GRSF Salvage – Caroline Hwang 1/12/08 – 2/13/08

Giant Robot is proud to host Salvage, an art show by Caroline Hwang.

Raised in Southern California, Hwang graduated from Art Center College of Design. Influenced by graphic arts, films, and music, Hwang turns fabric, quilting, and painting into collages that reflect the complexities of human relationships. Currently residing in Brooklyn, Hwang has been featured in Paper Magazine and Swindle Quarterly, and has contributed illustrations to The New York Times, Bust Magazine, and HOW Design. Recently, she was part of the Giant Robot-curated To The Masses group art show at the Scion Space in Los Angeles.

Hwang’s latest work integrates the craft aesthetic of quilting and sewing with nautical themes such as color-block flags. As the title implies, Salvage is about searching for something lost and preventing further loss in adverse circumstance: picking up the pieces–glimmers of hope, pieces of oneself–and starting anew.

The opening reception will take place from 6:00 – 10:00 on Saturday, January 12.

Reception: Saturday, January 12, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Giant Robot is proud to host Salvage, an art show by Caroline Hwang.

Raised in Southern California, Hwang graduated from Art Center College of Design. Influenced by graphic arts, films, and music, Hwang turns fabric, quilting, and painting into collages that reflect the complexities of human relationships. Currently residing in Brooklyn, Hwang has been featured in Paper Magazine and Swindle Quarterly, and has contributed illustrations to The New York Times, Bust Magazine, and HOW Design. Recently, she was part of the Giant Robot-curated To The Masses group art show at the Scion Space in Los Angeles.

Hwang’s latest work integrates the craft aesthetic of quilting and sewing with nautical themes such as color-block flags. As the title implies, Salvage is about searching for something lost and preventing further loss in adverse circumstance: picking up the pieces–glimmers of hope, pieces of oneself–and starting anew.

The opening reception will take place from 6:00 – 10:00 on Saturday, January 12.

GRSF Little Sanctuary – APAK 4/21/07 – 5/10/07

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – APAK Art Show

Little Sanctuary at GRSF, April 21 – May 10
Reception: Saturday, April 21, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF
618 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
gr-sf.com
415-876-4773

Giant Robot is proud to present Little Sanctuary, an art show featuring the work of husband-and-wife collaborative duo Ayumi and Aaron Piland, a.k.a. APAK, who hide out like hermits on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.

For the show, the two artists are preparing 30 colorful gauche paintings ranging from 5″ x 7″ to 8″ x 10″ on wood and paper, illustrating “the fantastic utopian life and adventures of little beings living in a lush organic environments surrounded by curious and friendly little animals.” Tweaked with fantastic elements and charged by rich colors, the familiar landscapes are familiar yet surreal, hinting at fantastic narrative while suggesting truths about the real world at the same time.

A reception with the artists will be held from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, April 21.

GRSF Fearfully and Wonderfully – Sean Cassidy, Katherine Guillen, Zachary Rossman, and Brian Rush 3/17/07 – 4/18/07

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group Art Show

Fearfully and Wonderfully at GRSF, March 17 – April 18
Reception: Saturday, March 17, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF
618 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
gr-sf.com
415-876-4773

Giant Robot is proud to present Fearfully and Wonderfully, a group art show featuring the work of Sean Cassidy, Katherine Guillen, Zachary Rossman, and Brian Rush.

For the show, Sean Cassidy is preparing 10-20 small pieces that instill the effortless flow of the drawn line with the mystery of science. His deceptively straightforward paintings and sculptures balance the primal need for expression with an unstated but understood logic and cloud the boundaries of fact and fantasy.

Katherine Guillen uses watercolor, etching, and ceramics to “chronicle the hopeless state of the environment, and the darker side of humanity that it exposes.” Her translucent-but-dark hues depict subjects such as manual labor and bullies, as well as floods and other forms of nature in an unflinching, subtly humorous manner.

Zachary Rossman plans on painting about seven gouache-on-paper pieces, all of which will feature meticulous brushwork. Fixated on the unbreakable and often freakish relationship between humans and nature, his latest work suggests an obsessive fixation with caves, as well as mountains, black holes, icicles, botanical forms, and creatures.

