Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
I’m not an artist, but I draw little faces of the people around us. This is how it manifests. The T-shirt came out great. It’s a giant array of tiny faces. People have been finding themselves in the grid. Are you in there? Also I would ask myself, where does this obsessiveness to draw them in columns come from? I have no idea. Mugs on a Shirt will go well with the Mugs on a Mug. We’ll have them at Comic-Con and they’ll be at Giant Robot store.
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I curate art, but I don’t partake in creating it. A few friends know that I do little drawings once in a while – mostly to illustrate an idea or plan. They’re often simple doodles done in haste. After recently finding a page of little faces that I draw years ago, I posted an image and got a warm response. I decided to make a mug! I almost feel a bit of shame in showing my own drawing on a product since the artists I work with make such great things. I hope they don’t mind. It’s $12. If you have any interest, here’s the link. Here’s a photo of the mug in use!
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7 Uglycon – It’s not the fact that Uglycon took place after a hiatus, it’s the fact that it ran as smooth as can be. Tying in the neighborhood worked out and that’s now part of my future plans in the area. We’ll do more with the neighborhood. It’ll only get better and we’ll be holding Uglycon 2014 as well. (Uglycon 2013) 8 Obon – I love the Obon in West LA. Because the dates of Comic-Con moved, I can now visit this annual event. It’s a reunion of myself and the neighborhood folks. We also feature an art exhibition at GR2 on the same night to bring in another element. It looks like in 2014, I’ll try and do more with them. (Obon Post) 9 Comic-Con continues on a great trajectory. It’s like relearning something enjoyable and dissecting the nuances on how it all works and then making the tweaks to make it better. The booth rocked it this year. The planning has to start soon for 2014. (Comic Con Pics) 10 Not Banned in DC – I went to the Smithsonian to work on an Asian Latino Project in the form of a pop up exhibition called Intersections in Silver Spring, Maryland and in the following days, participated in a private convening of academics and artists to get the studies in order for upcoming projects. It’s a pleasure to do work like this. Two DC trips in a year. (Smithsonian) 11 Katsuya Terada – Having an artist in residence was something new. Because of this, our horizons expanded just a little bit more. What this all means? We’re not sure, but we’ll be doing more with him next year. (Hot Pot Girls) 12 Post It Show 9 – Again, it’s the 9th time, but it’s getting better and stronger. The last two have been powerful and from 8 to 9 was yet another level of growth. Imagine, 5 people slept overnight in the cold and rain and by opening at 6pm, exactly 100 people were in line. (Post It Show 9) Seeing you – Being in the store 4 or 5 days a week has been a pleasure. I began work in store in 2012 and the fun has been infectious. Each exhibition is a new experience and I have to thank the artists, visitors and everyone online who checks us out.
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7 Uglycon – It’s not the fact that Uglycon took place after a hiatus, it’s the fact that it ran as smooth as can be. Tying in the neighborhood worked out and that’s now part of my future plans in the area. We’ll do more with the neighborhood. It’ll only get better and we’ll be holding Uglycon 2014 as well. (Uglycon 2013) 8 Obon – I love the Obon in West LA. Because the dates of Comic-Con moved, I can now visit this annual event. It’s a reunion of myself and the neighborhood folks. We also feature an art exhibition at GR2 on the same night to bring in another element. It looks like in 2014, I’ll try and do more with them. (Obon Post) 9 Comic-Con continues on a great trajectory. It’s like relearning something enjoyable and dissecting the nuances on how it all works and then making the tweaks to make it better. The booth rocked it this year. The planning has to start soon for 2014. (Comic Con Pics) 10 Not Banned in DC – I went to the Smithsonian to work on an Asian Latino Project in the form of a pop up exhibition called Intersections in Silver Spring, Maryland and in the following days, participated in a private convening of academics and artists to get the studies in order for upcoming projects. It’s a pleasure to do work like this. Two DC trips in a year. (Smithsonian) 11 Katsuya Terada – Having an artist in residence was something new. Because of this, our horizons expanded just a little bit more. What this all means? We’re not sure, but we’ll be doing more with him next year. (Hot Pot Girls) 12 Post It Show 9 – Again, it’s the 9th time, but it’s getting better and stronger. The last two have been powerful and from 8 to 9 was yet another level of growth. Imagine, 5 people slept overnight in the cold and rain and by opening at 6pm, exactly 100 people were in line. (Post It Show 9) Seeing you – Being in the store 4 or 5 days a week has been a pleasure. I began work in store in 2012 and the fun has been infectious. Each exhibition is a new experience and I have to thank the artists, visitors and everyone online who checks us out.
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The holidays are already here, and it feels like January 1st, 2013 was only yesterday. The high points of the year are plenty for me and like in the past, my life is always tied into Giant Robot. 1 January first is always special. In 2013, it was another spectacular Japanese feast. It’s called Osechi ryori, which is another word for New Years food. They do mix into a blur, but it’s been great enough where I know that January 1 starts off special. Maybe that’s why it’s a big deal in Japan. 2 January at the shop featured Adam Pfahler from Jawbreaker who did a nostalgic talk about being in a legendary band that everyone loves. It was perhaps the best way to open up a year. He mixed his effervescent humbleness with storytelling. He said it was his first time doing any kind of public talk and it was much overdue. (Pfahler at GR , also some Video here) 3 The Los Angeles Times featured the Giant Robot Biennale on the front page of the Calendar section with a huge photo and an in depth article. That was amazing coverage for the exhibition and JANM. I almost forgot about this major piece of press. If it were only about press, then I’d be satisfied, but no! Here’s that article (LA Times) 4 Jessica Lum passed away this year. Imagine, a gnarly form of cancer, she undergoes experimental treatment, slowly gets better, then goes to grad school and achieves some of her dreams and tells her story. I’m glad to have known her and was part of her life. (Jessica Lum Obituary – GR) Also later in the year, Columbian Journalism Review wrote about her (CJR - here) and they reference GR a couple of times. 5 Artist Friends Video series for Ashton Kutcher’s Thrash Lab YouTube channel. I’m glad I was able to feature six more artists including Shizu Saldamando, Luke Chueh, David Horvath, Edwin Ushiro, Rob Sato and Sean Chao. It was a pleasure shooting and directing the videos which means I got to spend time with them. The series began as a “for fun” project where I directed, shot and edited six pieces including Ray Sato from Balconi, Ako Castuera, Goh Nakamura (who provides all the music), Jeni Yang, Hitotzuki, and Ito Jakuchu. Fun times with filmmaking. (Videos here) 6 White House visit for Asian American Heritage Month – and also helping get some artists to visit as well just a week later with Michelle Obama. It’s a grand opportunity to visit the POTUS in his house. The “once in a lifetime event” happened again and just a week later, a small crew of GR related artists had the chance to visit as well. It was fun giving tips on things to check out while they’re in there. (Story at GR)
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