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.

The Ballad Of Lando Calrissian

Alright, I have been pretty bad about posting recently, but I have been very busy and very tired. I am working 7 am to 4 pm at Art Territory, but usually stay until five, then when I get home I have been busy working on stuff for the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina. I am too exhausted by the time I am done with that to type anything else, so Anne and I have been watching TV on Seth's HD projector through my computer.

It has been an interesting week, though. On Wednesday, I got to work with one of my heroes, the great Lando Calrissian... I mean Billy Dee Williams [pictured above]. I am working on putting together a series of prints for him based on a painting that he did. He is a really good artist and a very nice guy. He has soft hands and he smells wonderful. And he is an impeccable dresser. I will be working with him more this coming week. He really liked what I did with his piece. Did that last paragraph sound a little gay? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyway, last weekend, last Friday night, Anne and I went to an 80's singalong at the Los Angeles Music Center, which is right next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is one of my favorite pieces of architecture ever. Designed by Frank Gehry, it is an amazingly shiny, curvy building which probably causes a lot of traffice accidents from people gawking at it and from the gleam that comes off of it in the morning when the sun hits it just right. How could you not love a building that kills people? Like the Stephen King story Christine, but with a building.

Saturday night, we went to the gallery opening for Buried Beneath Me at project:gallery. It was pretty fun, free beer, good art, lots of friendly hipsters. I forgot my camera, otherwise I would show y'all some pictures. There was another gallery open that night, two doors down from project:gallery, called The Lab 101 which was really fun. It was smaller that project:gallery, which isn't very big to begin with, but that just made it cozier, and after a couple of beers, easier to meet people. Anne met a couple of young turk artist type ladies named Andrea Shear and Sara Brum down there who do some interesting artwork. They were fun to hang out with, too. Y'all should check them out.

We have been looking around for apartments in West Hollywood and have seen some nice places down there, in our price range and close to where we work. I can't wait to get out of Seth's place and into somewhere that has air conditioning and a little more space. Kallie the Kat will appreciate it too. Also, she will probably be able to go outside, which she will love!


This weekend is the Sunset Junction Street Festival [pictured above], which we will be going to later this afternoon and tomorrow. Like Apple Chill, but more chill. Broken Social Scene is playing tonight and Black Keys are playing tomorrow night. In all, 36 bands and nine DJ's. Isaac Hayes was supposed to play, but we all know what happened there. Anyway, it should be a lot of fun!

Well, that's all that is going on for now. I'll let y'all know how the street fest was.

Buried

My old pals over at project:gallery have an exhibit opening this Saturday, August 16th from 7-10pm entitled Buried Beneath Me, a group exhibition curated by the Friends United Network. Here's the good word from project:gallery:

The concept for the exhibition is the idea of being "buried" - and not necessarily in a morbid way. The main body of work will be a reflection on the simple beauties which are so often overlooked in our fast-paced lives, emphasizing that we are a relatively small, but important, part of a larger collective consciousness. The hope is that this show will help the viewer recognize the playful joys of living despite being "Buried" under a mound of superimposed social constraints.

This will be the second major Los Angeles show curated by the Friends United Network, and will host several artists that have shown in the gallery including: Rebecca Urias, Derek Albeck, Ken Garduno - as well as new artists to project: Ian Mailhot, Seth Neefus, Tim Karpinski, David Wien, Mark Warren Jacques and Scott Ferguson.

Looks like some good stuff. Project:gallery also has a new blog, here. Anne and I are going to try to make it out for the opening this Saturday night. Culver City is a haul from Echo Park, though, but it's worth it.

Also worth it, if you are in the Sunset Junction area of Silverlake in LA, is the sneaker shop Kicks Sole Provider [pictured above]. Anne and I stopped in there while strolling around Sunset Junction. There is also a Giant Robot store, an Undefeated store and Secret Headquarters [pictured below], a good comic book shop. I could spend all weekend at those four shops. Of course, for sneakers in Sunset Junction, I think Kicks Sole Provider has a better selection than Undefeated. They had some real nice Onitsuka Tigers and some dope Limited Ed. Nikes on consignment. There are also some good vintage shops around Sunset Junction. My kind of area. I think I will be spending a lot of time down there while I am living in Echo Park. It is so close! (Check out my other pictures from LA here)

The Wrath Of Con

Comic Con 2008 is upon us, and with it comes a shitstorm of e-mail, e-mail, e-mail about all the wonderful things going on and toys being released and artist signings, etc. etc. etc. It is like the earwig from the Wrath of Kahn, burrowing into my brain making me even more crazy that I already am with Anne and I moving to Los Angeles on Sunday! WTF!!!!!!!!! I still have three boxes of shiites to pack up. Don't tell the moving company, I think they are Sunni. Anyway, here is a mini-roundup of my highlights.

