Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Back in October, the building home to Chongryon (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) in downtown Tokyo’s Chiyoda district went up on the auction block for a second time. The winning bid went to the mysterious Mongolian Avar LLC for 5.01 billion JPY (about 49 million USD). The Korean residents that Chongryon was established for have long been known to be North Korean sympathizers, and the headquarters has been referred to as a de facto embassy in Japan. Yesterday, it was reported that Avar’s bid to purchase the building was denied by the Tokyo District Court. The court blamed it on photocopies of required documents being submitted instead of originals, but there were also rumors that the business address in Ulaanbaatar provided by Avar LLC didn’t actually exist. It looked bad for Avar from the get-go. Mongolian companies don’t own a lot of property outside of Mongolia, there were doubts about whether or not Avar could pay the winning bid, and questions about whether or not the purchase was actually being carried out on behalf of North Korea.The first time the building went up for auction, a Buddhist priest made the winning bid, but couldn’t come up with the cash and was found to have close ties to North Korean officials. The UB Post published a short interview with a rather curt President of Avar back when the decision to finalize the sale was first postponed. — Here is a brief interview with President of Avar LLC, Ch.Erdenebat. -The Japanese court has delayed the decision to proceed with the sale of the Chongryon site. Why has the court decision been postponed for the building you’ve purchased at auction? -The court decision is delayed because of various reports related to the auction by the press and media of Japan and Mongolia. The court decision was supposed to be issued last Tuesday. But a court decision will be issued soon. -Your company has not been active before this? How did you participate in the auction? -Our company has not been established for a long time. It is true that we have not been active. The company participated in the auction via a Japanese law firm. It does not matter how active the company is to participate in the auction. -Your obliged 5.01 billion JPY is a very large amount of money. How did you organize the funds? -We will gather it through a foreign investment fund. After the court has made its decision I will give you specific information. -According to reports by some Japanese press, Member of the State Great Khural D.Sumiyabazar and professional sumo wrestler and 68th grand champion Asashoryu D.Dagvadorj are connected to the purchase, or the Japanese government is behind this to bring back its citizens who were kidnapped in North Korea. -There are no links with any government bodies in Mongolia, Japan, North Korea or South Korea. It is just a business. Member of the State Great Khural D.Sumiyabazar is the husband of...
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giant robot time: 1.24.14 | art by: matt furie Year of the Horse Exhibition February 1 – February 19, 2014 Reception: Saturday, February 1, 6:30-10:00 PM It’s the Year of the Horse which officially takes place January 30th, but on saturday, Feb 1st, 2014, Giant Robot will celebrate Year of the Horse with a group exhibition featuring 50+ artists. Horses are a constant great subject in art, and this will be an interesting and fun exhibition. Featuring: Andrice Arp, Bubi Au Yeung, Rob Bellm, Elliot Brown, Aaron Brown, Stasia Burrington, Ako Castuera, Christopher Chan, Kris Chau, Shawn Cheng, Luke Chueh, Leah Chun, Theo Ellsworth, Cam Floyd, Kio Griffith, David Horvath, Martin Hsu, Mari Inukai, Levon Jihanian, Andrea Kang, Jeremiah Ketner, Jon Lau, Gosha Lev, Tiffany Liu, Jerome Lu, David Mack, Jim Mahfood, Jeff McMillan, Kwanchai Moriya, Masato Nakada, Shihori Nakayama, Shiho Nakaza, Tru Nguyen, Yejin Oh, Mu Pan, Sidney Pink, Sara Saedi, Yumi Sakugawa, Ken Taya, Daria Tessler, Jesse Tise, Jen Tong, Edwin Ushiro, Patricia Wakida, Christine Wu, Yoskay Yamamoto, Kohei Yamashita, Jeni Yang, APAK, Omocat, Miso, PCP, Feric, Little Friends of Printmaking and more. Event Merging Views January 11 – January 29, 2014 Godeleine de Rosamel, Wayne Johnson, Kwanchai Moriya, Stasia Burrington, Dan McCarthy, and Dan-ah Kim Giant Robot @ LA Art Book Fair Table F01 January 31 – February 2, 2014 The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA Uglydoll Ceramic Frames Uglydoll ceramic frames for your family memories! Uglydoll Hats Now you can rock Uglydoll everywhere you go. Uglydoll Lands’ End Plushes Hard to find Uglydolls! Originally for Lands’ End retailers. Mari Nakamura Ceramic Mugs Beautiful handmade ceramic mugs by Mari Nakamura. Deth P. Sun Stickers We have a handful of neat new stickers from Deth P. Sun! Jeffrey Brown Journal & Postcard Set Adorned with the comic artist’s cute observations of cats. SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot April 19 – July 27, 2014 Oakland Museum of California New Exhibition Coincides With 20th Anniversary of Giant Robot Magazine Celebrating Asian American Pop Culture and Beyond (Oakland, CA)—This spring, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents the major exhibition SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot. On view in OMCA’s Great Hall from April 19 to July 27, 2014, the exhibition features 15 contemporary artists that have been inspired by the artistic sensibility of Giant Robot throughout its 20-year evolution. Co-curated by Giant Robot visionary Eric Nakamura and OMCA’s Associate Curator of Art & Material Culture Carin Adams, SuperAwesome presents new or recent works by California and international-based artists affiliated with the culture and aesthetic of the popular magazine that brought Asian, trans-Pacific popular culture to mainstream audiences in the United States. Artists featured in the exhibition include: Ako Castuera, Sean Chao, David Choe, Luke Chueh, Hamburger Eyes, Andrew Hem, James Jean, Kozyndan, Masakatsu Sashie, Shizu Saldamando, Rob Sato, Amy Sol, Deth P Sun, and Adrian Tomine. Art works in the exhibition represent a range of mediums, including mural art, sculpture, illustration, portraiture, large-scale installations, graphic novels, photography, and more....
