CSS! Lovefoxx

Lovefoxx. Luisa Matsushita is a cool kid. Lead singer, crazy, and has the eyes and ears of many. Watch her take it to the top. Live she's amazing. She has energy that can last for days. Is this the same person? Yes she is.

Hut Dog! James Jean's and Wen's house

Hut Dog! The plush Wen is holding is a relic. Imagine, she was a customer at Giant Robot before there was a GR2, and many other things. This was about 6 or 7 years ago and we had a lo of Hut Dogs! The weird thing is that because this had a Japanese only name, we made up the name Hut Dog and it caught on. Huell Howser even took a fancy to the dog that has a house built on it's back. He said the word Hut Dog on an episode of his show.

That's James Jean on the left. There was a killer dinner party hosted by he and Wen. The food was amazing, many things were Wen's family recipes. I got a preview of many art pieces in progress. I could have eaten it all. Maybe. But for now, they have tons of left overs. Dinner parties... how often do you go to them, and how often do you host them? It's a ton of work and it seems like a dying and lost art. Small groups of people are the way to go. I think.

Thomas Campbell's website

Thomas Campbell's website is now up. I just got a notice. You should definitely check out this man's art. I guess the blog entry is perfect timing with the Beautiful Losers movie. Random! I met Thomas Campbell way back in the early 2000s. He was painting with Barry McGee in a building. I didn't know his work then, but he was living in San Diego at the time (I think). He was doing art, and sitting quietly. He's always been a nice guy and that's why we distribute his book Sing Ding a Ling. We've had it for a while, and got it into a bunch of shops. Aside from art, this dude makes films, and is sort of a jack of all trades and a master of a few of them.

See the book here.

Thomascampbell-art.com

Beautiful Losers the Film Starting Tonight at the Nuart

Beautiful Losers the film is opening at the Nuart, just down the street from Giant Robot store. Director Aaron Rose is a pretty good guy. I hung out with him for nearly a week in Madrid, for another art exhibition and have run into him a few times locally in LA. We had some good conversations about Beautiful Losers and at the same time, I'd like to think I brought a different view point to what the film and movement might be. I thought it was a jumping off point, while many were pissed off about what the "movement" was all about. It excluded a ton of artists, who were probably worthy of being part of the "in" crowd. But what then it did was create a small fire under people's asses to make their own movements and that might actually be the larger gift that came from the film. I remember in a press conference in Madrid, Aaron Rose mentioned that point about the film. Maybe it's an easy out in times of tough questions, but it's the truth.

Beautiful Losers.
CRIBS: Aaron Rose's crib in the LA Times. We talked about the African masks once, well there they are.

I am Susie Ghahremani

That's Susie Ghahremani, she goes back old school with Giant Robot. We've watched her in school, and she's now out of school and kicking ass. She's transforming the space unlike no other, except maybe Barry McGee did once upon a time. But this is a total different style and she's being much more meticulous. Every detail is all planned out. She's a hard worker and that's something to appreciate. As an owner and gallery guy, I do. 


That's one of the birds that are hanging from the ceiling. There's going to be a lot.


She's painting each bird and branch by hand. No two are the same, and each are balanced so there's not too many flying and pointing one way. 


It's a long wall, and she's covering it in the most amazing way. The light blue is soothing like a nice sky. Really, it does.


The shadows tell a story of it's own.


That's her favorite piece. Wait until you see it's face. It's a sleeping bird that can fly.


When Susie smiles it's golden.

Scion - Insiders, Outsiders, and the Middle - the opening

The planets aligned once again. What does the title mean? You figure it out. It became a topic of conversation. Are you inside, outside, or are you in the middle? Does being inside mean you paint inside, or does it mean you are an insider in the art scene? Either way, everyone got together for a great opening. Each artist had a name tag if they wanted, and each ended up talking to numerous art fans who showed up in decent numbers. We did group photos which got nutty.

You can see more photos at my flickr. Does anyone have problems with the organizer on Flickr?


That's me skating around the show and shooting some video.


That's Sakamoto. He's a little quirky, doesn't speak much English, but in the middle of the show, he got super emo, wanted to cry - he was having such a good time. He saw me, and said a few words in English, then rattled off some words in Japanese, and said, "SO HAPPY"...


The QR code works. In art, that's digital, it's amazing how things can link up. For Invader, this is a hot move.

