Awlsum!

I just had an awlsum day. Not only did I get to go see the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic between the United States and Japan, where Japan crushed the US and Seth hurled random Japanese phrases like "I want to eat your baby" at the throngs of Nipponese fans while chugging excessively expensive and large plastic cups full of what would normally be cheap beer (I got a little tipsy myself), but I also got to go to the party for the last episode of Eastbound & Down at Happy Endings where I pulled my usual "Alec the Joke Killer" routine with Patton Oswalt. Luckily, Anne was there to back me up. We were discussing the many advantages and disadvantages of mustaches with Mr. Juice Jr., who has a magnificent waxed and curled mustache and is a rocket scientist, when I mentioned that I had a similar mustache a few years back and it was not at all good for my sex life. Patton said that was a little too much information, to which Anne replied, "next he'll start talking about his daddy issues," which made Patton crack up. Then he slinked off to his table to get away from me and grab some food. It was great. Also in attendance, of course, was Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Ben Best, and Andrew Daly from Eastbound. I even saw Aziz Ansari from Scrubs, I Love You, Man and Parks and Recreation hanging out, but didn't get a chance to kill a joke with him. Maybe next time. Anyway, I gotta' get back to living the LA lifestyle. Catch y'all bitches later!

Vodka With The Boss

Yesterday was a rough day at work. I am working on a new website for the gallery, which should be up soon, and my boss kept changing his mind about how he wanted the intro animation to look. First he wanted it to be a paint brush dripping paint onto our business card, then it flipping over to reveal the website. Then he wanted smears of paint going across the screen to become the website. But they were both too busy. Not clean and simple enough. By lunch, I was on the verge of exasperation. I took my lunch to do some meditation and calm down, got some caffeine and headed back to work. By four o'clock we had completed the intro animation for the website and it looks very nice, clean, represents the gallery well. When I am done with the rest of the website I will put a link up here for everyone to check it out. Anyway, my boss was so excited by the results, he busted out a beautiful bottle of vodka. We had to toast to our success. He had even showed it to Billy Dee Williams, who was also impressed. This was right before I was getting ready to leave for the day. So we did several shots over vodka, four or five, in rapid succession, finishing the bottle, with some blueberries to chase it, the only food I had eaten all day.

Then I drove home.

It didn't really hit me until I hit traffic on Sunset Blvd. I was overwhelmed by a sloshing sickness. My head throbbed. Vodka on an empty stomach is not a good thing. I much prefer it with some food or after a meal. When I got home, I figured it would probably be a good idea to eat something if I was going to throw up, give it a little substance. Also, I hate the dry heaves. So I ate a few handfuls of peanuts, some dry bread and yogurt. The yogurt did it.

I called in sick this morning. My boss understood. I am getting ready to head into work right now. We have an art walk this evening, so I will probably be there until nine o'clock, which will be a full day. If you are in the La Brea and Santa Monica area tonight, stop on by and say hi. It should be fun.

Speaking of fun, a few things for y'all folks:

Erick Scarecrow of ESC Toy Ltd. has a new 8" Micci plush coming out in September. It will be available in five different delicious flavors, Purple Lurple, Snow Attack, Pink Rage, Green Master, and Mocha. Available now? Soon? How much? We shall see... we shall see.

A Paper Tiger has a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Nimit Malavia entitled The Spark That Hath Set Fire. Limited to ten 12" x 16" prints signed and numbered.

Update: It looks like they are sold out already.

There is a new iPod Nano and new iPod touch. iTunes 8 is out. The world is changing my friends. The world is changing. Now I gotta go to work!

