This Is Not A Bear / The Ears Make The Rabbit

On June 20th, 2014, Snap! Orlando featured me in a group show "Snap! Attacks!"

For the show, I wanted to try something a little different, and my idea came from a conversation I had with my friend Sket One. 

In 2012 Sket and I showed together at the Coachella Music & Art Festival. For that show, we were asked to live paint in an un-airconditioned room in the middle of the Palm Desert. I can soundly say it was the environment that inspired me to I create this painting. As you can see, the piece features an angry bear, and behind it, the words "Fuck It's Hot" are repeated over and over. Afterwards Sket mentioned that he found my letter styling to be intriguing and that he wouldn't mind seeing it employed the same way graffiti writers use letters as graphic art. It was this little compliment gave me the confidence to create the following paintings:

This Is Not A Bear

11"x 14"

Acrylic on Wood Panel

2014

The Ears Make The Rabbit

11"x 14"

Acrylic on Wood Panel

2014

"This Is Not A Bear" states the little know fact that my "bear" character was not originally supposed to be a bear. The design was supposed to encapsulate "cuteness & innocence" and it was based on Hello Kitty's minimalist design. Of course there are certain paintings where the character was definitely supposed to be a bear. (Paintings like "The Queen Is Dead", "Bear In Mind", or "Honey Bear" come to mind.) But it wasn't till I realized that my audience was comfortable with the notion of bears driving the narrative did I settle with him being one.

"The Ears Make The Rabbit" reflects on my shoddy skills as a character designer, and how the difference between my bears and rabbits lie solely on the length of their ears.

Shoryuken

Shoryuken

9" x 12"

Acrylic on Wood Panel

2014

This May, I finally created the third installment to my "Street Fighter" series of paintings. Produced for "Game Over", a video game themed group show hosted by Giant Robot.
The foundation for this series comes from one of my more popular paintings: "Possessed". In it, my blood soaked bear is 'possessed' by the devil with a video game controller (Specifically an Atari 2600 controller). The segue between this painting and video game themed narratives seemed only too perfect.
After creating this third painting, it came to me that this might make a fun series of mini figure toys (in the style of Japanese Gashapan/Candy toys). If whoever wants to produce this series wants to do this, then I'm probably going to have to explore another 3 moves. I wonder which ones I should do...

"Bolt" Common Artist Project + LAX/TXL

Bolt

Acrylic on Wood Panel

16" x 16"

2014

On May 17th, 2014, Los Angeles based gallery Thinkspace teamed up with Urban Nation in Berlin, Germany to present ‘LAX / TXL’. For this event, artists were asked to develop artwork on a 16" x 16" canvas. Since I've never shown in Germany (or at least I don't recall ever showing there), I decided to use this opportunity to showcase something a little more 'pop' art. 

For the past couple months, I'd be developing a t-shirt design for the Common Artist Project. The design I came up with was intentionally a little "Rock n Roll". Inspired by the artwork from David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane", I took my trademark bear head and scrawled a red zig-zag bolt across its face. However, instead simply recreating the Aladdin Sane artwork, I thought it'd be fun to try something a little more graphic. So rather than painting the bolt as though it were on the bears face, I illustrated it so the bolt extended beyond its face, like it were floating above it. When it comes to t-shirt designs, I believe it's the simplest designs that translate into the best designs. 

For LAX/TXL  all I did was recreated the design, However, I ended up flipping the face from right to left. When I create the CAP version of "Bolt", I wanted the bolt to blaze across the bears right eye. To make that work, I had to draw a right facing bear. Unbeknownst to the layman, most illustrators usually have a directional preference. For my LAX/TXL painting, I wanted to compose the bear so it was looking my dominant direction: left. 

Boba

Boba

Acrylic on Wood Panel

18" x 24"

2014

For Corey Helford Gallery's final show in their original space, they chose to host "Pop-Eyeconic", a group show with a Pop/Icon theme. This was the perfect opportunity to bust out an idea I'd been sitting on for a couple years now: "Boba".
To me, "Boba" was a simple, almost obvious, visual pun. I was honestly surprised I hadn't seen it yet. Combine Boba Fett (the infamous bounty hunter from Star Wars) with Boba Milk Tea (a popular tea based drink featuring "boba" or tapioca balls).  Both of these things have played some kind of role in my life. As a child, the character Boba Fett and the Kenner action figure were hugely popular to me. And as a young asian american adult, I'd indulge in Boba Milk Tea whenever I visited my folks in the San Gabriel Valley. For the painting, I also added a hoodie because it's one of my favorite articles of clothing. 
"Boba" will be available as a limited edition print from my friends at 1xRun on April 11th, 2014.