That's Kami painting and having a good time. He even painted with some kids. It's cool when artists get involved with whatever's going on. Rolling with the flow.


Ed Trask made a paint by numbers box. People loved it and got into it.

The bunker. 6th and Berendo. What's this place really called? Shinya with the cap, showed the ladies at the table, how to open the bottle with chopsticks. Way back in issue 7 or so, we had a little something on the beer bottle opening champ of Japan. Shinya was his understudy, and knows every trick.


It was a scurry, since we were so hungry. The food was great, the place is nuts. It's our second time there with a group from Scion.

Cheers and bombs away. The night went on for a while, and the enigmatic Space Invader, where did he go? Did he Invade? He slipped away into the night.

Scion - Insiders Outsiders and the Middle - the artists

It's already just 2 days from opening night at the Scion space in Culver City. The artists are all now in town and installing. It's great to see them all. Noriko Ashino, Nao Harada, Space Invader, Adrian Johnson, Kami, Ed Trask, Shinya Yamamoto, Zariganiworks are all working harmoniously to get their art up and looking good. It's still early in the game but the cool thing is that everything looks great.

That's Noriko Ashino who designed the GR umbrellas, rooster, and the panda shirt. That's Lucky the dog who roams the grounds. I guess I was wearing IPaths that day.

In progress. Maybe I shouldn't show you this, but it's going to look good. Invader is tearing up LA right now. Keep your eyes open.

Trask to the task. This painting is huge.

Kami is in town. His work is great.

Nao looks like Shinya's work while painting his own.

Mr Trask. Think he can play drums? With arms like that, of course he can. Find him on the beach, he's been going surfing in the early AM. Let him on some waves, locals. He's a great guest.

Amy peeps over the shoulder of the Zariganiworks robot.

Dali Lama cubes

Ex Londonite, Adrian Johnson made it in last, but he got oohs and ahhs when he unrolled his work. He's the nicest guy.

Father's Office looked like a bunk place. Totally filled with people, loud, a bar, and then we ordered a burger for each. Some Yam fries, and regular fries. I'd say, all were skeptical. Yes, all. How can a place that looks like a typical yuppie bar (I guess you can say it is), serve good food? Ah, a Korean dude who's the maestro chef. After the first bite, people tripped out. I heard it in Japanese all over the place. Check out Sakamoto's (Zariganiworks - in red, blue, and white expression. Look at his eyes. Cameras started going up to shoot pics of their burger. 

10 Comic Con moments

Here's some Comic Con shots.

1) That's us in gear at the booth. Standing behind a counter most of the day, you get to take pics from the place where everyone is looking. The booth looked great.

2) Seth Rogen came by, and he reads GR! I tried to hand him a mag, and he said, sorry, already have it. See more pics on Flickr.

3) I remember when I said, I wanted to take their pics, she made sure her boobs were riding high. I guess that's better than low.

4) This is serious.

5) That's Seth. Total nice dude. Ever see a head slap to a stiff straight arm in football? That's what this is... I guess being one of the dudes, and then talking shit is how people have fun. In the end, although it was truncated, I had fun at the beach party. 

6) Details from the Party at the Beach. You had to appreciate the madness of the last 15 minutes. Uh 5-0 all over, yes. 

a) Manager Michelle hold her ground against the pigs. Good. 

b) Having 10 minutes according to 5-0 of fire pit time. Good. 

c) Blasting an entire bottle of lighter fluid, throwing in every piece of wood and log to make a gigantic fire. Good. 

d) Throwing in a towel in a fit of anarchy. Good. Cops coming back. Good. 

e) Argument for nearly 10 minutes, then including hippie Scrappers Morrison acting all weird and wet from the beach. Keeping the fire alive. Good. 

f) Cops waving the white flag and letting everyone go. Good. 

I guess all this isn't as good as a vinyl toy.

7) James Jean signing with a line doing a 360 around the booth.

8) Meeting Usugrow, itokin park, 

9) Saw a Devil Robots T, of the Giant Robot cover, and the art is exactly the same which includes me at the controls. I want one of those.

10) Catching shoplifter on sunday, and seeing him cry, tantrum, and run away into a crowd.

Simone Legno at GR2 Tomorrow, Wed, the 30th.

He's signing soccerballs, and perhaps other ephemera. The artist behind Tokidoki will be in the house from 6-8pm following his Comic Con insane signing endeavors. Good with the fans and friends, Simone is a very giving and nice guy. Meet him if you have the time.

