Giant Robot Store and GR2 News – Tagged "Art"– Page 135 – GiantRobotStore

Art · Events · GR2 · new GR2 · printed matter · Printed Matter 10 · prints · Jan 03, 2012

Printed Matter 10 at the New GR2 Space

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art Exhibition at GR2 Printed Matter 10 Prints from Artists Jan 11th – Jan 26th, 2012 Opening reception Saturday Jan 14, 6:30-10pm GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 The Giant Robot 2 (GR2) remodel happening at the beginning of January will transform the location into a larger gallery, creating MORE wall space and utilizing all of the existing walls. We’re shrinking the retail capacity of GR2 and focusing in on the art that we’ve loved sharing with the world there! We’ll begin with a large print show, “Printed Matter 10″ as we’ve done in the past at GR2, GRNY and GRSF. We’ve had numerous installments of of “Printed Matter” and this is the 10th. The print show will begin January 11th with an opening on saturday the 14th. Participants include: Apak!, Chris Bettig, Jude Buffum, Burlesque Printing, Louise Chen, Shawn Cheng, David Choe, James Chong, Dutch Door Press, ENFU, Ines Estrada, Jesse Fillingham, Hilary Florido, Matt Furie, Gabe Gonzales, Kio Griffith, Seonna Hong, Kerry Horvath, Michael & Pearl Hsiung, Martin Hsu, Mari Inukai, Jeremyville, Kaori Kasai, kozyndan, Jesse LeDoux, Little Friends of Printmaking, Bradford Lynn, Dan McCarthy, Gary Musgrave, Masato Nakada, Saelee Oh, Martin Ontiveros, Panorama Press, Sidney Pink, Albert Reyes, Jay Ryan, Jessica Seamans, Ryan Jacob Smith, Dave Stolte, Diana Sudyka, Deth P. Sun, Jesse Tise, Aiyana Udesen, Justin Wallis, Jing Wei, Kent Williams, Aaron Woes Martin, Sashiko Yuen Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles as well as an online equivalent. Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311

Art · makoto aida · norton · peter norton · takashi murakami · Dec 30, 2011

More than Murakami?

Peter Norton, from Norton Utilities fame did an “Ulrich” and sold some of his art collection. The sculpture above fetched 2.7 million. The Economist does a round about article introducing Murakami, but then gets into other artists including Makoto Aida (that’s myself and Aida in a Tokyo Subway) His works are represented by Mizuma Art and although doesn’t command Murakami like prices, it’s still in the half million and more range. The article goes on to explain that Japanese folks don’t buy art as much as some of the rest of the world. That old argument of small apartments, small houses, etc might be part of it, but it’s just not part of the culture just yet. The odd thing is, in an article that’s sort of round about, not one mention of Yoshitomo Nara. Strange. [Economist - More than Murakami]

art · book · giant robot · Giant Robot NEWS · Giant Robot store · giant robot time · gr store · gr time · GR2 · movie · norwegian wood · Dec 30, 2011

Giant Robot Time: 12.30.11 – Happy New Year!

GIANT ROBOT 2 – REDUX 2012

TEMPORARILY CLOSED DURING CONSTRUCTION

JANUARY 2 – JANUARY 8

Giant Robot 2 (GR2) as you know it is going to change in 2012. In just a few days, there will be some light construction. Our “little big planet” will shift off it’s axis just a little and a new GR2 will be born and at the same time, a slightly different GR1 will emerge at the same time.

GR2 began in 2003 with a solo exhibition by our close friend David Choe in a hybrid space that focused on art, artists products, house wares and more. Since then, we’ve had at least one exhibition a month and in 2012, we’ll continue in a much larger space dedicated to art. We’ll have all four walls white and available as a challenge to the many artists we work with and they’ll have to rise to the challenge.

Aside from art exhibitions, we’ve featured various book signings, video game nights and even concerts. We’ll continue those too. Also, some of you don’t realize having a space like GR2 expanded that the hard work from GR2 developed into the other offsite shows including ones with Toyota Scion and Giant Robot Biennale which took place in 2007, 2009, and will happen again in 2012.

In a quickly sketched Illustrator mock-up that is less exciting than the concept and hopefully result, you’ll have to imagine that merchandise will be transferred to Giant Robot 1. Art items will remain, the shelves pulled off and the posters, prints and extra art will be displayed in a smaller section towards the front. The artists will have double the space, if not a bit more to work with. I’ll post photos as it takes place.

That said we’ll be closed a few days in early January and a Pvrinted Matter show is scheduled to begin Jan 11, 2012. It’s been a great ride so far, and hopefully by adding and subtracting, it’ll be that much more exciting.

