Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Character design in Asia has turned the world upside down, making poop cute, giving adorable algae spores testicles, making microbes and viruses loveable, and now – FINALLY – giving the vagina a kawaii makeover. Tokyo artist Megumi Igarashi has been creating character design and mixed-media sculptural pieces modeled after her own vagina. She calls herself the “bastard child” of Superflat artist, Mr. Spoon & Tamago shares recent news about her arrest for allegedly emailing data to create a 3D model for a project. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have arrested her on charges for electronically distributing “pornography” to over 30 people. The criminal investigation began in March, and this is reportedly the first the first arrest involving “obscene” 3D data, following the arrest of a man accused of owning working 3D printed handguns. Megumi has been working to raise funds to build a working kayak designed on 3D sculpts of her vulva. Vocal and honest about the cultural stigma surrounding female genitalia in Japanese culture, her work brings the taboo into manga, vinyl toys, phone cases and iconic pop culture imagery. In “Fukushiman” she layers “taboo on top of taboo” in a Fukushima clean-up scene set on a plaster cast of her vulva. She calls her concept “Dekoman”, the decorated vagina. One of her workshops invited women to come into a safe space, produce plaster casts of their own unique landscapes, and decorate their mankos. The root of her work is reminiscent of 1970s movements to introduce women to what lives between their legs. In a culture that pixelates pubic hair, and considers visual expressions of the vagina obscene (but has no problem with giant penis statues – well, penises of various statures, even coming in keychain size) Megumi’s Dekoman project is more than a publicity stunt. Even in cultures less concerned with the digital transfer of data that could result in a plastic vagina, most women around the world still wouldn’t be able to identify their own vulvas in a line-up. We live in a time where vaginal rejuvenation exists, because somehow, without most women even knowing what their vaginas look like, beauty standards have been imposed on them. Megumi’s work empowers women to know their bodies in a way that’s light years away from pornography or sage-scented pow-wows with hand mirrors. Sadly, she’s being punished for it. You can sign a change.org petition in Japanese calling for the immediate release of the artist. Click the blue button on the sidebar to sign and pass it on.
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These just look too cool! We’re excited to have some GR Big Boss Robot keychains! These are laser cut on alder wood by our friend Charlton Yu. We’ll have merely 24 pieces.
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Giant Robot is proud to present Tiny Little Objects – Yukinori Dehara Aug 2 – Aug 20th, 2014 Opening Reception with the Artist: Aug 2, 2014, 6:30-10:00 PM Giant Robot 2 – 2062 Sawtelle Boulevard – Los Angeles CA 90025 Yukinori Dehara’s latest work strays from his past of creating boxed original sculptures. His latest entry into the figure world are minuscule versions of his art pieces. In what we’d call a smart move to do something completely different from the years of sculpting paper clay and then packaged to appear like a toy figure, these pieces will have it’s freedom and at the same time, be intimate. You’ll have to move in closer to see his objects. On AUGUST 3rd 2-3:30pm, Dehara will work with Katsuya Terada on Japanese Yokai monsters. The details for this event will emerge, but thus far it appears to be a demo of live art. For any questions about Tiny Little Objects, Giant Robot or anything else, please contact: Eric Nakamura eric@giantrobot.com 310-445-9276 Twitter Instagram Facebook About Yukinori Dehara Character designer Yukinori Dehara has worked with Giant Robot on exhibitions for nearly a decade. His works usually follow a topic ranging from Yakuza, monsters to salary men, and at the same time, makes social commentaries of Japanese society. His “freelance” work includes one of Japan’s largest chocolate manufacturers, Meiji Chocolate. Although he appears shy, he can be quite opposite, often participating in public performances. About Giant Robot Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994. Over the past 20 years, the Giant Robot brand has expanded to include retail stores and galleries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, a restaurant, museum and gallery exhibitions, and a popular website. Considered by many as influential in Asian Popular Culture and in pop culture circles in general, it has become an important outlet for a generation of emerging artists, several of whom have achieved mainstream success.
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It’s been 20 years since Giant Robot zine was published. It was also my first Comic-Con experience and I’ve made it back every year since. We reprinted a run of GR1 & GR2 for Zine Fest LA and we printed up a brand new batch. We’ll have 100 GR1 & GR2 Zine Packs and each has at least four “vintage” GR exhibition postcards including the ever elusive Ray Fong (Barry McGee) postcard from his exhibition at GR2. People sell this card on auction websites for too much money, but you can get one with each pack. Also included will be a GR sticker and a button! I wrote a short introduction for each issue and that’ll be in there as well.
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Giant Robot presents: Mari Inukai – who will be a resident at the Giant Robot booth. It doesn’t mean she’ll be there 24-7, but she will spend the majority of her time at SDCC hawking goods, making smiles, and drawing. We’ll have the Hone Marilla GID! $100 and it comes with a small original drawing. It’s displays beautifully. Also, DAILY mini-print releases. We’re working out the editions and details. Stay tuned!
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