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giant robot time: 1.24.14 | art by: matt furie Year of the Horse Exhibition February 1 – February 19, 2014 Reception: Saturday, February 1, 6:30-10:00 PM It’s the Year of the Horse which officially takes place January 30th, but on saturday, Feb 1st, 2014, Giant Robot will celebrate Year of the Horse with a group exhibition featuring 50+ artists. Horses are a constant great subject in art, and this will be an interesting and fun exhibition. Featuring: Andrice Arp, Bubi Au Yeung, Rob Bellm, Elliot Brown, Aaron Brown, Stasia Burrington, Ako Castuera, Christopher Chan, Kris Chau, Shawn Cheng, Luke Chueh, Leah Chun, Theo Ellsworth, Cam Floyd, Kio Griffith, David Horvath, Martin Hsu, Mari Inukai, Levon Jihanian, Andrea Kang, Jeremiah Ketner, Jon Lau, Gosha Lev, Tiffany Liu, Jerome Lu, David Mack, Jim Mahfood, Jeff McMillan, Kwanchai Moriya, Masato Nakada, Shihori Nakayama, Shiho Nakaza, Tru Nguyen, Yejin Oh, Mu Pan, Sidney Pink, Sara Saedi, Yumi Sakugawa, Ken Taya, Daria Tessler, Jesse Tise, Jen Tong, Edwin Ushiro, Patricia Wakida, Christine Wu, Yoskay Yamamoto, Kohei Yamashita, Jeni Yang, APAK, Omocat, Miso, PCP, Feric, Little Friends of Printmaking and more. Event Merging Views January 11 – January 29, 2014 Godeleine de Rosamel, Wayne Johnson, Kwanchai Moriya, Stasia Burrington, Dan McCarthy, and Dan-ah Kim Giant Robot @ LA Art Book Fair Table F01 January 31 – February 2, 2014 The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA Uglydoll Ceramic Frames Uglydoll ceramic frames for your family memories! Uglydoll Hats Now you can rock Uglydoll everywhere you go. Uglydoll Lands’ End Plushes Hard to find Uglydolls! Originally for Lands’ End retailers. Mari Nakamura Ceramic Mugs Beautiful handmade ceramic mugs by Mari Nakamura. Deth P. Sun Stickers We have a handful of neat new stickers from Deth P. Sun! Jeffrey Brown Journal & Postcard Set Adorned with the comic artist’s cute observations of cats. SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot April 19 – July 27, 2014 Oakland Museum of California New Exhibition Coincides With 20th Anniversary of Giant Robot Magazine Celebrating Asian American Pop Culture and Beyond (Oakland, CA)—This spring, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents the major exhibition SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot. On view in OMCA’s Great Hall from April 19 to July 27, 2014, the exhibition features 15 contemporary artists that have been inspired by the artistic sensibility of Giant Robot throughout its 20-year evolution. Co-curated by Giant Robot visionary Eric Nakamura and OMCA’s Associate Curator of Art & Material Culture Carin Adams, SuperAwesome presents new or recent works by California and international-based artists affiliated with the culture and aesthetic of the popular magazine that brought Asian, trans-Pacific popular culture to mainstream audiences in the United States. Artists featured in the exhibition include: Ako Castuera, Sean Chao, David Choe, Luke Chueh, Hamburger Eyes, Andrew Hem, James Jean, Kozyndan, Masakatsu Sashie, Shizu Saldamando, Rob Sato, Amy Sol, Deth P Sun, and Adrian Tomine. Art works in the exhibition represent a range of mediums, including mural art, sculpture, illustration, portraiture, large-scale installations, graphic novels, photography, and more....
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Forlon Funnymaker Paul Hornschemeier, and friend to GR, waged a one-man war against mainstream media giant America’s Funniest Home Videos, now known as America’s Funniest Videos (AVF) since no one makes “home” videos anymore. And he won. I thought I had to move to Mongolia to watch funny home videos on Russian television channels (a lot of them get a little rapey, which is kind of gross) but no, AVF has stayed on the air all this time! The internet has killed the integrity of many things – zines, dating, genuine friendship, activism – but AVF has prevailed!! It took AVF’s social media managers two days to think of a comeback to Paul’s tweet marveling on their persistence. Things quickly escalated and AVF got their feelings hurt. Come on, guys, they’ve had a Youtube channel for almost FOUR WHOLE YEARS now! Eventually they blocked him. It was a fun read. AVF is really sensitive about their work, and very proud of all those late 80s VHS tapes that they have been putting up online. Twitter Wars are my new favorite. Pick up a copy of All and Sundry for more fun with Paul.
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Forlon Funnymaker Paul Hornschemeier, and friend to GR, waged a one-man war against mainstream media giant America’s Funniest Home Videos, now known as America’s Funniest Videos (AVF) since no one makes “home” videos anymore. And he won. I thought I had to move to Mongolia to watch funny home videos on Russian television channels (a lot of them get a little rapey, which is kind of gross) but no, AVF has stayed on the air all this time! The internet has killed the integrity of many things – zines, dating, genuine friendship, activism – but AVF has prevailed!! It took AVF’s social media managers two days to think of a comeback to Paul’s tweet marveling on their persistence. Things quickly escalated and AVF got their feelings hurt. Come on, guys, they’ve had a Youtube channel for almost FOUR WHOLE YEARS now! Eventually they blocked him. It was a fun read. AVF is really sensitive about their work, and very proud of all those late 80s VHS tapes that they have been putting up online. Twitter Wars are my new favorite. Pick up a copy of All and Sundry for more fun with Paul.
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