Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Spotted and photographed by Sasha from Giant Robot at the corner of Sawtelle and Mississippi. Let’s see how long this stays there! Great work, Hayao Miyazaki would be proud.
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Since the release of her new vinyl figures and autograph signing at GR2, Mari Inukai’s Sekaiseifukudan series has been in popular demand. Giant Robot Online had seven figures available for customers to purchase. Now we are releasing an eighth figure for her enthusiastic fans! The Usagiman Do-It-Yourself figure is a clear light mint figure, measuring about 7 inches tall. It is similar to the light pink Usagiman figure, but this DIY figure is unpainted, allowing customization of its various features. All Sekaiseifukudan figures are eligible to receive a customized signature by the artist herself! Just choose “Signed” from the drop-down option when you make your order. There is no deadline for an artist signature request yet. Mari Inukai was originally born in Nagoya, Japan but moved to the United States to study art. She studied art first at Santa Monica Community College until she graduated with a BFA in Character Animation from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California in 2004. She has worked with Sanrio Co., Disney Consumer Products, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, O Entertainment, Wild Brain, Nylon Motion Inc., Oishii Productions and NGTV. She has produced a short animated film, titled Blue and Orange, which has been featured in numerous film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival 2003 and winning the Japanese Grand Prix title at the Short Shorts Film Festival Expo 2005. Her art is featured in numerous galleries and exhibits for the many admirers of her talent. Click on the photo above or follow this secure link in order to check out her newly released Sekaiseifukudan figures: Mari Inukai Sekaiseifukudan
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Button Making with Busy Beaver Button Co’s Christen Carter is a crowd pleaser. Anyone who walked into GR2 was stoked into making buttons. How often do you walk into a shop and get to make something so complete as a button? Some drew and some collaged and created wearable art. Buttons are a ubiquitous accessory these days that a) spreads a message and/or b) compliments attire and makes people happy. Here’s a photo set of the event. That’s Christen Carter operating the 2 1/4 inch button maker. It takes just a moment and the results, super cool. This little dude is named Connor. He walked in, drew two button in a minute and left with a smile. Check out them baby teeth. After he left, I realized, this was Justin Chon from the Twilight movies. I met him a while ago for an instant. He was also in Crossing Over. Take a look at the screen cap of the GR Sticker right next to him. Yes, I guess we’re cosmically connected, perhaps by an art director. Some came super prepped up with photo clips and more to turn into buttons. [nggallery id=19]
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Sean Chao is an Art Center graduate, who lives and works in Los Angeles but is originally from Taiwan. When I first saw his works, I was captivated by the exciting and energetic sculptures which sparked everyone’s imagination. What’s going on in there? Who are these tiny people? The pieces are microcosms of his world, yet at the same time, they’re mini installations. Each piece takes you inside much like a terrarium, except you get to dream up a story with his “tiny people”. You’ll get lost in his sometimes-fairytale and oftentimes-idyllic pieces. His works are exciting and pure, and along with Inés Estrada, we’re excited to have him in Blithe Spirits at Giant Robot 2. Sean Chao; Preview Images from Blithe Spirits. GR: Can you talk a little about the world you create? Where is it coming from and why does it have it’s forms? SC: The world and the characters I created are base on my imagination, and they are inspired and influenced by interesting things and fun experiences that happen around me. The mischievous characters were sort of created accidentally, It all started from a random drawing I did on a photograph. Eventually I developed the character from the drawing and I made a sculpture out of it. GR: Is there general narrative? SC: There is always a narrative idea behind each piece of my works. I usually tell a story of daily experiences and show snapshots of regular interactions. These situations may be looked at as simple everyday occurrences, but I expand on those and add more to make it an interesting narrative Sometimes the story can get a little bizarre and psychedelic, but most of the works are simple ideas that people can relate to. GR: There seems to be a color palate for them. Why those colors? SC: The colors just came natural to me. Most of my works are involved with humor and warm feelings, so the color choices I make are directly related to those emotions. GR: Did your instructors at Art Center have an opinion on what you were making? SC: When I was in the school my instructors encouraged me to create works with my own sense of style. I believe their teaching completely changed my attitude and respect to art. Without the education, I will most likely still be working in an art related field, but I might not be creating art of my own. GR: How did you get into sculpting? SC: I was always very fascinated with sculpting since I was very young. We used to have a sandbox at my elementary school, and I would stay after classes and play in the sand until sunset every day. I remember once I was building a small city in the sand box. I went next to the pond to scoop water for the river in my sand city, and all of a sudden I fell right into the pond. I also tripped over the roots of a banyan tree. I was soaked, but it didn’t stop me...
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