Estevan Oriol and studio

I met with Mr Revelli of Upper Playground at a studio in downtown. It's not anything ordinary, it's the studio of artist / tattoo artist Mr Cartoon and photographer Estevan Oriol. Conventional wisdom says that it's dangerous there, but no, Estevan is the nicest guy around, and didn't hesitate to show me a cross section of his work including some folks who are no longer with us. He even photographed the portrait for the poster. I'm sure he freaked out the two big stars, since Estevan isn't an ordinary photographer. Part of what you get is his raw style and eye. The weird thing is that a part of his youth was spent very close to my house. His day lived 4 or 5 blocks up, while he lived in Santa Monica. He said, the kids of the old school gangs are back.

See his site and his works.

Here, he shows me what camera he likes to use. It's a simple Canon. He was showing me other cameras too. His first one that he liked using was an old Polaroid. 

That's a Mr Cartoon thing.

Yeah he hates being photographed. The more you hate it, the better it is. This is what a CEO looks like.

The cars... a bunch of them. The studio is like a car shop.

Evidently, Mr Cartoon was in their shop tattooing Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns. The high profile may happen in their new shop on Skid Row. There's an Upper Playground there too.

Money Mark back from the Jack Johnson tour now at Goodwill

Money Mark at the Goodwill. Yeah, that's not the best sounding thing ever, meeting at a Goodwill. Me looking for weird crap, Mark looking at an old piano he wants for a special sound. He took a seat and caught up on what was going on amidst junk. Mark was funny showing me how cool this piano was with ivory keys (yeah, that's bad), and ebony keys. Does ivory sound better? 

The piano shuts down like a box. Mark's been on tour with Jack Johnson. He just got back and is now going to produce some music - for which this piano will work well. If you don't know mark use Google. He keyboarded for the Beastie Boys, wrote many of their best songs with them too, has solo albums, and some cool music videos.

This is neat, he's recording the sound with his cell phone to find out if the tuning is okay. He also said that if you punch in 123456789 - it's a C scale. Is that true?

Yeah, it's his now. After seeing him, we vowed to keep in better touch. 

GR54 James Jean outtake photos

James Jean outtakes from Giant Robot 54. I took the pics while at his house. I forgot his cat's name. I think it had something to do with it's color... I think. The house is a great spot in Santa Monica. I took photos the day after the interview. It's strange to take pics right after an interview for some reason. It feels a lot better to come back the next day, but usually, it doesn't work that way.

Take a look at the photo set.

Jack Long video Convolvere

Got the Jack Long video done. Took a lot longer and I put more effort into this, but part of the problem is that there was over 25 minutes of footage to be cut into 4 minutes! It's hard to capture Jack, there's so much more to say, but nonetheless, hacking down footage is almost like editing an article. Below: that's Lisa Ling and her husband. That dude is tall.

Lisa made a comment that Jack's art looks Russian. He was puzzled and was sort of surprised to hear that. Then a couple minutes later, he realized that one of his pieces has a building that he copied from a Russian church!

Jack Long video below

Dirty Hands World Premier Q and A video - Harry Kim and David Choe Los Angeles Film Festival - The Crest

Of course it's on our Youtube page if you care to see the other videos that have recently gone up. I shot this from my seat, and after the Q and A, there's a little extra with David Choe's parents. Hear what mom has to say about her son. Man, I'm evil, but her answer was telling. They were proud. The dad was all smiles, and he also went to each of the three screenings. That's a proud dad. Check out our Youtube page here. There's some art exhibition video to see as well. Thanks much and Happy 4th.

Shepard Fairey

When Shepard Fairey met Obama, he showed him the now infamous design that you see on the poster. Obama said something to the effect of, "I like that image, how did you spread it so fast?" That's a great first question back. He could have said, can I have a poster? But instead I'd like to think Obama understood that the image was powerful and out there en masse much like an Obey sticker, and realized the power behind "street art", youth, and a true indie/punk rock grassroots movement using the power of blogs. Think Obama's competition knows this?

Meeting up with Shepard always bums me out since he makes me feel dwarfed. What did I do to deserve that today? 

We're the same age, and I remember his work from the day we started out. We've been through some of the same lumps, and he's at year 19! For some reason, he reminds me of Yoshitomo Nara. It's their face, their laugh, and musical tastes.

