LCWPB01 Pages 3-5

It recently occurred to me that I hadn't updated my blog with any of my latest LCWPB01 Moleskine paintings. So, I thought I'd start this new year off by uploading the next three paintings I've created within it's pages. 
In case you aren't familiar, LCWPB01 is a place for me to work on small exercises and experiments. My goal has been to create a painting at least once a week. 

LCWPB01 - PAGE 3
Acrylic and Ink on Paper
5" x 7"
2010

LCWPB01 - PAGE 4
Acrylic and Ink on Paper
5" x 7"
2010

LCWPB01 - PAGE 5
Acrylic and Ink on Paper
5" x 7"
2010

Cocari

Christmas night 2010, my family and I sit down to what is becoming one of our wintery tradition: Dinner at Cocari, a "Korean BBQ" AND "Hot Pot / Shabu Shabu" dining experience. What makes this place extra cool is the wall of refrigerators that you walk up to and choose what you want to eat. Another plate of marinated beef? Why not?
Anyways, my sister and I get a kick out of this place, and so after properly stuffing ourselves, we start talking about making this our "Xmas place". The conversation then evolves into getting something "Cocari" related tattooed. I'm not sure what Kim had in mind, but I suggested that I would draw out the idea.
The cast iron BBQ / Shabu Shabu grill is actually shaped like a flower. I thought I would start by borrowing from Buddhist ideology, who celebrate the lily as a beautiful flower that grows from the muck. I complimented my cast iron lily with a Chinese women based on a handful of period style watercolors I looked up of empresses and/or goddesses.
The end result so amuses me that I wanted to share.
Enjoy.

Star Wars Commission

I generally don't take commission's (mainly due to the fact that the painting will probably never be seen in public), and on top of that, I really don't like taking requests, but this was for a friend and all that was asked was that I incorporate a "Star Wars" theme into the painting. Of course, Star Wars was a movie that I had grown up with and was truly inspired by. But on top of that, this friend was also responsible for the the Vader Project, where artists were asked in customize a life size Darth Vader helmet (unfortunately I hat to turn down the project because I couldn't come up with an idea I could feasibly execute), and Bwana Spoons' Spoonful of Star Wars. Coupled with their collection of other Star Wars themed paintings that had been collected and commissioned, I simply couldn't say 'no'.

Clumsy Jedi (My Name is Luke)
Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel
11" x 14"
2010

Creative Spaces by Kevin Knight

Earlier this year, Kevin Knight cruised by the studio to take some pics of me in my "Shedio" for a series he's been developing called "Creative Spaces". Some of the other artists he's photographed include include a lot of my friends like Lola, Jim Mahfood, Angry Woedbots, Chet Zar, Yoskay Yamamoto... the list goes on.
And included is a short interview with each artist to compliment the pics.
Check it out!

POSSESSED - BIG TIME

Here's the first pics of the upcoming "Over-Five-Foot-Tall Possessed" Munky King's producing. Fingers crossed that it'll be ready for unveiling at my upcoming "Contemptorary Art" show at Corey Helford Gallery in February, 2011.

My original Tweeter "Teaser Pic"

Posing with Jedidiah (the Sculptor), as Patrick Lam maintains a classic state of shock and awe.

And here's one last pic to help give us a sense of scale.

Playboy Redux II

On Saturday, December 18th, Copro Gallery will be hosting Playboy Redux II.
As the title implies, this is a "Playboy" themed group show.
Here is my contribution to the show.
(WARNING: The following content is of an adult nature)

SHOT IN THE EYE
8" x 10"
Acrylic + Ink
2010

And here a pic of the "Shot" from a different angle.

Enjoy!

Art Basel Miami 2010 (Day 3)

Sorry if you're getting sick of these Art Basel Posts. This is my LAST ONE. PROMISE!

On my 3rd, and second to last day in Miami, Jesse, Rolf, and I finally hit the "Main Show", Art Basel at the Miami Convention Center. Here's some of the stuff I saw that caught my eye.

ART BASEL

I was so stoked to see Robert Williams in Basel. This piece is amazing. I literally photographed this at eye level, meaning it's probably 8 feet tall!

Tom Otterness has created a sculpture that illustrates my business model!

Ryan McGuinness, outside of the strip club.

Another sight for sore eyes: MARK RYDEN!

And who says "Lowbrow" has to be character driven?

Barry "Twist" McGee in the house.

Ah... Takashi Murakami. Simply Adorable.

Uh... Takashi Murakami. Simply, umm... (WTF?!)

Goofing off at Basel

Kehinde Wiley:

And now for a sense of scale

After we wrapped up Basel, we stopped by some more street art show's. It was at these shows when I found LA's very own New Image Art Galleries contribution to Basel.

NEW IMAGE ART GALLERY

I also made my way back to Sanrio's "Small Gift - Miami" show where these two pieces caught my eye

SANRIO SMALL GIFT - MIAMI

Seonna Hong representin'

On my last day in Miami, the gang and I took it easy, stopped by a hip hop show at a bar near the Pulse show. That's where I finally caught a pic of this billboard that has simply amused me throughout the trip.
You've heard of cash for your GOLD, but cash for your Wah...?

Art Basel Miami 2010 (Day 2)

The next day, we got things started by dropping Jim Mahfood off at Art Whino where he was going to rock some panels. Here's the pics I took of the panels for Art Whino that Friday morning.

ART WHINO

That evening we also stopped my the "Multiversal" show (or at least that's what I think it was called) where our friend J-Ryu was showing his customized 20" Qee. (Yes, somewhere in the following picture is a 20" Qee)

MULTIVERSAL

By the way, there's actually a speaker in there that you can plug into your mp3 player and rock your favorite pipe organ jams!

I found this sign, hung in front of a lot next to Art Whino. So if you have a show idea...

We also stopped by the Art of Basketball show. I don't know why, but every single backboard from this show had sold were all priced $10,000 and higher. The following pictures are a handful of the worthwhile boards I saw. The rest were utter shit. There must be some people in the NBA with absolutely NO taste in art.
However, the ever popular "Shake Shack" were passing out free burgers and flip flops at the show.
At least whoever put the event on had good taste in burgers.

THE ART OF BASKETBALL

We ended the evening at Club Madonna, a "full service" strip club (or so says one of the strippers) featuring the art of graphic design superstar Ryan McGuiness. Coincidentally, that evening also featured Club Madonna & Miami's very own "Anal Queen" (star of supposedly hundreds of movies, most of which involving the anus).

CLUB MADONNA


Miami's "Anal Queen" in action.