"inbox" @ giant robot 2

hello,

the summer weather is still going strong in los angeles. hope all of you are surviving the heat.
i wanted to share about the upcoming group show that i'm part of next week at giant robot 2.
the exhibition is called "inbox" and it is curated by my friend audrey kawasaki.
all of the artist were giving 12x12" shadow box to make our art with it.
i dropped my piece at gr2 today and got to see couple of the finished pieces in person and they are looking mighty good:)
really looking forward to se the entire show next saturday, hope some of you will be able to make it.
here is my piece:)



"pale blue present moon"
basswood, butternut wood, acrylic and color pencil,
2015,12x12"

"inbox"

gr2: 2062 sawtelle blvd la, ca 90025 4242.GO.ROBO

august 29th, 2015 - september 16, 2015
- reception sat aug 29th 6:30-10pm

a group exhibition of work contained in a 12”x12” box

including: amy sol, andrea wan, andrew hem, audrey kawasaki, edwin ushiro, kelsey beckett, ken garduno, kristina collantes, mari inukai, may ann licudine, mika nitta, nomi chi, rebecca green, sean chao, stella im hultberg, tran nguyen, wayne johnson, yoskay yamamoto

curated by audrey kawasaki

yoskay x sunny side up studio

hello,

so happy to announce about my latest project "pothead" to you all:)

this is the most personal project of mine in my artistic career thus far and it has been a long but a fun journey, and i could not have done it without my partner in crime, emi uchiki and all of my supporters and fans.
the prototype for "pothead" was sculptured by me and production is done by mudshark ceramic studio in portland oregon. since all 4 of the toy figure that i designed before have been made over seas, i wanted to make sure that we found a domestic fabricator/manufacture for this project.
we hope that our "pothead" can brighten up your everyday life and put a smile on your face:)
and without further adieu, here is my babies:)











they are available through sunny side up studio's website.
please click the link below to purchase:)

http://sunnysideupstudio.bigcartel.com

have a sunny side up day!

" invisible college " at fort wayne museum of art

hello,

it's already been over a month since my last post...
really need to work on building a better habit of posting here more often.



anyhow, thanks to andrew and shawn of thinkspace gallery, i had a chance to be part of this exciting show,"invisible college" at fort wayne museum in indiana. it's strange to think that my art is far more well traveled compare to myself.... and hopefully i can start to catch up to it sometime soon...

here is my piece for the show,



"hello goodbye."
30x40", acrylic on pannel, 2015

i have been working on a lot of small sized pieces lately and it was nice to be working on a larger scale for a change.
my favorite part is the polka dot sunset. i have been incorporating a lot of skies into my art lately, especially the sunsets scenes. i really enjoying the color shift in the skies during the sun is setting and it's my favorite part of the day to be outside.
for this painting i originally painted a full sky scape, then i spent maybe two days staring at the painting contemplating if i should make a polka dot pattern out of it or not....
in my head it made sense to combine two of my visual favorite elements but took me awhile to summon the courage to do it...
in the end i'm really happy how the pattern turned out to be, i like how my eyes keep filling out the gap and connecting all the different colors. not too crazy about the girl and fish though... feels like i used too much of reference and not enough of my style...
also this piece was painted on top of an old work i had lying around. i paint over my old work sometimes and at the time it seemed necessary to do and it felt liberating in a strange way.
here is the piece underneath:


"breaking a girl" 30x40", mixed media on panel, 2011

hope two girls are getting along on a same space....

"invisible college"

july 11 - september 27, 2015>
fort wyne museum of art
311 e main street fort wayne, indiana
46802 www.fwmoa.org (260) 422-6467

click the link to see the full detailed of the show. http://thinkspacegallery.com

honolulu museum of art

hi folks,

excited to share these new series of paintings, which i created for "artshop," a group exhibition at honolulu museum of art in hawaii, opening this friday on the 19th. the exhibition consists of few curators taking over the museum space in 10 day period and one of them is my friend eric nakamura of giant robot in los angeles. so honored and happy to be one of the artist representing giant robot and city of los angeles:)

my new work centers around the americana signage culture that i love and adore. i see them as a surviver of the simpler time and there's something magical about the decaying old signage that i see around los angles and other cities in the states.
i modified the signage by adding a more personal texts, some are lines from the songs i like and others are whimsical wording or the positive phrases that i enjoy.

i'm quite happy with the series and hope you will like them too.
mahalo:)



"on our way home"
24 x 36", acrylic on panel, 2015


"this is the only place for me"
24 x 36", acrylic on panel, 2015


"fly high" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"haring on my mind 02" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"indiana on my mind" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"let it fall" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"let's sail away" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"let's stay together till the stars fade" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"maybe tomorrow" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"no more bad town" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"shine on" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015


"stay gold" 9 x 12", acrylic on paper, 2015

also travis hancock from honolulu museum of art did a short interview with me about the new work and it's on their website.
please follow the link below for the full article.

honolulu museum of art blog

hello again:)

it's been easily over a year since the last post.
ever since i joined instagram i havn't been much active on this platform....
not sure if anyone will read these entries anymore but i miss sitting down and processing my thoughts in writing so i thought i would give another try at this...

so let's start with some of the highlights from the last year:)

the year 2014 was one of the busiest year, consisting of two solo exhibitions, multiple group shows, my very first residency and many collaborative projects.


on this post i would like to focus on my first solo exhibition with giant robot gallery in los angeles which took a place in may 16th to june 4th.

i have a lot of respect and admiration for giant robot and the owner, eric nakamura. even though the history of the establishment has reached 20 years, it still operates the outside of los angeles gallery circe. the space always welcomes you with open arms and warm heart while keeping the underdog spirits in high gear. gr is such a gem to la art community and to all genre of artists, local and international, enabling us to share our work with full support. so naturally i was very happy and proud to be able to showcase my work in such an establishment with its unique history and legacy:)

here are some images from the exhibition "house of daydreamers."



installation and set up


detail of the installation


detail shot of window installation



my series "house of daydreamers 1-20"



"drinking stars" mixed media on paper, 22x30



"home sweet home"mixed media on paper, 22x30



"house of daydreamers 04" mixed media on paper, 9x12



"house of daydreamers 18" mixed media on paper, 9x12


with this show "house of daydreamers," i focused on creating a body of work that captured the state between the dream and the reality. dream always fascinate me and i wanted to explore and see what i was able to discover within.
a lot of the work was created on paper because i'm quite fond of the soft quality that i can achieve with the medium.
prior to this exhibition i wasn't painting much, from 2012-2013 a lot of my work was centered around sculpting and installations.
i remember it was refreshing to mix and push paints around with a brush and i felt like i rediscovered the joy in the process of painting. this particular series really help me to grow as a better painter.
overall i was and i still am really happy with most of the pieces from this body of work and this exhibition was first time which i was able to take over a physical space and turn into my own world compare to just hanging my work in a white space. big thanks to eric nakamura for giving me a chance and to my family and friends for supporting my art and myself.

caro from hi-fructose magazine did a great coverage, please click on the link to see the opening night photos:)
www.hifructose.com