Art

Art by Mark Todd and Matt Furie are online now! We’ll make every effort to get James Kochalka’s 143 pieces online today by 5pm. (Giant Robot – Facial Recognition)

It was fun shooting Edwin Ushiro who is equally entertaining. His interview reveals that his recent work is about small regrets from his past. From Elementary, middle and high school in Hawaii. He makes it perfect in his art. The interview took place at his home studio in Culver City.

Thanks to Thrash Lab for this fourth video of the six. Thanks to Goh Nakamura for the music, Anthony Batt for the vision, Ashton Kutcher for the channel and tripod, Thrash Lab staff for the Post, Tony Sugano for the extra hand and Edwin for the interview.

Facial Recognition Reception at GR2 was a fun night with an array of visitors.

That’s Matt Furie, Jeremy Fish, and Albert Reyes.

James Kochalka and frequent GR2 visitor, Flora.

Mark Todd and Crew, many are his students!

more pics below.

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While James Kochalka in from Burlington, Vermont was installing art, a young woman walked in and said, “this looks familiar” When she found out James Kochalka did American Elf, she got excited and said she was a fan. Fans get hugs. That’s Mari Naomi who happened to be there too. It was a cute moment. Minutes later, the young woman’s mom came and said, “we have to go!”

That’s Matt Furie and Aiyana Udesen measuring out the wall. Mark Todd… where are you?!

Having a video maker come by and shoot stuff during the day means short videos. I didn’t know this one was happening but I’m always down to help people know more about art. Thanks, DJ Tony Jr.

Seasonal Changes photos and video by Dj Tony Jr who’s standing at the opening with Hellen Jo. There’s plenty more to see. (Chopblock – Seasonal Changes)

Video by DJ Tony Jr. Thanks much again.

Sean Chao makes dioramas that are cute and tell a story. It was fun to able to sit and watch Sean work the Sculpey. Chao speaks softly and is thoughtful in his explanations of his work.

I look like living hell, but Crystal from Santa Monica High stopped in because she had to write a report about an art exhibition. She chose Seasonal Changes and walked into GR2 rather quietly. Of course “yes” you can sketch the art, and yes, I’ll help you know more about the artists and their work. It’s not a huge assignment, but she’s taking it serious. She wandered the walls and looked at the pieces and settled on a couple of them. One by Jen Corace and another by Gosha Levochkin. She picked the pieces based on her own interpretation of the title of the exhibition and she sketched two pieces and wrote about them.

Afterwards, I got to peek into her own sketchbook! Talent for days.

The moment I saw Digging by Deth P. Sun, it reminded me of the very tall Mongolian man, Bao Xishun who at 7’9″ was summoned to help pull pieces of plastic out of two dolphins in 2006. I’m sure Bao, who lives in a landlocked area far from a coast, would have never thought he would be a hero to two dolphins. But upon further research, I found out that an American basketball player, Clifford Ray who at 6’9″ used his long reach to pull a bolt out a dolphin named Mr Spock in 1978. Ray said that the dolphin seemed to understand something was wrong and was cooperative throughout. Ray also mentioned in the NY Times, “After that whole incident, whenever I would go to the park, he would always recognize me,” Ray said of Mr. Spock. “He would come right up to me without being prompted.” Aren’t dolphins stories are cool? As for Bao Xishun and Clifford Ray, they should meet one day and talk about their experience. I’ll nominate myself to moderate.

I’m not sure what Deth P. Sun’s Cat is doing to the wolf like animal. Perhaps the relaxed eyes and demeanor tell it all. The animal seems knows there’s some kind of extraction going on, just like the dolphins.

Thanks to Wendy Sherman for the review and the visit.

“As a whole, the work of the four artists went together well. The work was similar enough in style and subject matter to mesh well, but still different enough to make the show interesting.” (Cartwheelart – Seasonal Changes)

OITA  ~ “Skull Reaper Eiji” (transliterated as “Skull Reaper A-ji” by the Western press) was elected to the city council in this city on the southernmost Japanese island of Kyushu back in February promising local folks educational reform and improved social welfare facilities. He managed to garner only 2,828 votes, but that was enough to win him a seat. Eiji, 44, was supposed to attend his first council meeting this week, but his tight-assed council colleagues sucker-punched him by barring him from the meetings until he removed his wrestling mask. The Skull Reaper is the third masked politician elected to public office in Japan.  [TIME ~ Politician Banned for Wearing Wrestling Mask]

FACIAL RECOGNITION

April 6 – Apr 24, 2013

Three Person Group Exhibition featuring James Kochalka, Matt Furie and Mark Todd

James Kochalka is a comic book artist, musician, and more hailing from Burlington, Vermont. His well known works include a new animated cartoon called Superfuckers. Matt Furie is well known for his illustrative character works, at times featuring super heroes and villains in a world that’s all his own. Mark Todd is an illustrator and instructor at Art Center College of Design. His works are often amalgamations of layers that often comprise his own takes on classic comics covers.

All three artists are involved in some type of published work, some of which will be available at Giant Robot.

For any other information on or about any of the artists or anything else contact Eric Nakamura at Giant Robot.

Seasonal Changes

April 6 – Apr 24, 2013

Opening Reception:
Saturday, April 6, 2013
6:30 – 10:00 PM
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles CA 90025
http://gr2.net/

eric (at) giantrobot.com
310 445.9276

Watercolors is a difficult medium and Gosha Levochkin is able to manipulate it into an interesting narrative. This will be a larger offering of Levochkin’s works at GR2.

We’ve worked with Jen Corace before, and it’s great to have her back into an exhibition. Her work has developed into a new style of narrative. We’re excited to have her and you’ll love her work.

Thrash Lab X Giant Robot Profile #2 Luke Chueh

Luke Chueh is an LA hero. He made it work, his way. Pay attention to Luke Chueh.

Youtubelink

Tuesday, March 5th – Rob Sato

Tuesday, March 12th – Luke Chueh

Tuesday March 26th – Sean Chao

Tuesday, April 2nd – Edwin Ushiro

Tuesday, April 9th – David Horvath

Tuesday, April 16th – Shizu Saldamando

Youtubelink

Rob Sato, friend of Giant Robot and a great artist, specializes in watercolors and makes a great subject for a video.