Shep's always complimentary about GR since it's a mag he reads. He even said a big part of his world ends with GR and Juxtapoz. It's great to see him rock at his own studio/gallery/meeting place in Echo Park. 

Guess what he likes to drink?

Miya Ando Stanoff art Exhibition Bandini Gallery

That's sort of what we looked like at the Miya Ando Stanoff art exhibition. Her back story is amazing. She's the descendant of a sword maker. That's cousin Mike Idemoto and Eugenia Yuan. That's Miya above my cousin's left shoulder. This all took place at the Bandini gallery on Fairfax. The art is minimal style, sort of Rothko in a way, but it's all made out of metal, and with industrial finishing techniques, the work has tones and textures. I'm a little more into pop culture, so this type of work is something I'm not used to seeing.

Evidently, she's from Watsonville, a small town in California, where my mother's side has some roots. Miya now lives in Brooklyn and has art exhibitions all over. See her site here.

I liked this piece the most.

gr/eats lunch with Monkmus

That's Monkmus, a director, drawer, animator, who joined up at lunch time today at gr/eats. It's a nice warm day today, and a friday which makes a lot of people happy, but in the end, it's like another day for me at GR. Saturday is almost like a monday or a tuesday. A Sunday... well, that's like a wed or a friday. Monday is just like a tuesday, which is like a wednesday and thursday and a Saturday. I'm not making much sense, but you get the idea. Like in a Debby Deb lyric (or the opposite): Weekends are not made for fun.

Meanwhile gr/eats keeps rockin' serious. That's the okra rolls above. 

Tofu meat balls.

Tofu meal ball "oyako" donburi. Of course oyako means parent and kid, which is like chicken and an egg, but this is tofu ball and egg. Hmm, can they be related?

1/2 paella. Yes, this was good.

That's the middle of the tofu ball.

Angry Asian Man

I had lunch with Phil Yu, aka, Angry Asian Man. He's been doing this blog for years, before the word blog existed - maybe. It's cool to hear about how he started, his view points, how he does his stuff, and his overall humbleness. This photo is probably the goofier side of him, and he's not really angry, and you'll see him smile just like this. angryasianman.com

Dirty Hands World Premier - Harry Kim and David Choe Los Angeles Film Festival - The Crest

I like Photos of Harry Kim and David Choe. This one says it all, doesn't it? It was before the film, Dirty Hands was to start. Harry holds a bouquet of flowers. Harry with flowers! He's holding up a ticket to get in and he's wearing a tie-dye t shirt that says, Arizona on it. David stands next to him, with a Sharpie and film festival badge in hand, arm around his great friend. Both not knowing how other directors might handle a beginning of a film festival film, often with red carpet bravado and pompousness. This was the opposite. It was as if they handed the keys to the prison to the inmates. Everything was turned on it's head. Yet, a huge staff of support was there for the film, even if it was just from friends. Meanwhile, a line spanned down the block. It was long. 

Dirty Hands website.
Meet the parents. Harry Kim's parents on the left, David Choe's parents on the right. None had seen the film yet. They were proud to wear the Dirty Hands T shirt by Upper Playground. That alone was a great sight. They had no idea what was upcoming and what adventures their kids went on together over the last 8 years. Seeing each other was a great start. Here's a little back story. Evidently, Harry got into trouble perhaps at the hands of David's older brother. The Kim's were apprehensive of the Choe clan, they haven't spoken in years and years. The film brought them out and together last night. It was a sight at the after film party at Asuka restaurant next door. The elder Koreans sat at a table, talked, and were often seen pointing fingers happily at their kids. Something was brewing and only they know what that is, but being proud was definitely part of it.  The crowd was energetic, they laughed, clapped, and I only heard great things about the film.

Here's that long, long line. Some got turned away. The theater was packed for this film. If you got in, it was a special night. David Choe hid out and didn't want to be in the awkward scene of having his parents see him say and do the nuttiest things. I introduced the film, and that was actually tough, since, it's easy to talk about David Choe, but this time, it was about Harry, and he got a huge cheer when I mentioned his name. The film went off without a hitch. I video taped the Q and A, and I'll see if I can get that up soon.

My friend Bobby Hundreds. We stood next to each other after the film, taking it in. A nice dude walked by and said, "whoa, my two favorite bloggers next to each other." I figured that was Bobby's friend and I got to ride his coat tail for a second.

That's David before the film.