Brian Rush will prepare 10-15 acrylic paintings that will feature cartoon-based characters and narratives, loosely held together by a non-linear storyline or idea. Although the subjects may be familiar, no single explanation is enforced upon the viewers, who are allowed to construct their own explanations of the accessible yet cryptic themes.

A reception for the artists will be held from 6:30 , 10:00 on Saturday, March 17. For more information about the show, the artists, GRSF, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

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

GRSF 8 x 10 – Group Show 2/17/07 – 3/14/07

8 X 10 – group drawing show!

A group art show with a diverse, dazzling array of participants using the rawest of writing instruments (pencils, pens, crayons, markers, etc.) and a stock frame size. Contributors come from indie comics, crafting, street-art, and fine-art backgrounds, and include (but are not limited to):

Marc Bell
Jill Bliss
Kelie Bowman
Calef Brown
Martin Cendreda
Josh Cochran
Allison Cole
Austin English
Matt Furie
Gary Garay
Susie Ghahremani
Katherine Guillen
Maya Hayuk
Maxwell Loren-Holyoke Hirsch
Caroline Hwang
Paul Hwang
Hellen Jo
Keith Jones
Kelly Lynn Jones
Kozyndan
Benjamin Lee
Jack Long
David Magdaleno
Abby Manock
Travis Millard
Matt Moroz
PCP
John Pham
John Porcellino
Albert Reyes
Zachary Rossman
Manny Silva
Jeana Sohn
STO
Deth P. Sun
Kelly Tunstall
Tom Vadakan
Marci Washington
Justin B. Williams
Andrew Jeffrey Wright

GRSF Dinosaur Party – Group Show 11/18/06 – 12/13/06

GRSF Eating Grass – Jeana Sohn 6/24/06 – 7/26/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Jeana Sohn

EATING GRASS at GRSF, June 24 – July 26
Reception: Saturday, June 24, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF
622 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
gr-sf.com
415-976-4773

Giant Robot is proud to present the art of Jeana Sohn at GRSF.

Jeana Sohn was born in Korea, where she completed a program in graphic design at a local university. Jeana moved to the U.S to study character animation at CalArts. Her drawings and paintings combine the straightforwardness of children’s book illustration with the subdued color palate of weathered folk signage and free-flowing composition of street art. In 2005, she was commissioned to design t-shirts and buttons for Death Cab for Cutie.

For “Eating Grass,” Sohn is painting with acrylic on wood panels, paper, and old book covers as well as wooden eggs. Topics include but are not limited to boys, girls, flowers, awkwardness, stillness, quiet, swimming, and sharks, The 50 pieces will be linked by an implied, non-specific narrative that relates unrelated objects and events.

A reception for the artist will be held from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, June 24.

GRSF River – Eishi Takaoka 5/27/06 – 6/21/06

Eishi Takaoka River at GRSF, May 27 – June 21
Reception: Saturday, May 27, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF is pleased to present rivers, the first San Francisco solo exhibition of Eishi Takaoka, a young sculptor based out of Kagoshima, Japan. Takaoka has participated in group shows in Tokyo and New York, as well as one-person exhibitions at Giant Robot New York and GR2 in Los Angeles.

The exhibition will consist of over 100 works comprised primarily of intricately carved wood heads painted with raw mineral pigments placed atop empty glass medicine bottles. Although these sculptures all portray the same serene expression, their outwardly calm façade belies a world of bottled-up emotions. With nowhere else to go, these intense feelings manifest themselves in outlandish formations that sprout out the top of each figure’s head.

Takaoka’s unique work is rooted in a personal fantasy world that is fueled by the emotional ups and downs of daily life in lower-middle class Japan. Heavily influenced by the expressive songs of the Japanese punk rock group Eastern Youth, Takaoka releases his frustration with life in Kagoshima and feelings of isolation into each of his sculptures.

GRSF is located at 622 Shrader Street in the Upper Haight. 415-976-4773.
(Monday – Friday 11:30 – 8:00, Saturday 11:00 – 8:00, Sunday 12:00 – 7:00)

GRSF Sea Ghost – Deth P. Sun 4/29/06 – 5/24/06

Deth P. Sun at GRSF, April 29 – May 24

Reception: Saturday, April 29, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF
622 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
gr-sf.com
415-976-4773

Giant Robot is proud to present the art of Deth P. Sun at GRSF.

