Few work in progress...

Here are two paintings I'm working on right now..
Top one is going to be a collab with my friend Tyrel for the Square foot Group show coming up on August 16th at AWOL gallery in Toronto.

How Nostalgic

Heres a digital painting I did in Photoshop recently. I posted a rougher version few months ago, but recently I had some inspiration to finish it. So here it is.

Its of my childhood...quite nostalgic. I grew up with these characters, as with many of you, probably..

It was fun to do this, also thanks to everyone who bought a print of this at AX 2008 this year.












Here's a little animated gif of the progress from start to finish.

6x6 online group show.

The 6x6 online group show is up and i've contributed a piece to it. I posted the sketch of it recently on my blog, heres the final version.

All of the pieces are on sale at the show. Check it out here.
Heres a little feature about this show at Vinyl Requiem.

This is first of a new series of traditional paintings i'm starting, the concept for this set will be about human x nature interaction touching on ideas such as chaos and protection.

"Underneath" Oil on BFK mounted on board - 6 x 6

Back from LA, great trip!

Back from LA!
It was an awesome trip. Met lots of new artists, great people and had a great time. Also had some really good food...oh man...love zencu and the food in little tokyo...hahaha

Was awesome to see the project:gallery artists and their studio. The studio space was very inspiring.

Expo was fun, but artist alley wasn't as great as last years, though.
Now its back to work, time to start painting my pieces for the square foot show.

New Links:
Stevie Lewis
Leslie Hung

Here are some photos of the trip..

in LA till July 8th

Getting ready to go on a one week trip to LA now..
From July 1st (today) till July 8th I will be in LA for the beach, galleries, and for anime expo. I will be selling prints of my work there, some come by if you are in the area.

Looking forward to visit Lipking's solo show (www.lipking.com) in Santa Monica and Project Gallery LA.

I will be updating with new paintings once I get back.

So what happened to art?

I noticed there hasn't been much art update on my blog recently..haha. So better do an update on that right now.

Recently I've started working again on some personal pieces for future shows and such..
Currently I am working on a 6x6 piece for an online show coming up in early July and perhaps a few 12x12 pieces for the square foot show coming up in August. I will post details of the shows when they are near. Heres a pencil sketch I started (did a little colour tint to see how the mood looks)...might be used for the 6x6 piece.. or use it for the 12x12...thinking right now...


















As for the concept of the piece..i'm trying to work around the themes of nature and human interaction right now.. as a general theme of my traditional paintings. I also want to continue to explore the idea of 'dark fairytale' in my work like the past few paintings...we'll see how that goes.

I finished two digital paintings not too long ago..they are designs for two miniature fairy toys which is probably in the process of being made right now. I can't post the full image yet but here are some small cropped part of the piece. I will post the final image as well as images of the actual toys when the toys are made and shipped. I haven't painted digitally in a while now so it was interesting to do this..again. Now I am itching to paint with oils again...

soon...

Also, for those interested, I believe the pieces me and Elise Trinh put up in Passion restaurant is still up. So if you're in the area and looking for a restaurant to eat maybe you can consider it. Its on yonge street..heres the link http://acanac.org/blogs/passionrestaurant/

Special thanks again to Anda Untila for inviting us to be a part of the show.

Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara Merchandise

During my trip in Japan, I had the chance to visit Mori Gallery Shop and it was awesome. If you like Takashi Murakami and/or Yoshitomo Nara, you'll love this store.. I haven't seen any store in Toronto that sells merchandise related to him..so this gallery shop was particularly special for me.

Anyways here are some pictures I want to share.

Of course, I had to pick up a bunch of Murakami postcards, stickers, buttons and a dvd.. just couldn't help myself..
i had to pick up this nice print/poster at the shop for a very affordable price...sorry for the bad photo..it is one of the promo posters he did for 'Roppongi Hills'

On the note about Yoshitomo Nara, i saw a few of his originals at the store too, which was nice.

During my stay in Osaka, my homestay introduced me to a lady who was the curator some of Nara's gallery shows.. which was very cool. So we sat down, had some dinner that night, talk some, and before I parted, she gave me this beautiful poster as a gift.

"Ode to Edo" Show Photos

Just got back from the show, since i'm still awake, thought I should just upload the photos now.

It was a totally awesome show, hands down, one of the best I've seen in Toronto. Great art, people, and atmosphere. It was also nice to finally check out Yoskay Yamamoto, Kagan Mcleod, and Hiroshi Harakawa's original work in person.

This gallery is actually pretty big, much bigger than I had imagined. Excited to see what shows they have planned next.

In the show, they even had a 'bargain' section where there are some very affordable art ranged from $50 - $100.

Also for those interested, they have opened an online shop to sell these original work and more.