Moving Right Along

This past weekend Anne and I traveled 3,004 miles (twice) at an average air speed of 452 miles per hour and ground speed of 45 miles per hour from Los Angeles, California via Atlanta, Georgia to Fenwick Island, Delaware. It was a grueling trip that began at 12:55 am (PST) Friday night in Los Angeles and concluded at 3:05 pm (EST) Saturday afternoon on Fenwick Island, but it was worth it. Somewhere in the Atlanta airport, I lost my mind. Luckily, I didn't sleep Friday night, so when you factor in the time change, I was awake for 38 hours straight. Sleep deprivation and traveling across time zones rapidly does some strange things, especially when you add alcohol, which I promptly did upon arrival at our palatial beach house, mere steps from the beach.
I didn't make it to the beach that first day, but I did eventually make it to bed. Before that, though, I was treated to the finest of foods: corn on the cob, hamburgers and Frogmore stew. The second day began with a trip to the beach for a little boogie boarding, volleyball and getting sun burnt as hell. Sunday afternoon, Seth grilled up some sickly delicious lobsters for lunch [pictured above]. They were indescribably good. After lunch we set up the horseshoe pitch and threw some shoes. That was fun. Sunday night I made a huge pot of paella with grilled chicken, sausage and shrimp for the family. It was delicious. I think some of the family might have had their doubts, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to paella. After dinner we had what everyone had been waiting for, Mama's chocolate bourbon pecan pie a la mode. I went to bed drunk and full again Sunday night. The sunburn and jet lag didn't help, though.

Monday, Seth and Gena left in the morning, then it was off to the beach again for more boogie boarding, walking hand-in-hand with Anne on the beach like two lovebirds and trying to keep from burning any worse than I already was. I wore the wrong shorts for boogie boarding, and lost them in the surf a couple of times, to everyone on the shore's delight. Lunch Monday was hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue chicken on the grill a la Scotty G. It was delicious, and still we begged for more. After lunch Anne and I walked down to a little skateboard shop called Rebel One to check out their 45% off sale. They had some decent wares, but I don't have any money to spend right now. But if I did, I would definitely get one of these exclusive Limited Ed. Yuta Onoda Wishing Upon a Star prints [pictured below] from the I am 8-bit show that are available from A Paper Tiger. It is a 12" x 16" archival print, signed, numbered, and limited to only 30.
Scott, Magnolia, Hip Hop, and Peter left Monday evening, then the rest of the gang ordered pizza and played Taboo until it was time to go to bed. Anne and I had to leave early Tuesday morning, but not until after a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and french toast bagels. Back in the car, back on a plane, back to the Atlanta airport, and finally home to Los Angeles. It is still a little weird to call Los Angeles home.
Anyway, another Los Angeles, well Culver City, friend of Limited Ed., project:gallery, is moving. After their new exhibit, Fresh Faces [Yuta Onada's Libido, pictured above], which begins this Saturday, September 6th, from 7-10 pm (PST), they will be moving to a larger space just down the street. The new exhibit features the work of Nimit Malavia, Yuta Onoda, Dominique Fung and Martha Chan. I might try to make it there. I will see if I have fully recovered by Saturday.

Speaking of recovery, Lee "Scratch" Perry [pictured above] will be at Amoeba Music on Sunset this evening at 7 pm (PST). I would like to make it out for that, but I don't know if I will be able to. Anne isn't home yet, she will have Kallie the Kat with her and we haven't had dinner yet. It is going to be a mess trying to get everything taken care of before seven. I still might try to make it out, 'cuz I'm a huge "Scratch" Perry fan. Anyway, I am exhausted from work today. Check out my pictures from this weekend here.

For The Birds

A Paper Tiger has got a new Limited Ed. print available from artist Nate Frizzell entitled Nest [pictured above]. The Giclee print is limited to 25 pieces printed on Sommerset velvet archival paper at 12" x 20". It will cost ya' a hundred bucks, but for a print this size of this quality limited to this few, that is definitely a bargain. Here's what A Paper Tiger has to say about Nate Frizzell:

"A recent graduate of Otis College of Art and Design, Nate Frizzell has spent his time since graduation dedicated to painting and honing his style. Using bold and colorful images of children at play - and in turmoil - Frizzell creates intimate stories that mask his own feelings of immaturity. Using both highly rendered images and softer graphic design elements, Frizzell weaves stories into his paintings that we all can see ourselves being a part of."