Upon graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 2003, Deth P. Sun grasped the indie art world by the eyeballs with his paintings of mysterious catlike people, cloaked children, and floating animals. Standing on barren landscapes, suspended in water, and surrounded by clouds, Sun’s humble yet heroic characters instill the purity of a Precious Moments ceramic with the dark whimsy of a Maurice Sendak’s children’s book and epic proportions of a Brothers Hildebrandt airbrush mural.

Since his first solo show at GR2 in the summer of 2003, the Oakland-based artist has taken part in no less than 60 group and solo shows, including two excursions to the U.K. Stylistically, Deth has been sticking with his popular chunky creatures, somber pallet, and dreamy backgrounds, but he recently been incorporating geometric shapes with brighter colors. Are these merely aberrations or a new direction? With 50 new pieces in the works, Sea Ghost will be a good indicator.

Giant Robot is a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian and Asian-American pop culture that will soon celebrate its twelfth anniversary. In addition to running the GRSF art gallery and boutique, Giant Robot also operates locations in New York and Los Angeles, and publishes art books.

Deth P. Sun’s art show opening will take place from 6:30 to10:00 on Saturday, April 29.

GRSF is located at 622 Shrader Street in the Upper Haight. 415-976-4773.

http://www.gr-sf.com/giantrobotflyer3.jpg

GRSF Easy Like – Greg “Pnut” Galinsky 3/25/06 – 4/26/06

Giant Robot SF Presents:
Easy Like
New works by Greg “Pnut” Galinsky
622 Shrader Street, San Francisco, CA 94117

March 25th – April 26th, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 25th, 6:30 – 10pm

Giant Robot is pleased to announce a solo art exhibition with Bay Area artist, Greg Galinsky.

Greg Galinsky’s images of Polynesian icons, nature, musical instruments, and decorative patterns evoke nostalgia and peacefulness. His sparse imagery, precise lines, muted color palette, and monochromatic backdrops create a strong graphic feel and very specific moods. This exhibit will feature works on canvas, glass, wood, and furniture.

Originally from Southern California, Galinsky was influenced by skateboarding, surfing and living near the ocean. Galinsky studied at Otis Parsons School of Design but left to start his own clothing label. Recently, the Bay Area art fixture has worked with Barney’s, Levi’s, Vans Shoe Company, and The Charles and Ray Eames Office.

For more information, contact:
Derek Song
Giant Robot SF, Manager
622 Shrader St. at Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
415.876.GRSF
derek@giantrobot.com
www.giantrobot.com / www.gr-sf.com

GRSF Dehara Yukinori: The Jingi 2/25/06 – 3/22/06

Giant Robot SF Presents:
The Jingi : Japanese Yakuza Spirit
Figure Exhibition by Yukinora Dehara
622 Shrader Street, San Francisco, CA 94117

February 25th – March 22nd, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday February 25th, 6:30 – 10pm

Giant Robot is pleased to announce Yukinora Dehara’s first exhibition in San Francisco, and second show with Giant Robot.

From farmers, salary men, ghosts, gangsters and even killer vegetables, Dehara transforms these often absurd archetypes, into observations of Japanese and American society and pop culture. His clay sculptures are raw but detailed, painted with a precise and glossy aesthetic. They impart the subject’s state of being, whether it’s a subservient rice cooker, or a tortured Yakuza boss.

For each exhibition Dehara sculpts a unique cast of characters. Previous series have included killer produce in “Oyasi: Vegetable Wars”, villagers and farmers for the “Jibasan” collection, and Japanese ghosts for “Pop Yokai: Japanese Old Ghost”. In “The Jingi” Dehara will depict the Japanese gangster icon. Dehara has created 100 original sculptures that will expose every possible incarnation of the Jingi. Giant Robot San Francisco will have Dehara’s hard to find products in stock, including books, toys and other selected merchandise that catalog Dehara’s prolific body of work. Yukinori Dehara will be in attendance for the opening of the show.