Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
[nggallery id=39] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group Art Show Aiyana Udesen and Lisa Hanawalt at GRSF, June 12, 2010 – July 7, 2010 Reception: Saturday, June 12, 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 Two Girls; One Show, a group art show featuring new works by Aiyana Udesen and Lisa Hanawalt. Aiyana Udesen graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003. She resides in San Francisco and works on art daily. When she is not making instructional diagrams about drawing celebrities, she can be found staring at her succulent garden, pondering the beauty in the details of nature. (She also is a founding member of an art gang called the Future Colors of America, along with Matt Furie and Albert Reyes.) For the show, Udesen promises “a bunch of ’80s celebrity/small animal/crystal mash-ups,” mostly in pencil and colored pencil, complemented by “some ‘painting cats’ pieces.” Lisa Hanawalt is a Bay Area artist transplanted to Brooklyn. The second issue of her comic book, I Want You, is about to be released by Buenaventura Press, and recurring themes in her work include anthropomorphic animals that are simultaneously cute and creepy, attractive and repulsive. For the show, Hanawalt is making approximately 30 drawings ranging from medium to postcard-sized and smaller, in watercolor, ink, and markers. “I’m continuing to work with the same themes I’ve been focused on for the last few years, and also dipping into the imagery of plane wrecks, car crashes and other modern phobias,” she says. “A lot of these drawings will be in color, which is a new direction for me!” 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, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent. A reception featuring the artists will be held from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, June 12. For more information about the artists, GRSF, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311 ###
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art show opening Yukinori Dehara at GR2 June 5 – July 7, 2010 Reception: Saturday, June 5, 6:30 – 10:00 GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 Giant Robot is proud to host The Jizo, an art show featuring new work by Yukinori Dehara. Dehara’s hand-painted clay depictions of debauched salarymen, brutalized gangsters, happy monsters, and other unique figures stand about 5-inches tall. Although the pieces are detailed and glossy, the subtle and intentional flaws of the Japanese artist’s self-described “crummy” style project more humanity than horror, and are oddly sympathetic. His sculpture, photography, and paintings have garnered a cult of collectors around the world, and are celebrated in books, figurines, and other merchandise, as well as by more daring art galleries around the world. For this show, Dehara’s inspiration will be Jizo, the Buddhist divinity who protects the departed souls of deceased children, babies, and unborn fetuses, whose likeness can be found in cemeteries and on roadsides in Japan. In Dehara’s words, these statues are “Japanese stone angels.” 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, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent. An opening reception featuring a rare U.S. appearance by the Japanese artist will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, June 5. For more information about Dehara, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311
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[nggallery id=84] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Free to a Good Home 2 art show opening Group show at GR2 May 9 – June 10, 2009 Reception: Saturday, May 9, 6:30 -10:00 GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 Giant Robot is proud to host Free to a Good Home 2. The canine-themed art show will include contributions from the following artists: Apak! Andrice Arp Robert Bellm Aaron Brown Jeffrey Brown Shawn Cheng Catia Chien Cupco Eleanor Davis Evah Fan Susie Ghahremani Katherine Guillen Clement Hanami Nao Harada David Horvath Kerry Horvath Jay Howell Michael Hsiung Kaori Kasai Sian Keegan David King Jenny Kwok Diana Kwok Little Friends of Printmaking David Magdaleno James McShane Justin “Scrappers” Morrison Kiyoshi Nakazawa Tom Neely Tru Nguyen Saejean Oh Martin Ontiveros John Pham Silvio Porretta Pryor Praczukowski Rohitash Rao Aaron Renier Albert Reyes Martha Rich Brian Rush Emilio Santoyo Rob Sato Ryan J. Smith Jeana Sohn Ryohei Tanaka Daria Tessler Edwin Ushiro Steven Weissman Andrew J. Wright In the spirit of the artwork, the Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) West L.A. Shelter will be bringing dogs available for adoption to the opening with the hopes of matching them up with new owners! LAAS will also be accepting donations of supplies and food for the shelter. (Suggested donations: blankets, towels, unopened pet food, pet beds, pet coats, Timothy Hay, kongs.) Those making donations through the duration of the show will receive a coupon for 25 percent off their next purchase at GR2. A reception featuring many of the artists will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, May 9.
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[nggallery id=46] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art show opening Marc Johns and Steven Weissman at GR2 May 8 – June 2, 2010 Reception: Saturday, May 8, 6:30 -10:00 GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 Giant Robot is proud to host Butter and Blood, an art show featuring new work by Marc Johns and Steven Weissman. Marc Johns draws almost daily, and has been for as long as he can remember. Once posted online, his humorous, witty, and thought-provoking drawings were quickly embraced, and earned him a fast-growing community of fans around the world as well as published works in Wired and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Whether it’s a man with branches growing out of his head that need pruning, or a pipe that’s trying to quit smoking, his characters are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes. For the show, the Victoria, Canada-based is preparing 30 ink-and-watercolor pieces that examine the public’s conspicuous consumption of trend items and branded goods, and how we blindly participate in what is a bit of a charade. Steven Weissman has written and drawn comics for Fantagraphics Books, Nickelodeon Magazine, Last Gasp, Marvel Entertainment (for whom he created the “Mini-Marvels” series), and numerous other publishers/publications. He won the Harvey Kurtzman Award for “Best New Talent” in 1998 with his acclaimed, ongoing indie-comic series, Yikes, which channels nonironic darkness of Chas Addams with the raw, youthful honesty of Charles Schulz and has been collected into several volumes. For the show, the Los Angeles artist is preparing a series of medium-sized pen, ink, and screen-tone pieces with themes such as baseball, proverbs, ghosts, and Barack Obama. 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, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent. An opening reception attended by Weissman will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, May 8. ###
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Mexican without Mexicans. Yeah. This place is amazing. Manhattan Beach Mexican food. El Sombrero #2. I hope the #2 doesn't mean anything weird! It's a neighborhood Mexican place that I can tell is well loved. It's packed, it's good, and people there seem happy. That's David and Sun-min. So glad to have caught up with them. It's been ages. Look at their burritos! Whoa. I opted for 2 chicken tacos....