I'm not sure if I could see myself being a part of the story in this painting, but I definitely understand trying to mask my feelings of immaturity. I'm not that good at it.

Update: There is also a special artist's edition of this print available here for $350 that is 12" x 24", is limited to just five prints and has been hand-embellished with paint, ink and pencil by the artist. It also includes a secret bonus.

Orion's Prints

Orion, The Hunter, the constellation, the Brazilian street artist and photographer? Alexandre Orion, that is. Now his work from the series Metabiotica is available online from 20ltd.

"Orion began as a teenage graffiti artist on the streets of Sao Paolo. Now in his late 20s, Orion experiments with combining his street art and his fascination with photography...a process he calls 'Metabiotica'. He expresses his stencil-style art on the walls of the city and then incorporates unstaged interaction with live subjects to create a new photographic image - a process that not only gves the image humour and spontaneity but requires gargantuan patience to achieve. His urban inventions not only create something visually arresting but deftly capture moments of suspense, terror, joy & plain surreality."

Sounds good to me. Looks good, too. And at only £2,300 for a 32" x 32" print or £4,550 for a 50" x 50" print, they are cheap, too. Yeah, right!

I didn't use the word galaxy in this post, but I did use the word constellation. Pretty close.

Don't Go Chasing Butterflies

A Paper Tiger has got a new Limited Ed. print available from artist Josh Petker entitled Chasing Butterflies [pictured left] in stock. Only five of these sensuous prints are available, in a large, 18" x 24" format, hand-embellished with paint, ink and glitter from the artist. So you will have to get to them quick if you are willing to plop down a little more than half a grand for these lovely ladies. According to the folks over at A Paper Tiger,

Joshua Petker is a self taught artist who has been stunning fans at his recent sold out shows. Influenced by everything from classical impressionists to old school graffiti artists - Petker is truly a contemporary painter interested in historical themes.

Sounds good to me. I need someone to write something like that about my paintings so I can start selling prints of 'em for half a grand a piece. Geez.

I'm Crushing Your Head

A Paper Tiger has got a new Limited Ed. print available from artist Deth P. Sun entitled I Will Crush You. It is a 12" x 12" giclee print on Sommerset velvet archival paper. The imagery in the print and the texture of the background remind me of the old Tootsie Pop® commercials from way back in the 70's with the owl and the tortoise trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center. Apparently Deth is a big cat lover, so maybe this image could be seen as a response to this video of a tortoise chasing a cat. Apparently, Deth rarely does prints and is concentrating his efforts on doing only two shows a year, so this is a rare opportunity to own a piece of his artwork. And only $100 a piece is a good value for one of only twenty-five prints produced.

I Prefer Hope

Limited Ed. is pleased to announce that Paper Tiger is excited to announce another in a series of exclusive print releases. This week at Paper Tiger - Yoskay Yamamoto.

This print, titled "Hope and Despair" is a small edition of 25, and from his recent sold out show: www.aPaperTiger.com

About the Artist:
Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at the age of 15. Yamamoto discovered a way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work. Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his adopted western home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage with urban pop art.

The emotion that Yamamoto pours into his work has turned him into one of the most buzz-worthy emerging artists working today. With shows booked into 2010 from New York to Los Angeles and Miami, and appearances coming at Art Basel, in Scion’s Installation Tour and even a designer vinyl toy releasing in the summer of 2008, Yamamoto is undoubtedly on a fast track to being a must own for any collector.

This is an excellent print at an excellent price, only $100! Cheap! I really appreciate the merging of the two cultures, but I especially like the influence of the old Japanese style. It is one of my favorite styles of art along with Impressionism, which in a lot of ways tries to mimic nineteenth-century Japanese art.