Tonight - 'Ode to Edo' @ Jerome Jenner Gallery

Tonight, I will be visiting the Jerome Jenner gallery for the "Ode to Edo" show. I will update with show photos when I'm back.

I am not part of this show, but I'm plugging it here anyway because a lot of my friends are in it. It will be an exciting show, so if you're in the area, head down and check it out!

Some participating artists include Harvey Chan, Joe Morse, Tessar Lo, Yoskay Yamamoto, Tyrel McNichol, Martin Wittfooth, Jose Ortega, Jon Todd, Yukiko Otsu, and the list goes on..

For more info about the show, check out their website.

This gallery is a new exciting gallery which recently opened in Toronto, check out this video of their gallery..its going to be an awesome new gallery in Toronto exhibiting young emerging artists and low brow art culture.



New Links:
Jerome Jenner Gallery
Yukiko Otsu

Back!! Osamu Tezuka Museum Japan!

Alright, I am finally back to Canada.

Trying to get back on track and start painting/drawing again. I have to scan in some of the drawings and sketches I did in Japan too.

Anyways, I thought I'd share some photos of the trip today. During the trip, I took over 3000 photos. It would probably be too much to share all of it, but here are some art related photos I took.

I'll probably put up more later on too.

First here are some photos of the Osamu Tezuka Museum! Osamu is the creator of Astro Boy!

`The Shit` - art show at Passion restaurant \ lounge

An upcoming event at Passion restaurant. Unfortuntely, i am still in Japan this friday. So I won`t be able to attend the event.

Anyways, for anyone interested and live within the area, here is the info.

Event: the shit
"passion's official launch party"
What: Cocktail Party
Host: Passion
When: Friday, June 6 at 9:00pm
Location: Passion Restaurant Lounge
Street: 774 Yonge Street
City/Town: Toronto, ON


funk, hiphop, mashups, electro, house, 80's
and a secret garden patio....

Featuring Music by Sean Roman
Toronto Artists Exhibition in our 3 galleries
Robert Ross
James Brylowski
Anda Untila
Kathryn Boyd
Juliana Neufeld
Peter Chan
Elise Trinh
Ilichna Morasky
Sarah Kim
Lena Lee
Ale Diaz

Musical Guest Performances
Times Neue Roman

Also Passion Features a Special Tasting menu.
Book your reservations now.

$6 cover w partial proceeds going to Banyan Tree Community Initiatives

Bottle Service available upon request

2d Artist Magazine Article Feature

Hey guys,

Still in Japan..will be here for a little while longer..its super awesome over here..
seriously.

Anyways, I really want to post some sketches and drawings i:ve been doing here, but unfortunately I have no access to a scanner.

However, some good news today.

I received an email from the editor of 2dartist magazine
May 2008 issue of 2dartist mag is out and I had the pleasure to write the sketchbook article this month.
















They gave me the following link to my article and told me I can share it for promotion of their mag
http://www.2dartistmag.com/artists/issue029_may08/article01.pdf

Of course, if interested in viewing the rest of the mag you`d have to buy the full Magazine.

Orphan Works Update

This might be a little late, but I think i should still post it.

Dont loose ownership of your art, this is a big issue in the art community right now.

Directly quoted from Conceptart.org

IMPORTANT MATTER FOR ARTISTS - we must take action today! Do not lose ownership of your art!

Hi everyone,

The text below will be self-explanatory. There is an important issue facing us as artists, related to the copyrights of our works, which corporations wish to control and take at our expense, We must put a stop to this immediately unless you wish to see others owning and plagiarizing your art.


This is too important to ignore please participate and forward to your others.

http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/...nformation.mp3

House version:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5889

Senate version:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-2913
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=609199
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=121132

Congress is rushing these bills through to a floor vote. The House will start marking up their version of the bill at 2:00 today; the Senate will do so tomorrow. To try to stop this bill, we first need to slow down the race to get it passed.

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Take Action: Don't Let Congress Orphan Our Work

We've set up an online site for visual artists to e-mail their Senators and Representatives with one click.

This site is open to professional artists, photographers and any member of the image-making public.

We've provided sample letters from individuals representing different sectors of the visual arts.

If you're opposed to the Orphan Works act, this site is yours to use.

For international artists and our colleagues overseas, we've provided a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.


2 minutes is all it takes to write Congress and protect your copyright:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/


Please forward this message to every artist you know.

In Japan

Sorry for the lack of updates, havent had internet to check email for a while, even though I am in Japan right now.

Will be updating with art related things happening during my exchange program/trip in Japan. Photos, etc.

Stay tuned.

Show aftermath

Alright, time for an update about the show..
It was a great success, lots of people showed up, everything went pretty smoothly.
Had a chance to meet many, but also missed a few. All in all though, one of the best shows yet!

Here are some photos of the show.

This was my setup..











and a few other photos i took of the show...