PRINTED MATTERAT THE NEW GR2

JANUARY 11 – JANUARY 25

Apak!, Chris Bettig, Jude Buffum, Burlesque Printing, Louise Chen, Shawn Cheng, David Choe, James Chong, Dutch Door Press, ENFU, Ines Estrada, Jesse Fillingham, Hilary Florido, Matt Furie, Gabe Gonzales, Kio Griffith, Seonna Hong, Kerry Horvath, Michael & Pearl Hsiung, Martin Hsu, Mari Inukai, Jeremyville, Kaori Kasai, kozyndan, Jesse LeDoux, Little Friends of Printmaking, Bradford Lynn, Dan McCarthy, Gary Musgrave, Masato Nakada, Saelee Oh, Martin Ontiveros, Panorama Press, Sidney Pink, Albert Reyes, Jay Ryan, Jessica Seamans, Ryan Jacob Smith, Dave Stolte, Diana Sudyka, Deth P. Sun, Jesse Tise, Aiyana Udesen, Justin Wallis, Jing Wei, Kent Williams, Aaron Woes Martin, Sashiko Yuen

3/11 · anderson le · art · black ops · david boyle · david choe · earthquake · film · film festival · gary chou · giant robot magazine · giant robot sf · goh nakamura · gr2. giant robot · grsf · hiff · james jean · janm · japan · judging · laff · laiff · len higa · magazine · michael arias · michelle borok · movies · mw3 · News · print · publishing · rebus · saelee oh · san francisco · seonna hong · shinya kimura · tohoku · tsunami · zen garage · Dec 30, 2011

Ten Things in 2011

This isn’t a Top Ten list like “Best Concert, Best Movie, or Best Toy”. It’s a list that’s as important and there are highlights in them all, but by no means is it a Top Ten of anything. They’re just important as everything else – family, friends, and so on. Maybe I’ll try and turn out a list that’s more like that…

We painted the mural on the wall. That alone was an 11 hour project.

Zen Garage – The year started off great with the Zen Garage art opening just a few days before the new year. Yet, the actual New Year’s Day kicked off with the Oshogatsu program at JANM. It was motor vehicles including the Giant Robot Scion Car I designed but also custom motorcycles and the now vintage David Choe Scion. Thanks to Len Higa and Shinya Kimura for jumping on board. The year began with a GR show in a museum – it’s a great start with you get to do a project with friends, new friends, and a place like JANM. Collaboration can be more fun than doing something alone.

It’s great when artists install their own work.

James Jean Art Show – Aside from it being one of the greater or even greatest art shows of the year, it also indelibly marked the night that the earthquake struck Japan. I recall, it was at the after party, the twitter messages were beginning. An 8.9 quake? The thought of a giant quake was one thing, yes there would be lives lost and yes a lot of damage, but less than an hour later, the Tsunami hit the shores and that’s when the things got real, it became internet news for days straight.

3/11 · Art · Art Gallery · aya takada · birdo flugas · earthquake · japan · sendai · Dec 29, 2011

The Comeback: Aya Takada’s Birdo Flugas Gallery in Shiogama

Aya Takada during one of her kids programs

It was just a couple of years ago that filmmaker Shunji Iwai brought his niece, Aya Takada to GR2. When the giant Earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, she was the only person I knew from the Sendai area. When I asked Shunji Iwai about Aya, he said straight faced, “I thought they all died.” Yet days later, he found out they were all fine except the gallery flooded. Then in some time, a Facebook status update said something like, “cleaning up the gallery”. Since then, Birdo Flugas which is located on the first floor of her family’s home is cleaned up and Aya is working hard on her space, projects and public programs. The photos tell the story as well as those are at the bottom of the page.

GR: You run a gallery in Sendai of all places. Can you tell me about your neighborhood? Did it change after 311?

AT: My gallery is located in a small city called Shiogama, near Sendai (about 30 minutes away). Shiogama is a port town. After 3.11, many shops and houses were torn down. Less buildings are around birdo space now. There’s more vacant lots. Compared with the other affected areas, Shiogama was less damaged because the Urato islands were protected the city.

GR: Your gallery was flooded in the tsunami of 311. Can you tell me about that time? Where were you? What you were thinking about? How bad your gallery was affected? (at left is the family home and the gallery at the bottom)

AT: I was working at my gallery “birdo space” at 2:46pm on 3/11, as usual. The quake was crazily big. The gallery shook badly. The racks and shelves fell down one after another, I thought the building itself would collapse at a stretch.

My gallery is located near the Shiogama Port, like about 150m from the port. I heard the tsunami alert soon, saying “3m Tsunami is coming..etc” urging to head for higher ground. I didn’t think it would happen, but then the alert was saying “6m tsunami is coming…” and then “10m tsunami is coming…” Then finally I felt something weird and dangerous. I went to see my family (near the gallery). We decided to run to my brother’s apartment (12th floor). There was about 40-50mins until the tsunami actually arrived in Shiogama. When I arrived my brother’s apartment, I opened the window right away. The tsunami arrived. The road and streets we just passed were flooded.

I was shaking while looking at what was going on, in front of me.

I went to see the gallery next day, the building itself was fine, but the fallen artworks, products, racks and shelves, books, office data, my bike, and cars were all soaked with sludge.