Alcoholic's Anonymous

In December, 2013, my friend and colleague Michael Mararian curated a show called "Bound Requiem". Hosted by Last Rites Gallery, the idea behind the show was to have artists "reinterpret paper bound books into contemporary art pieces".
For this show, I chose to create a painting on the cover of an Alcoholics Anonymous.
This particular copy of AA was given to me while I was checked into a rehab for a substance abuse problem. Though I personally don't have an issue with alcohol in particular, many addicts are referred to the AA book because of the college level writing featured in its pages. (The NA book is written at an elementary school level)
The painting I created is essentially a revisit of my painting "Dirty Martini". The biggest difference being the crucifix toothpick that's impale the head/garnish in the cocktail. I chose to feature this kind of religious imagery because Alcoholics Anonymous (and Narcotics Anonymous) turn to religion as a tool to help addicts come to terms with their humility. Unfortunately, it's this religiousness that I find difficult to accept, and usually kept me from accepting their fellowship.

Milk & Cookies

Milk & Cookies

8" x 10"

Acrylic On Wood Panel 

2013

"Milk & Cookies" was created for a Krampus themed group show hosted by Copro Gallery in December 2013. In case you're not familiar, while Santa distributed gifts to the "good" children, Krampus distributed punishment to the "bad" ones.
Upon further consideration of this relationship, I wanted to believe that Krampus and Santa were truly partners/colleagues for Christmas. Of course these characters are opposites of each other, but at the end of the day, they also need each other. I perceive them as being two sides of the same coin, and as such, this would mean Krampus would share in the spoils of Christmas, ie. "Cookies & Milk".
This painting ended up being the first in a series I'm hoping to explore in the future. Where most of my paintings are built around a simple formula:"light" characters in "dark" situations, "Cookies & Milk" reverses the formula, inserting a "dark" character" in a "light" situation.

"Love & Allergies" Silk Screen Print Release

Love & Allergies

16" x 20"
2014

On Saturday, February 1st, I'll be signing my limited edition 7 color silk screen print of "Love and Allergies", the painting I created for Cat Art Show Los Angeles.
Only 80-85 of these prints will be available. They are $250 a piece and the image is sized at 16" x 20." If you don't have to live in LA to buy them - you can email susan@catartshow.com to place an order!

The Cat Art Show and my signing are hosted by 101 Exhibit
6205 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

The signing will run from 2pm-3pm. 
I hope to see you there!

Ball Point Pen Series

The Ball Point Pen Series was created for Tiny Trifecta, a massive group show hosted by Cotton Candy Machine (opening June 15th, 2013). As the title implies, artists were asked to contribute three small pieces of art, and as the name of the series says, these pieces were created with ball point pen on paper.

Ball Point Pen Series (A Study In Color & Texture) Black

 4" x 4"

Ink on Paper

2013

Ball Point Pen Series (A Study In Color & Texture) Blue

 4" x 4"

Ink on Paper

2013

Ball Point Pen Series (A Study In Color & Texture) Red

 4" x 4"

Ink on Paper

2013

The Thing From My Dystopian Future

 

The Thing From My Dystopian Future

Pencil and Paper 

9" x 12"

2013

"The Thing From My Dystopian Future" was created for "Futurology" a group show hosted by Copro Gallery (March 23rd - April 13th, 2013). When I first heard the title of the show, I instantly thought, "the study of the future". Taking this into consideration, I started creating a piece that suited a futuristic theme. 
I don't know about you, but when I think of the future, I think of technology, and from that, robots, or mechanized creatures become the logical progression. "The Thing From My Dystopian Future" is an obvious nod to James Cameron's classic movie, "The Terminator". If you're not familiar, the movie features a robot assassin that comes from the future, disguised as human. Underneath its human dermis hides ghoulish robot killing machine.
Creating "The Thing From My Dystopian Future" was a lot of fun for me. When I was in high school, my drawings were undeniably inspired by manga and anime. I drew a lot of giant robots / mecha, and I loved incorporating hyper detailed mechanics. However, sometime around college, I felt like I lost the ability to render things this way, maybe because of a change in priorities, or maybe because I destroyed a good portion of my mind with my self destructive lifestyle. Fortunately this drawing has helped me reconnect with that illustration style, and I hope to incorporate more of it into my future works.
You might have also noticed that this was just a simple pencil drawing. I would have loved to have finished it with ink, or made it into a painting, but the details are so fine, I was afraid of ruining the drawing with ink, and I honestly didn't feel like I have the skills to recreate the image with acrylic paints.

