panoramic for GR Biennale 2

This is pretty amazing. Nakano is a great area in Tokyo which features Nakano Broadway, the otaku mecca toy building. This piece will be 10 feet long! Amazing.

Take a look at it large form here.

Albert Reyes at the Biennale

Albert Reyes checks out the Biennale space. Good job of having too much fun. You should have heard his speech. He promises an installation and art. Will it pass the tests of public safety? We'll see.

Giant Robot Biennale 2 - 15 Years

It's going to be a big show. Both floors...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years

FACEBOOK PAGE

October 24, 2009 - January 24, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday, October 24, 2009, 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
janm.org
(213) 625-0414

In 1994, Giant Robot was born with the purpose of documenting and promoting new, up-and-coming, underdog, overlooked, and hybrid Asian and Asian-American popular culture. Fifteen years later, the self-published magazine has not only evolved from a stapled-and-folded zine into a full-color, glossy publication with an international following, but also opened trend-setting shops and influential art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. To celebrate the magazine's longevity, energy, and loyal readership, the second Giant Robot Biennale is being hosted by the Japanese American National Museum in Downtown Los Angeles from October 24, 2009 to January 24, 2010. The event will feature several exhibits, including the following:

To provide a visual overview of the Giant Robot aesthetic, publisher Eric Nakamura is curating artwork by individuals who have contributed to shows at Giant Robot's galleries, been featured in the pages of the magazine, or even contributed cover art. The main hall will include installations by David Choe, James Jean, and Souther Salazar, in addition to Theo Ellsworth, Rob Sato, kozyndan, Stella Lai, Jack Long, Albert Reyes, Jeff Soto, and Deth P. Sun. A second hall will include the contributions of more than 50 others. (A complete list will be made available at www.janm.org/exhibits/gr15/home.)

The photography of longtime magazine contributor Ben Clark will also be featured in a retrospective. Clark's powerful images from past issues will be displayed in a larger, more vibrant print format, accompanied by recollections, explanations, and other ramblings by editor Martin Wong.

The roots of Asian popular culture--the kaiju scene introduced by Godzilla, Gamera, other giant monsters, and the toy industry they spawned--will be paid tribute to by a run of collaborative works made by Japanese indie sculptor and artist Yukinori Dehara, UglyDolls co-creator David Horvath, and Portland, OR-based underground toy legend LeMerde.

In addition, four custom videogames have been developed by the Attract Mode collective in conjunction with some of Giant Robot's favorite artists. These games were made exclusively for the Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF (March-April, 2009) and will be available for play throughout the exhibition's stint. The artist and developer pairings include Hellen Jo and Derek Yu, Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy, Souther Salazar and Petri Purho, J Otto Seibold and Kyle Pulver, and Deth P. Sun and Jonathan "Cactus" Soderstrom.

An opening reception will take place from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, featuring live music and attendance by many of the participating artists and key members of the Giant Robot family.

The show will run from Saturday, October 24, 2009 to Sunday, January 24, 2010. For more information about Giant Robot magazine or The Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

###

Giant Robot Biennale: 50 Issues opening night

The story is is that David said he was going to put a few throwing stars in one area, but somewhere around 3pm on the day of the opening, he threw 50 into the wall. These are sharp! So what happened? See the bottom right? They had to add the white platforms, and set them up at the last minute which meant, paint, label, and set up so no one would get injured. Imagine leaning, or even getting bumped into a star? On the positive note, it made the mural look great.

A line up! Believe it or not, by the end of the evening 2700 came though. That's a hefty art opening, and might even be a record at the museum. I saw a lot of new, old, and familiar faces. After a solid week of being there a lot, and making sure everything was running alright, it was a great payoff. I expected a lot less, and frankly was surprised at the high number. Imagine, there was a line to get into the gallery where the art show was at, and being inside and using the back ways to get from one place to the next, I never really saw the line until much later. The galleries only allow 150 people at a time. Come and check it out later on.

Mom, Angelyn, and Lucia (The Eames's daughter is also named Lucia)

That's John Sayles!

Scrabbel played in the main hall. The cool thing, food never ran out and I saw a lot of people eating the tamales.

Michelle B and Christian who has an insane hairstyle. He has more style that everyone combined. It sort of has the Vanilla Ice but retro 50s thing going on. The Vanilla Ice doo never really caught on.

Pika Pika and the I&I sound truck in the background.

Seonna and Saelee. While they stood there for my photo, others took pictures of them too. It had a paparazzi feel for a second. I'm not sure how often they've shown art together, but they currently share the same studio with many other great artists.

This is the most valuable photo in the bunch. This is Clement, the hardest working guy who helped make this show happen. I told him that we'd be wearing suits, and he said, "are you serious?" and lo and behold, he did too. I've known Clement for a while, and it was great to work with him, and we'll do it again. I hope this show didn't age him too much, we have a lot of work to do.

Souther Salazar, me and Pryor Praczukowski.

People are allowed to get close and shoot pics. They don't normally allow pics, but not at this show, you're allowed to shoot pics and hopefully get inspired by them.

David Choe signs autographs. People love Dave.

Ayumi with a big smile at the Standard.

Choe and Eishi. The room is starting to look a little messy.

That's Pryor Praczukowski. One of my oldest friends. He got a fancy haircut which makes him look even taller. That's Myleen on the bottom left corner. Her smile is the best.

Nothing left to say, but thanks for coming out. It means a lot to me.

For more pics, see the flickr thing below.

Some Youtube video of what the show looks like...