Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
On Saturday night, GR2 hosted the opening of Visitors, a showcase of Theo Ellsworth's new work. The Portland, OR, artist is well-known for his indie comics (the outstanding Capacity is in its second printing), and we were excited to give him a chance to experiment outside the panels of a comic book and in color. We were also excited to give our audience and his readership the opportunity to see his work in person. Ellsworth's art is geometric and organic, alien and human, odd and arresting. Often, his linework spills onto the matte and even frame, causing the viewer's eye to linger, to decipher where the art starts and ends. Likewise, other works are inked onto cut wood, which literally jumps or flies onto the wall. Cool artist, cool turnout. If you attended the opening, you know what we mean. If you missed it, check out the photos below and keep an eye out on the GR2 site for more detailed images of the artwork. Thanks! Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.
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Frontier Nite at the Echoplex began at 4:00, with a killer lineup of The Pontiac Brothers, The Stains, Flyboys, Rikk Agnew, and The Deadbeats leading off the jam-packed lineup, but I didn't arrive until around 9:00 after The Middle Class had already begun. You might not be familiar with the band, but you've definitely felt their influence as they are credited as being the first hardcore punk band, stripping away all the art and delivering the goods with a machine-gun like energy and speed. The set was as solid as can be, followed up with the awesome single, “American Society,” which was first played by The Middle Clas's splinter band, Eddie and the Subtitles, and then covered by L7 on a Flipside compilation. Yes! Because I arrived late, I thought I was going to miss that song, for sure… Next up was The Avengers. Every good punk knows that the San Francisco band opened for The Sex Pistols' final show. They sounded great last night, and singer Penelope Houston totally commanded the stage with her pipes and gestures. They opened with a ripping version of “We Are The One” and didn't look back. The next band was the final addition to the lineup, and the only band I had seen before. But that was in their metal days opening for Guns 'n' Roses, and I really wanted to see them playing songs circa Suburbia. TSOL might have been the sloppiest, maybe even laziest, band of the evening but they still had the fiercest circle pit going. (Which sadly coincided with my photography skills getting derailed. I tried shooting the GF1 in full-on manual mode for the first time, was feeling good, and then lost it during this set.) It was fairly furious, culminating in the infamous “Code Blue.” The headliners of Frontier's 30th anniversary celebration were Adolescents. I had vague expectations but, man, they were awesome. Their set really captured both the fun and danger of my first experiences going to punk shows, growing up behind the Orange Curtain, driving to Long Beach to buy records at Zed, and attending shows at Fender's full of skinheads and drunks. This time it wasn't quite as scary, with the older guys being really old and the younger kids being really young. “Kids of the Black Hole”! Adolescents played all the hits before Tony went into a rant telling his son's PTA to fuck off, then ended with Iggy's “I Got a Right.” I guess even Adolescents grow up. Too bad I had to miss the first half of the sold-out show, but I left the second half stoked and feeling lucky to be old and from Orange County. Wow, I never thought I'd type those words. Thanks once more to Michael from Part Time Punks for putting on the show (did I mention that the all-vinyl DJ sets in between bands totally shred?) and Frontier Records for flying the flag, and I'd be all over a second round with Redd Kross and...
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This might be boring to some of you (and the same can be said of my vacation pictures…) but I had brunch with a bunch of Bots yesterday. A generation of GR Lounge members glossed themselves that, became tight through actual meetings, and even manage stay in touch. Sometimes they'd meet on Sawtelle, but more often their business has nothing to do with the magazine, shops, or site. They're totally autonomous. Above, Eloise and I are bookended by Wonki Wonki, his sister, and Aaron. (I'll use their screen names.) The beloved Wonki was in town this weekend from San Francisco, prompting the meetup that I was privileged to crash! You might recall his travel story about doing scientific research on the South Pole. Aaron has helped construct various aspecis of various iterations of the GR website. Eventually, he married another Bot, ja.net, photographer, filmmaker, and student of too many things to count (below)… That's their daughter in between. Cutie! Below in stripes is Charlos, who used to contribute to the cars and Dodgers threads quite a bit and would show up at art shows on his motorcycle. I haven't seen him in a while. Yes, he is married and has a little girl, too. Nice. No, they didn't ride up on a cycle with a sidecart. I haven't seen him in ages! Wendy and Eloise decide what to order. Eloise decides to get the excellent sweet potato pancakes and let me eat them for her. After brunch at Canele (which was amazing), Wendy and I crossed the street to buy some produce and local honey at the Atwater Farmer's Market. There, we ran into GR's old ad dude/lifetime family member/Drunken Master, zine maestro, and printmaker, Kiyoshi. He's the one who used to kick my ass every issue, and I miss that. So great to run into him. Did I mention that we spent time with another GR Bot the night before? We used to see Shammy at GR2 art show openings now and then (or Pogues concerts) and she came to town for the Theo Ellsworth's art opening. Here she is afterward at Beard Papa with my brother Greg (and GR contributor) as well as budding artist Saoirse Wong. All the way from San Diego! I'm name-dropping people who aren't usually name-dropped, and maybe that's the point. While the GR mag and site features a lot of semi-famous artists, musicians, and filmmakers, we've also built up a real community of family and friends. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of that while cranking in front of the computer monitor all day, and this weekend was an awesome reminder of a something special that's evolved outside the pages, walls, and sites of GR…
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[nggallery id=25] Theo Ellsworth at GR2 November 6 – December 8, 2010Reception: Saturday, November 6, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m. GR2 2062 Sawtelle Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90025 gr2.net (310) 445-9276 Giant Robot is proud to present Visitors, an art show featuring new works by Theo Ellsworth. Theo Ellsworth draws obsessively detailed drawings and self-publishes comics, mini comics, and zines about imaginary people and places. The cosmic imagery, subtle geometry, and implied animism in his works recall the epic, heroic, and odd imagery of Jean “Moebius” Girard, Mayan ruins, and the Nazca lines, filtered through the jam-packed and often psychedelic lens of underground comix from the ’70s. (Ellsworth’s first “real” book, Capacity, was weird, wordy, and wonderful, and published by Secret Acres in 2008.) Taking part in art shows affords the Portland, OR-based artist opportunities to experiment with color, explore larger frames, and let his imagination fly–or spelunk or dive, depending on his mood. For Visitors, Ellsworth is creating a few dozen pieces on wood, paper, and whatever supplies are available featuring portraits of “beings from far away, living in locations too small to see.” He explains, “Working on these pieces is, for me, an attempt to understand the way my imagination coexists with my day-to-day world and how my thoughts shape my perception of reality.” 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 for Ellsworth will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, November 6. For more information about Ellsworth, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact: Eric NakamuraGiant Robot Owner/Publishereric@giantrobot.com(310) 479-7311 ###
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The work looks amazing, and I'm proud to be the host of this show. There's a set up at Flickr. It looks like a hot show and his prices are fair and the effort he puts into each piece is quite nice. No piece is too big and no piece is too small, even when it's tiny in size. Here's the link.
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