This past weekend, Ed and I flew out to L.A. for a whole slew of things and I thought I'd share some of the highlights with you good people.
I started bright and early Friday morning with a trip to Prints on Wood to sign and number my "Mr. Good Morning Waffle" prints. First, I got a tour of their facility and my goodness, it's awesome! Everyone was so nice and the owners, Derric and Erin had everything ready for me to sign. I didn't have my camera with me (of course) but Erin was kind enough to have snapped this shot of me doodling on one lucky person's print.
Then it was off for a little breakfast at the closest place - Denny's! Appropriate seeing as one of the pieces from my solo was named "King Grand Slam". We felt full and ready to go onto our next stop -- JapanLA.
I'm proud to finally be able to announce that I am one of only 40 artists that were asked to create a piece for Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty, the world's first large scale museum retrospective of Hello Kitty to help celebrate her 40th anniversary. It will take place at the Japanese American National Museum Oct 11th - April 26th, 2015. It is being curated by Christine Yano, Ph.D., author of Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific, and Jamie Rivadeneira, founder and owner of pop culture-inspired boutique JapanLA.
My painting was also chosen to be made into prints that will be sold at the museum, which is what I was signing at JapanLA. I can't thank Jamie enough for asking me to be a part of this and for being so darn nice!
I have some AP's and will be doing a giveaway very soon so make sure you're signed up for my newsletter :)
Then it was off to the opening of the Joss Whedon x Gallery 1988 show at their West location. I was so happy that both Ed and I had a piece in this show and were able to bring along our very bestest friends who had been driving us around all day and keeping us company (thanks Kim and Teo!).
This is my piece entitled, "Fun Weekend" and was inspired by one of my favorite movies, Cabin in the Woods (hard to tell, huh?).
We were looking at all the great artwork and John (the manager of G1988 East) asked if I had met Joss yet. I shook my head as I'm pretty shy about those types of things but he was nice enough to tap Joss and introduce me. I shook his hand and said how cool it was to meet him. Then out of the crowd I hear, "Cuddly Rigor Mortis! I love your work!".
It was Alex Pardee and I damn near lost it. I started talking with him and quickly realized I had blown off Mr. Whedon. I felt horrible but then again - Alex Pardee! He then asked if I wanted to meet Skinner who was sleeping in the back (both these guys were working on overtime) and went and got him. I couldn't believe my luck. Getting to talk with those two amazing artists was a definite highlight. They couldn't have been cooler.
Unfortunately I only got 2 hours sleep that night due to a noisy motel, but when the price and location are too good to pass you make some sacrifices. Only thing is, I don't do well with 2 hours sleep. My anxiety and depression tend to ramp up so Ed and I ended up doing our own thing and visiting a couple art shows. The coaster show at La Luz was super awesome and then we checked out the Neckface show at New Image Art Gallery. Fantastic!
Then I thought it'd be nice to check out Dave Perillo's Squares 4 Squares show at G1988 East. Didn't disappoint! So great to see his sketches alongside the screenprints. As I'm walking around, talking with John again, Ed says he's going to check out the little used bookstore next door. To his surprise who does he bump into?
Robert, one of my favorite people and one of the directors we used to work with on the SNL TV Funhouse shorts (That's us to the left: David, Robert, me, Ed and Adrian who all used to work on those shorts and they showed up later that night at my show). He should be in Brooklyn and we haven't seen him in 2 years. What are the odds?! Seems he had the same idea as Ed and went to that bookstore on his day off from working with Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler on a new animated feature. He'd been living in LA for months and we never knew.
We were able to sit and catch up over coffee and suddenly I wasn't feeling too bad after only 2 hours sleep.
I also forgot to be nervous for the opening of my solo at Nucleus! Wait a minute...my solo! We rushed back to the motel and gussied up and got our butts over to the gallery.
Ed, my rock, my right hand man, getting the first look at my pieces hung wonderfully around the gallery.
Downstairs, the crowd started to gather for Scott C's Hug Machine reading and presentation. Man, that guy can command a room!
I was so overwhelmed when I saw that they had put the poem, Happy Thought on the wall which inspired my whole show. So awesome!
Then people started filing upstairs. Friends old and new came to say hi.
I got to see Lindsey's newest tattoos! Natalie Nasturtium and Emily Chamomile. They looked amazing! So honored, thank you Lindsey :D
So many people I didn't get photos with (got to get better at asking for pics!), but I remember everyone and it warms my heart to think you all came out to see my show. Thank you :D
Then this little guy showed up, Chamaco is his name and he's got his own IG account (@mynameischamaco). He was so soft and what a face!
I was also happy to have gotten a Coke float with chocolate ice cream (thanks Nichole for mentioning it!). People were having fun taking pictures of themselves eating pizza next to King Pepi. Here's a couple of my favorites, Robert and John (you remember John, he's the manager at G1988) taking a bite.
I was happy to see so many people were having fun!
The night went so fast but I had one last thing I needed to do. I wanted to meet Scott C! He had a line for signing his books the whole night. I patiently waited until there were only a few people left and I finally shook his hand - and got a hug from the hug machine himself. No photos, but I swear it happened ;) He couldn't have been kinder. What a great guy.
I can't thank the wonderful folks at Gallery Nucleus enough for allowing me to share my happy thoughts with so many people. I truly am lucky and hope to continue making people smile with my work for years to come.
Good night and sweet dreams everyone. You deserve it :D