Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

When Shepard Fairey met Obama, he showed him the now infamous design that you see on the poster. Obama said something to the effect of, “I like that image, how did you spread it so fast?” That’s a great first question back. He could have said, can I have a poster? But instead I’d like to think Obama understood that the image was powerful and out there en masse much like an Obey sticker, and realized the power behind “street art”, youth, and a true indie/punk rock grassroots movement using the power of blogs. Think Obama’s competition knows this? Meeting up with Shepard always bums me out since he makes me feel dwarfed. What did I do to deserve that today?  We’re the same age, and I remember his work from the day we started out. We’ve been through some of the same lumps, and he’s at year 19! For some reason, he reminds me of Yoshitomo Nara. It’s their face, their laugh, and musical tastes. Shep’s always complimentary about GR since it’s a mag he reads. He even said a big part of his world ends with GR and Juxtapoz. It’s great to see him rock at his own studio/gallery/meeting place in Echo Park.  Guess what he likes to drink?
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That's sort of what we looked like at the Miya Ando Stanoff art exhibition. Her back story is amazing. She's the descendant of a sword maker. That's cousin Mike Idemoto and Eugenia Yuan. That's Miya above my cousin's left shoulder. This all took place at the Bandini gallery on Fairfax. The art is minimal style, sort of Rothko in a way, but it's all made out of metal, and with industrial finishing...
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That’s sort of what we looked like at the Miya Ando Stanoff art exhibition. Her back story is amazing. She’s the descendant of a sword maker. That’s cousin Mike Idemoto and Eugenia Yuan. That’s Miya above my cousin’s left shoulder. This all took place at the Bandini gallery on Fairfax. The art is minimal style, sort of Rothko in a way, but it’s all made out of metal, and with industrial finishing techniques, the work has tones and textures. I’m a little more into pop culture, so this type of work is something I’m not used to seeing. Evidently, she’s from Watsonville, a small town in California, where my mother’s side has some roots. Miya now lives in Brooklyn and has art exhibitions all over. See her site here. I liked this piece the most.
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I like Photos of Harry Kim and David Choe. This one says it all, doesn't it? It was before the film, Dirty Hands was to start. Harry holds a bouquet of flowers. Harry with flowers! He's holding up a ticket to get in and he's wearing a tie-dye t shirt that says, Arizona on it. David stands next to him, with a Sharpie and film festival badge in hand, arm around his great friend. Both not knowing how...
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I like Photos of Harry Kim and David Choe. This one says it all, doesn’t it? It was before the film, Dirty Hands was to start. Harry holds a bouquet of flowers. Harry with flowers! He’s holding up a ticket to get in and he’s wearing a tie-dye t shirt that says, Arizona on it. David stands next to him, with a Sharpie and film festival badge in hand, arm around his great friend. Both not knowing how other directors might handle a beginning of a film festival film, often with red carpet bravado and pompousness. This was the opposite. It was as if they handed the keys to the prison to the inmates. Everything was turned on it’s head. Yet, a huge staff of support was there for the film, even if it was just from friends. Meanwhile, a line spanned down the block. It was long.  Dirty Hands website.Meet the parents. Harry Kim’s parents on the left, David Choe’s parents on the right. None had seen the film yet. They were proud to wear the Dirty Hands T shirt by Upper Playground. That alone was a great sight. They had no idea what was upcoming and what adventures their kids went on together over the last 8 years. Seeing each other was a great start. Here’s a little back story. Evidently, Harry got into trouble perhaps at the hands of David’s older brother. The Kim’s were apprehensive of the Choe clan, they haven’t spoken in years and years. The film brought them out and together last night. It was a sight at the after film party at Asuka restaurant next door. The elder Koreans sat at a table, talked, and were often seen pointing fingers happily at their kids. Something was brewing and only they know what that is, but being proud was definitely part of it.  The crowd was energetic, they laughed, clapped, and I only heard great things about the film. Here’s that long, long line. Some got turned away. The theater was packed for this film. If you got in, it was a special night. David Choe hid out and didn’t want to be in the awkward scene of having his parents see him say and do the nuttiest things. I introduced the film, and that was actually tough, since, it’s easy to talk about David Choe, but this time, it was about Harry, and he got a huge cheer when I mentioned his name. The film went off without a hitch. I video taped the Q and A, and I’ll see if I can get that up soon. My friend Bobby Hundreds. We stood next to each other after the film, taking it in. A nice dude walked by and said, “whoa, my two favorite bloggers next to each other.” I figured that was Bobby’s friend and I got to ride his coat tail for a second. That’s David before the film. David and James Jean, the cover artist of Giant Robot 54. We...
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