Self-ish

In October, 2014, Corey Helford Gallery hosted my "Self-ish" show. As the title suggest, the work featured explores a lot of very personal themes, and are loosely "self portraits" (some obviously more so than others). But then a chunk of the show has me taking the name (selfish) a little more literally, with me creating a new body of work with a decidedly new stylistic direction.

You Are What You Eat (Self)

Acrylic on Canvas

24” x 30"

2014

You Are What You Eat (My Other Self)

Acrylic on Canvas

24” x 30"

2014

 

Dead Inside

Acrylic on Canvas

36” x 48"

2014

Some Trends Make Me Want To Puke

Acrylic on Wood Panel

24” x 18”

2014

Colorfield Series (Black)

Acrylic on Canvas

48” x 60"

2014

Colorfield Series (White)

Acrylic on Canvas

48” x 60"

2014

Anthropomorphized

Acrylic on Wood Panel

18” x 18”

2014

Monkey On My Back (Sleeping Burden)

Acrylic on Wood Panel

16” x 20”

2014 

Monkey On My Back (Rude Awakening)

Acrylic on Wood Panel

11” x 14”

2014

Coffee & Cigarettes

Acrylic on Wood Panel

16” x 20”

2014

Headphones

Acrylic on Wood Panel

18” x 24”

2014

Tengu

Acrylic on Wood Panel

12” x 16"

2014

Yawn

Acrylic on Wood Panel

11” x 14”

2014

Headspace Series (Star Wars - Darth Vader)

Acrylic on Canvas

36” x 48"

2014

Headspace Series (Star Wars - Boba Fett)

Acrylic on Canvas

36” x 48”

2014

Untitled (Sad Bear)

Acrylic on Paper

15” x 19”

2014

Untitled (Mad Rabbit)

Acrylic on Paper

15” x 19”

2014

Untitled (Monkey King)

Acrylic on Paper

15” x 19”

2014

Untitled (Sweet Bear)

Acrylic on Paper

15” x 19”

2014

Red Skull

Acrylic on Wood Panel

6” x 6”
2014

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.

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

Headspace Series (Round 1)

On October 11th through October 14th 2012, Shea/Ziegler invited to be a part of the London based Moniker Art Fair. For the fair I chose to show the first round of my "Headspace Series". The series is about the things I love and the things I'm inspired by. The paintings all feature my bear removing his head, only to reveal something else inside. Examples include characters from Star Wars characters to the artwork from artists I love (in this case, Banksy). I envision the series to expand to over 50 - 60 paintings over the next couple years.

HEADSPACE SERIES (BEAR - BLACK)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (RABBIT)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (MONKEY)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (CHICKEN)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (PIG)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (BANKSY)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (SKULL)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (DARTH VADER)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (BOBA FETT)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

 HEADSPACE SERIES (HOOD / COBRA COMMANDER)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

HEADSPACE SERIES (NINJA)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

 HEADSPACE SERIES (FOUNTAIN)

Acrylic and Ink on Wood Panel

8" x 10"

2012

Please contact Shea/Ziegler for prices and availability.

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