Panda

Panda

12" x 12"

Acrylic on Panel

2013

"Panda" was created for "The Art Collectors Starter Kit", a group show hosted by Corey Helford Gallery (March 23rd - April 10th, 2013). It's a painting about wanting to be something you're not. This is the second time I've worked with this specific narrative, the first time being my painting "Everybody Loves Panda". I actually was planning on naming it "Everybody Loves Panda (Revisited) / Yearning for the East", but I figured "Panda" summed it up elegantly.

Smile

Smile

Acrylic on Wood Panel

12" x 12"

2013

During the month of March, 2013, I was invited to contribute a painting for "Kindred", a group show curated by artist Nathan Spoor and hosted by Bold Hype Gallery NYC. The only parameter we were asked to consider was that the artwork be 12" x 12". 
"Smile" was my contribution to the show.

Crotch Talk - Year of the Snake

CROTCH TALK (YEAR OF THE SNAKE)

Acrylic and Ink on Panel

9" x 12"

2013

On February 2nd, 2013, Giant Robot hosted the "Year of the Snake" themed group show. As the name implies, February 2013 marks the year of the snake on the lunar calendar. 
Since the end of 2012, I've been looking for opportunities to try something different and create something a little more 'experimental'. Unfortunately I ran out of time, so I resorted to a series concept I've been holding onto for a while: the "Crotch Talk" series. 
"Crotch Talk" was going to be the sequel to "Head Space". Where "Head Space" is about the things inside my head, "Crotch Talk" would focus on my thoughts concerning sexuality. My original plan for "Crotch Talk (Snake)" was to incorporate something like the black mamba, or another venomous spitting snake. But for "Crotch Talk (Year of the Snake)", I thought painting the snake red and gold will be a nice nod to Chinese New Year. I guess I'll save the mamba for when I create the series to be displayed as a whole show.
I'm still not sure when I can bring this series to fruition, but I guess this as a preview of things to come.

Slow Poke (Hug)

SLOW POKE

Approx 2"-3"

Acrylic, Ink, and Magic Sculp on Resin Figure

2012

On December 15th, 2012, Toy Art Gallery hosted Blamo Toys 4th annual custom show. For this show Blamo invited over artists to customize their "Hug" figure.
For my contribution, I started by considering the design and the idea behind the "Hug". Rather than being warm and welcoming, I wanted to make my figure repulsive and unsettling. My initial ideas revolved around covering it with spikes, but as time ran short, my idea whittled down to one strategic "spike". Once I settled on this, I did my best to make it visually unappealing. I started by changing his expression from smiley to sad (as if he were saying 'will someone please hug me?'), and sculpted a stubby and unflattering erect penis (complete with testicles). I then painted him a light flesh tone, drew in a mess of public hairs, and added the words "Slow Poke" as abdominal tattoo. I finished by adding my signature bear head, coupled with the name of my brand "Unbearable", as a back tattoo.
On hindsight, I think it's odd that when customizing toys, I find myself leaning toward themes I don't usually approach in my paintings, specifically sexual themes. You can see it in my Bellicose Bunny custom, and my My Little Pony custom. I'm curious to see what I create in the future.

For Designer Con 2012, 15 other artists and I were invited to customize a Sucklord figure for the Suckadelic "Super Suck Up!". Limited to an edition of 50, each figure was assembled and painted by hand. The helmet and claw were sculpted and cast by George Gaspar of October Toys, and Sucklord designed the card backs. I ended up using Instagram to document most of steps I took while designing and creating the figure I call "Kuma Fett".

Kuma Fett Turnarounds 

When designing Kuma Fett, one of the first things I considered was how I would incorporate my brand onto the figure. One of the most intriguing things about Boba Fett was the fact that he was pretty much annonymous. He always wore a helmet, and I thought it would be fun to start by adding Luke Chueh style bear helmet for his head. We over sized the head to exaggerate the idea this was a helmet. We also added the signature dent on the head and that "mic/visor" piece signature to the original Kenner Boba Fett figure. And since Boba Fett is a notorious villain, I thought I'd add a bloody claw as inspired by my "Southpaw Series"

Helmet sculpted by George Gaspar of October Toys

 

Claw sculpted by George Gaspar of October Toys

 

Kuma Fett Card Back designed by Sucklord

Cavey (Decapitated)

Cavey’s American Cousins was a unique show featuring Cavey designs by US artists made into one-off plushes by Holly Stanway of A Little Stranger. Each plush is one of a kind and not to be repeated. They were available to buy via 7-day auctions which began on Saturday November 3rd and end on the night of the show.

