Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Realms Ako Castuera, Elsa Mora, and Yellena James. That’s Ako and her father pictured above. He’s got style. The exhibition went without a hitch. The work looks great and the combination of the three couldn’t have been any better. The surprise of the bunch is GR newcomer Elsa Mora who’s works amazed. They’re paper cuts, but as you can see below, some pieces are folded, and turned into a figurative version of objects. The cuts themselves are delicate and precious and anyone who takes the time to look will have their imaginations piqued. The pieces stun everyone. Here’s alink to all of the work.
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That’s Elsa and her daughter. Kind of a touching photo as Elsa takes a look at Ako’s works.
[nggallery id=23] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group art show opening Realms: New work by Yellena James, Ako Castuera, and Elsa Mora April 16 – May 11, 2011 Reception: Saturday, April 16, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m. GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 Giant Robot is proud to host Realms, a group art show featuring new work by Yellena James, Ako Castuera, and Elsa Mora. Yellena James grew up and attended art school in Sarajevo. At the age of 18, she moved to the U.S. where she continued to study art and design. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Preferring pens, inks, markers, and acrylics, she combines complex abstract forms into dazzling images that take on lives of their own. Her colorful arrangements of organic shapes and tangled lines are at once floral and alien, organic and sci-fi. Each intimate world she creates seems to posses its own ethos and its own special ability to radiate emotion. For this show, she is creating around 30 pieces, including some collage, and pen and ink on vintage paper. Ako Castuera is a painter, sculptor, and textile artist. For Realms, she has turned her focus to work on paper with a variety of media, primarily using watercolor and gouache. The works continue her ongoing interest in land, the life within it, and the life it sustains. “Suburban tracts sprawl over hills and are at once picturesque, parasitic, and fragile. They coexist with dinosaur like animal forms that suggest prehistoric life,” she says. “Dinosaurs have always inspired awe and fed fantasies of the past. Their extinction forces contemplation of the future, of what’s in store for the land, animals, and humans all.” Ako studied at CCA, and is based in Los Angeles where she works as a writer/storyboard artist on the animated television show, Adventure Time. Elsa Mora is an award-winning multimedia artist currently living in Los Angeles. She graduated from The Professional School of Visual Arts in Cuba in 1990 and taught art for two years before deciding to become a full-time artist. Today, she is a highly regarded paper cutter whose impossibly detailed pieces challenge the distinctions between sculpture and illustration–in addition to humanity and nature–and all of her work is made one cut at a time by hand. For the show, she is preparing about 10 or 15 pieces, mostly paper cuts and also a few drawings that contemplate the idea of re-visiting childhood as an adult. 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 and San Francisco, as well as an online equivalent. The opening reception featuring many of the artists will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, April 16. For more information about the artists, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311 ###
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[youtube]HX74R4Cqiz0[/youtube] Here’s a short film about Ako Castuera. It’s part of a new video series I intend to pursue called, the Artist Friends Series. I shot, recorded, and edited this film, and got a great music contribution from Goh Nakamura and Tim Bulkley. I’ve known Ako for many years, and actually met her at her Art’s Crab Shack days in Oakland, CA in the mid-later 90s while she was enrolled at CCAC. She’s married to artist, Rob Sato and pursues work that involves nature, humans, and dinosaurs. Often using watercolors, she’s also a knitter and makes beautiful tapestry pieces, and that hat that’s resting on the back of the chair. She’s 1/3 of the Realms exhibition taking place this saturday at Giant Robot 2 in LA along with Elsa Mora and Yellena James. Some preview images are at gr2.net
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[nggallery id=31] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group Art Show Opening Power Punch April 2 – April 24, 2011 Reception: Saturday, April 2, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m. GRSF 618 Shrader Street San Francisco, CA 94117 gr-sf.com 415-876-4773 In conjunction with guest curators Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson, Giant Robot is proud to host Power Punch. For this show, artists were given identical 8″ x 8″ panels to work from. As a result, the art itself becomes the focus–and not the material it is created on. The unified presentation will explore both the vocabulary of and connections between today’s working artists. Artists, who were chosen not only on the merit of their own particular work but also how they relate to one another, will include the following: APAK! Drew Beckmeyer Marc Burckhardt Chris Buzelli James Chong Kevin Christy Vanessa Davis Shannon Freshwater Matt Furie Frieda Gossett Peter Hamlin Ryan Heshka Andrew Holder Jason Holley Patrick Hruby Rich Jacobs Hellen Jo Travis Lampe Zohar Lazar LeMerde Jacob Magraw Elizabeth Mamont Mark A. Miller Brendan Monroe Christian Northeast Martin Ontiveros Mimi Pond Luke Ramsey Martha Rich Johnny Ryan Brooks Salzwedel Erik Mark Sandberg Shark Toof Keith Shore Jeremy Tinder Jesse Tise Aiyana Udesen Jon Vermilyea Wayne White Matt Wood Jaime Zollars 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 and San Francisco, as well as an online equivalent. An opening reception will take place on 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, April 2. 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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[nggallery id=38] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group art show opening Water Works at GR2 – A benefit for UNICEF and child victims of the earthquake in Japan March 19 – April 13, 2011 Reception: Saturday, March 19, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m. GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 The U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF) is raising funds to help children in Japan impacted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. This is an unusual decision, as Japan is a donor to UNICEF, not a recipient of its assistance. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the epic disaster and its impact on children, resources are going to be critical in helping provide for the very unique needs of children. These may include health, development, and protection and other needs that may have been compromised or disrupted in the wake of the catastrophe. Giant Robot is proud to join the effort, and have asked many of our talented friends to create water-themed art to raise funds to support the efforts of UNICEF. In addition to raising money by selling artwork, Giant Robot will be donating the following to UNICEF: 1. Proceeds from the sale of water bottles featuring labels created by artists and signed by celebrities. 2. Fifty percent of proceeds from Giant Robot’s small restaurant, gr/eats, on Saturday, March 19. 3. A percentage of all sales at Giant Robot, GR2, and GRSF during the weekend of March 18-20. 4. Raffles for donated merchandise including designer- and artist-signed items, GR gear, horseback rides, and other items. 5. Cash donations accepted for UNICEF. Contributors include the following: Andrice Arp Gary Baseman Chris Bettig Bigfoot Jude Buffum Chris Buzelli Louise Chen David Choe Luke Chueh Jesse Fillingham Renee French Ayako Fujitani Matt Furie Rodney Greenblat Katherine Guillen Joe Hahn Clement Hanami David Horvath Mari Inukai James Jean kozyndan Jesse LeDoux Lisa Ling Barry McGee Ryan McGinness Jeff McMillan Junko Mizuno Megan Mullally Gary Musgrave Mark Nagata Saelee Oh Bryan Lee O’Malley Nathan Ota Mu Pan Albert Reyes Jay Ryan Rob Sato Ryan Jacob Smith Deth P. Sun Jillian Tamaki Katsuya Terada Edwin Ushiro Esther Pearl Watson Daniel Wu Yoskay Yamamoto Kohei Yamashita This event is made possible by the generous help of Intertrend Communications, the most innovative, digitally savvy Asian marketing agency in the country. In addition, Intertrend has pledged to match the first $10,000 raised by proceeds and donations through Giant Robot. 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 and San Francisco, as well as an online equivalent. The opening reception featuring many of the artists will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, March 19. For more information about the fund raiser, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact: Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311 ###
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