David and James Jean, the cover artist of Giant Robot 54. We sponsored the after party at Asuka. See the banner that's sagging? Dave put it up. He doesn't know tape as well as paint.

Dave signs Converse. He's featured in an ad for Converse, wish we got that ad in the mag. 

That's Jessica Sanders, filmmaker - a true paparazzi shot.

This guy got everything.

The scene at Asuka. You can actually make out the parents in the background in the black t shirts!

After after party at Barcade in Korea town. You can actually play games inside. We were there until near 4am.

It was Harry's night, and maybe year. I can't tell you how proud I am of this dude. People discount Harry a lot. Imagine, Dave's a world famous type of artist, there's been this dude tagging along shooting footage. No one has seen much, and it's been dragging so long, it seems like it would never ever come out. But lo and behold, this man has major talent along with his staff. Great editing job as well.

That's big brother, Jimmy Choe on the left.

Even though Harry had a great time, David sat on his face, sweaty nuts to the chin. In this way, these dudes haven't grown up at all. 

That's Yoshi Obayashi, he's a comedian, his brother is a pro skater with the same name.

The night obviously ends in Korean food. The weird thing was that at almost 5am, there was a soccer game on, and I'm sure it was Korea playing, and there were people actually there to watch.

Gabe Ritter X Jen Pak

There's that X... for collaborations. Does it apply to marriage? I suppose so. That's Gabe Ritter and Jen Pak. Gabe's written a bunch of articles for Giant Robot beginning with Ai Yamaguchi cover and interview. They've been dating since high school, and it's a very rare occurrence that they're going strong nearly a decade later. We were at Koehler winery in Los Olivos, CA. It's a nice looking place, and if you look at the next photos in the upper left, you can see an expanse of grape vines, almost as far as you can see. 

That's Ai Yamaguchi and Shingo Hayashi and Rei. He's 2 1/2 years old and like to take arty photos. Look at those curls!

Cupcakes taken to a new level.

That's Gabe. We knew him when he was a kid, but he's grown up now.

Can't stop taking pics of food, sorry. The beef which was grilled onsite (you could see them grilling) was good. Potatoes rocked, chicken got a bit firm, and the beans were smokin'! Definitely a good meal and a pleasant wedding, especially when it began to cool down. Weddings are tough, I guess I can't say I'm into them, but seeing people happy in their maybe once in a lifetime day is alright.

Jack Long GR2 opens tonight Convolvere

Jack Long changed his color schemes and if anything, the work has more detail than ever. There's a range of sizes, and the show overall looks great. Jack's friend asked me from where I met Jack. I told the story. I was eating at Julian's in Providence. It's a great spot, if you ever get a chance. Jack's art was hanging on the wall. It was his first show, and he was just finishing school at RISD. The work was amazing. I couldn't tell if the work was by a kid, or an older man who's into fantasy. It had maturity with a youthful spirit. As soon as I tracked him down, I found out he just finished college!

I put him in art shows. Artist Susie Ghahremani knew him from classes at school, so it made everything easier. Since then, we've shown Jack many times. He's one of the nicest guys around, and he's now lived in LA for three years. I'm glad that I was able to help him out. He even worked at GR stores in LA. Tonight's his "next GR" art show. Convolvere. 

I took this photo off of a site called artbusiness.com

I've taken many photos like this and I think this is a photo from our space. That's a shadow around his neck, not sweat, but I'm sure he works that hard when he paints.

Esurance Pwrfl Power

We've featured him in GR before, and the next thing we know, he's in a commercial and animated. I like the end when he says in his crooning voice... "it feeeeeellls gooood..." I haven't seen this dude on tour yet, but at some point, I'd like to see this dude.

David Choe and Harry Kim - Dirty Hands - World Premiere

This is my favorite pic of David Choe and Harry Kim. Harry is often referred to as David's sidekick, and in many ways, maybe he is. For nearly the last decade, where David's been, Harry's been right there behind him - with a video camera. This picture was from London, on our way to the Tate Modern. Look at the image... Harry's hands out explaining something, perhaps that he did wrong and David looking like Sid Vicious. The film was done shooting at this point, and it's now show time - saturday June 21, 2008. Dirty Hands website.

I'm proud to say we're sponsoring the film screening along with Upper Playground and RVCA. We've been there from day one of David Choe's career and it's great to see it keep rolling along.

That's Steve Lazarides and David Choe

A still from Dirty Hands.

That's Dave and his brother Paul in NYC.