Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Ray Potes from Hamburger Eyes stopped in today to check out his prints. They’re gigantic and it’s part of a grid of photos being displayed in his section. Glad to see his curated images so large. I’m not sure how Hamburger Eyes is viewed everywhere, or if it’s viewed, but knowing the commitment to the craft of photography and taking it to the world of zines is amazing. Ray Potes and his crew do a lot for the world of photography. I’m proud of have them as part of this exhibition and it was great to see Ray for more than a few minutes since the LA Art Book Fair. I’ll see him again soon on April 18th.
Meanwhile, David Choe just about finished his mural. It’s amazing how people tried to get in by “delivering food”. Did you really think you’d get into the doors? Security stopped some strangers from getting in. This piece shows a lot of maturity of David Choe. Can a face be obscured? Does each line need to represent something? Can it be abstraction? The work slowly changes in a great way. Not everything needs to be literal and clear. Glad to work with him again. Meanwhile catch him on ViceTV.
OMCA will be diligently working onwards for the SuperAwesome exhibition.
I’m visiting the Oakland Museum of CA exhibition for the preparation SuperAwesome Art and Giant Robot. This might be the 6th or 7th visit now and counting and it’s looking great. I took a few pics of what’s going on including the already well documented mural by artist Andrew Hem who conducted great media appearances as well. The mural is huge and fitting for the space. It’s a rest spot at the entrance of the museum and people are already interacting with it. Great job Andrew! I’m glad to have him on board for it. See the extra photos for the details including his “giant robot” nod.
I’m at one end of the exhibition space that actually has more to the sides than I can show. There are some rooms that are getting cut off, including the entry way that contains Giant Robot highlights, the room with the Scion Famicar, a room with my personal collection of “stuff”, Adrian Tomine’s room, and so much more. But this photo tells a lot about how large the space really is. It’s 8000 square feet.
There’s David Choe painting. He’s quick. In a blink of an eye, he can cover a wall, then like Kaiser Soze, poof he’s gone. As many of you know, I’ve known him for ages and it’s almost like old times. The music: Explosions in the Sky, and he’s off painting.
The exhibition is coming together with the efforts of everyone involved and there are many of them. I can’t begin to thank the folks who helped, there’s just too many, but there’s still another few weeks of serious installing that’ll be happening. I’ll be on board to help.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was having lunch with my friend Joe, telling him that I bought a ticket to his band’s upcoming show with the Descendents. He asked if I was bringing my daughter Eloise and I said no way! I’d want to be in front where it’s packed with all these big sweaty gross guys. And then he said something like, “No, I’ll get you onstage where all the families and friends of the bands hang out. Wendy can come, too! I’ll put them on the list.”
(podcast of the talk at bottom)
Giant Robot Presented Tales of Print March 23rd, 2014.
I doubt there could ever be closure to Giant Robot magazine unless the door gets completely slammed, meaning no shop or gallery. Maybe I’d have to drop dead for that to happen. But then again, there are huge parts of my life, especially in new projects where Giant Robot magazine is a completely unknown part of my past. It’s amazing how many folks don’t know it. Then, there are moments when it’s brought back to life for an instant.
It’s great to speak with Martin about a period totaling 16 years of our lives. How can you do that in a window of two hours? You can’t, but you can fly through ideas with the broadest of strokes. We showed some slides of magazine stories from different topics, including travel, art, cinema, food, and history. Contributors, volunteers, friends, family, and past cover artists came through. It was nice to see their faces. The talk went for a little over an hour and a half and frankly, it went by a little too quick. There’s so much to say, so much minutiae that you can’t remember on the spot, and so little time. It was a long road to issue 68 and although 69 isn’t happening soon, you’ll never know what might happen. It’s one of those, “it can happen, but should it?”
A few questions came up and those were always nice to hear. Gladly, again our friends were the ones asking. It was fun to go over things again and even in this post, it’s hard to sum things up. Maybe it’s best to let them be changing memories, so that it lasts infinitely. Like that final episode of Lost, I wish I could flash sideways and hang out again.
Meanwhile, the 20 Year exhibition at GR2 continues, and the line up of artists might be one of the greatest ever, but part of that, is thanks to the legacy of Giant Robot. Imagine, among the first to join in when I sent out a call to artists? It was literally Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. Both of whom I haven’t heard from in ages, jumped on right away. The many other artists as well, from way back to the final. It’s an honor and it’s great to keep working with many of them who I still see on a regular basis.