Cavey designs by: 64 Colors • Beast Brothers • Camilla D’Errico • DrilOne • Frank Kozik • Chris Ryniak • Luke Chueh • Mochimochi • Onell Design • Scott Tolleson • Sket One •Angry Woebots

Inspired by my series of decapitated toys, I decided to give Cavey the decapitated treatment, an idea I found ironic since Cavey's don't have a necks. What makes this design especially fun is the fact that the finished product has a magnet hidden in the wound so you can easily reattach the head to the body!

Contributing artists were also asked to create a print to compliment their designs.

CAVEY (DECAPITATED)

11" x 14"

Acrylic and Ink on Panel

2012

Hell Lotus Custom

On November 3rd, 2012, Singapore based Mighty Jaxx hosted a custom art show revolving around the "Hell Lotus" toy. Hell Lotus was designed by Clogtwo and produced by Mighty Jaxx. The Hell Lotus Art Show celebrated the first Singaporean designed and produced original vinyl art toy, "The Hell Lotus". Forty two local and international artists were invited to contribute their own rendition or artworks inspired by the Hell Lotus design.

For this custom I choose to not mess with the original design. However, I thought it would be fun to add a sculpt of my signature bear head and have it rest in the Hell Lotus' left hand.

 I also shaved off the original lotus design that was sculpted on its back and painted a bear head in its place. Taking a note from American biker gangs, I treated the top and bottom "rockers" with my brand name "Unbearable" and location "Los Angeles". 

The patch on the left arm features the numbers "37". These are my two favorite numbers, probably because I was born on March (3) Seventh (7) 19-7-3.

As of this blog posting, my Hell Lotus custom is still available for purchase from Mighty Jaxx.

 

Mission To Nowhere

 Mission To Nowhere 

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

16" x 20"

2012 

"Mission To Nowhere" was created for "Marvelous Expedition", a show curated by Dabs Myla and hosted by Thinkspace Gallery. As the title implies, the theme of the show revolves travel and adventure. I thought the the idea of a monkey in a space suit, staring blankly at map would suit the theme nicely. 

The origin of this idea is actually rooted in the artwork of Mr. Clement with his "Astrolapin" toy. As a nod to Mr. Clement, the mission patch on the monkeys left shoulder features his rabbit.

Lukey Bean

 Lukey Bean

Acrylic + Ink

8" x 10"

2012

In August, 2012, my friend and colleague Scott Tolleson invited my to contribute a painting to his Nosellots themed group show, "Nosellots Super Show Shindig".
Nosellots are a series of plush characters Tolleson designed. I believe he has plans of eventually turn them into an animation, or a series of children's books. 

For the show he asked us to create something inspired by his characters. I choose to recreate "Lyle Bean" as if it existed in my universe. I renamed the character "Lukey Bean" 

"Nosellots Super Show Shindig" is hosted by Portland Oregon's Screaming Sky Gallery

Elementary School Is Hell (Izod, Not Le Tigre)

This August, Munky King will host "Memories Are Made Of This" a group art show curated by friend of the gallery, Super Cooper Berella. The theme of the show is 'childhood memories', and after giving it some thought, I decided to create a piece inspired by my elementary school class photo. In essence, it's a self portrait of me from 1983-85.

The painting features a bear with a classic bowl haircut, standing in front of a classic sky blue background. But the thing that takes me back is the gold and red Izod polo shirt he's wearing. 

Back in the 80's class distinction could be determined by the logo you wore on your shirt (and from what I can tell, things haven't changed after all this time). At the top food chain was Le Tigre (which featured a leaping tiger as a logo) next was Izod (now known as Lacoste, featured the crocodile), and if I recall, the bottom of the barrel was Britannia (whom used the bottom half of a Union Jack as a logo).

Considering the cruelty of children, I caught hell from the Le Tigre kids, and this is why I made sure to include the Izod logo in the painting.

Tragically, this will also be Munky King's last art show at their Melrose location.

For May, 2012, Giant Robot hosted "Game Over" a video game themed group art show. As of late, I've been using the group shows to create images that didn't feature any of my main characters. So for the "Game Over" I chose to illustrate the "Piranha Plant" or "Pakkun Plant" from the game Super Mario Bros. 

Pakkun

9" x 12"

Acrylic + Ink

2012

The thing that I find amusing about this painting is this 'chicken or the egg' type scenario I've created. What's exactly going on? Did Mario need to use the restroom and thus fall prey to a trap set by the Pakkun Plant? Or is the Pakkun Plan using the restroom cause he recently ate Mario? I'm inclined to say the latter since Mario's hat can be seen resting on the floor along with the metal buttons from his overalls. Thus suggesting that Mario came to the restroom to do his business when he was attacked and over taken by the plant.