First off, A Paper Tiger will be representin' with a beautiful new Limited Ed. print from Tessar Lo entitled Kirin [pictured above]. A Paper Tiger's prints are just beautiful, great ink quality, exquisite paper. This print is limited to just 50 pieces, 25 available at the con and 25 available online for those of us who won't be out there by then. Tessar Lo was born in Indonesia and is a recent graduate of Toronto's Sheridan Institue of Art. He received his BAA in illustration and plans to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an artist. Sounds familiar. Lo his influenced by artists Takeshi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara and by japanese ukiyo-e printers and other traditional Asian techniques. He is at the Munky King booth RIGHT NOW (Thursday, July 24th, 2:30-4:00pm PST) signing prints and more!

Next up, project:gallery's very own Yoskay Yamamoto will be releasing his first vinyl figure in collaboration with Munky King. The Koibito [pictured above] has been much anticipated and can expected to sell out quickly this weekend. Yamamoto will also be signing a print and autographs at the Munky King booth all weekend and will be painting live with Scott Belcastro at the vinylpulse.com party tonight.

Also, Super7 will be unveiling their Shogun Warrior-esque Stormtrooper vinyl figure, which they produced in association with Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Kotobukiya [pictured above in the background with Brian Flynn of Super7 and a real live Stormtrooper]. This thing is giant and sweet as Texas barbecue beef brisket. When I was a kid, I had a Shogun Warrior Godzilla figure. That was one of my favorite toys ever. It had wheels in the feet and a flame tongue that would stick out when a lever in the back of its head was pressed. Its claws were sharp enough to cut my younger brother. You don't see toys like that anymore, I guess until now.

Well, that's all for now. I'm tired and I need to get back to work.

Turning The Tides

project:gallery in LA has got a new exhibit opening this weekend featuring the artwork of Edwin Ushiro. The exhibit, entitled while tides guide you back home opens Saturday nightz, July 12th from 7-10pm. Apparently, the "Green Truck" will be on-site with organic food and wholesome goodness. Here is what project:gallery has to say about the show:

The concept for while tides guide you back home is inspired by Edwin Ushiro's feelings of regret and remorse for leaving his native Hawaii. Often wondering how life would have been different had he remained on Maui, Ushiro creates a body of work evoking childhood memories real and imagined. He portrays these moments through dreamlike sequences where he re-writes and re-interprets his own childhood memories.

The works in this solo exhibition are a cohesive series of multimedia paintings that confront both memories of childhood and stories of Hawaiian folklore. Ushiro utilizes some truly unique artistic techniques, a fusion of traditional and digital. Ushiro incorporates paint, ink, iron transfers, fabric and other materials into his work in order to achieve the desired moods and emotions.

The unique emotion and techniques that make up Ushiro's work have turned him into one of the most buzz-worthy emerging artists working today. With several recent magazine interviews and shows booked into 2009 from New York to Los Angeles and appearances coming at Art Basel, Ushiro has become one of the most talked about artists in the new contemporary movement.

The gallery is located at 8545 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. Y'all folks out there in LA can contact them at info@projectgalleryLA.com for more info. I'll be in LA starting in August, so I will be heading to as much of this sort of thing as I can when I get out there, so maybe I'll see y'all there.

Culver City Artalk

I got e-mail from my friends over at project:gallery letting me know that they will be participating in the Culver City Artwalk this Saturday, May 31st. They will be opening their doors to a group of collectors, friends and press for a pre-Culver City Artwalk preview of their new exhibit "insider trading", a group show of gallery represented artists. "A show curated specifically for the Annual Artwalk, 'insider trading' will showcase new work from Yoskay Yamamoto, Tessar Lo, Rebecca Urias, Nate Frizzell, Edwin Ushiro and Scott Belcastro." The preview is by invitation only, so go to project:gallery's website and sign up for their mailing list if you would like to be invited. Artists will be in attendance and there will be coffee, mimosas and pastries provided for those attending the preview.

Projecta Selecta Detecta

I got some e-mail from project: gallery and just wanted to give them a quick shout-out. They currently have The Upside of Down, a solo exhibit of work from Yoskay Yamamoto, on display now until May 31st.

The concept for the upside of down is inspired by Yoskay Yamamoto’s own need to express his emotions, personality and frequent feeling of self-doubt. Yamamoto feels as if he is always in a battle with himself or his alter-ego known as “Inskay.” The Japanese word “Yo-“ translates to “light” while “In-“ refers to “dark,” which is where we find YO-skay and his internal struggle with IN-skay. As an artist and as a person, Yamamoto feels this constant struggle of light and dark within himself.

As you may notice by reading my blog, I am a big fan of Asian art and especially anything involving coi fish, so I really like Yamamoto's work.

Keep an eye out here for more from project: gallery.