James Jean. Rickshaw. Print.

Giant Robot has just released a print of James Jean’s Rickshaw which is featured in the ongoing GR Biennale 2 show at the Japanese American National Museum.   Limited to 50 pieces, the 28” x 44” Rickshaw print is available now for $500 directly from Giant Robot’s store.

David Choe is hard at work creating a large wall mural for Giant Robot’s Biennale 2 which opens this Saturday, October 24th (6-10 PM) @ the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.  Here’s a look at Choe in action courtesy of GR co-founder Eric Nakamura.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles California 90012
213.625.0414

More Images + Info »

Mike Shinoda opened his Glorious Excess (Dies) solo at the Japanese American National Museum on Friday to a staggering line waiting for the public reception opening at 8 PM.  Dailydujour was fortunate to make the VIP opening which featured several notable guests including Rob Dyrdek, Joe Hahn, Lisa Ling, James Jean, Roger Gastman, Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins, and more.

The show has been shrouded mostly in secrecy –preview pics have been few and far between.  This approach enhanced the impact of the opening.  There were quite a few impressive surprises in store for the crowd including a custom Honda motorcycle emblazoned with Shinoda’s GLXS art positioned just in front of the gallery entrance.

Featuring 17 new paintings, the new show follows up on last year’s Glorious Excess (born) show by detailing the sudden end of the fictional character who enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame. The overarching effect is both an exploratory and cautionary tale of the cult of celebrity and the pitfalls of excess.

Careful observers will note a general narrative progression from the front of the gallery to the back.  The bright colorful pieces detail the imminent end while the softer, warm tone hued pieces chronicle the ‘after’.  It is in the latter that Shinoda broadens his scope explicitly with his ‘Seasons’ series featuring portraits of four celebrity martyrs – John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain, and James Dean.  The mortal end of the GLXS character  is punctuated by an ornate funeral scene complete with a silver plated skeleton in an open casket – first class excess, even in death.

In addition to the funeral scene, Mike worked until the 11th hour (roughly 5 pm on Friday) to put the finishing touches on the other installation elements including the impressive large wall mural and the large collage of celebrity tabloid magazines.

Finally, the opening featured a screening of a short 12-minute documentary that focused on the theme of the show — celebrity and those obsessed with it. From footage of paparazzis to bus tours of stars’ homes, it’s a good watch and also features behind the scenes footage of Mike working on the show, some of which was seen in the preview video on his site.

The museum store offered quite a selection of show merch including the four skate decks and the Glorious Excess book.  If you’re not in LA, remaining inventory will be available at MikeShinoda.com this Monday.

Finally, if you haven’t seen it yet – be sure to check out our in-depth video interview with Mike about the themes and inspiration for Glorious Excess.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles California 90012
213.625.0414

More Images + Info »

Neuphoria. Mike Shinoda.

Mike Shinoda’s creativity spans multiple mediums from music with Linkin Park to his fine art.will  His new Glorious Excess (Dies) solo opens this Saturday, August 29th (8-10 PM) at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.  The show continues his look at celebrity, consumerism run amok, and material excess which began with 08’s Glorious Excess (born). GXS (dies) features 17 paintings as well a site-specific installation.  To bring this 2-year project to a close, Mike Shinoda, Roger Gastman and the team at R. Rock have put together a limited-edition book, Glorious Excess, which will be available at the opening. In addition, limited edition skate decks and merchandise will be available at the museum store.  All proceeds from the sale of artwork and merchandise will be contributed to the  Michael K. Shinoda Endowed Scholarship at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

In conjunction with his new solo, Dailydujour TV will webcast a  Live Video Session with Mike Shinoda this Friday, August 28th @ 4 PM PDT.  We’ll interview Mike about his solo and will also select some questions from the audience (via the chat room).  If you’d like to know more about the concept and creative process for the show, mark it down on your calendar.

Japanese American National Museum.
369 East 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
T: 213.625.0414

More Images + Info »

Friday night Royal/T hosted an after-party (unofficial) for the JANM Kokeshi show. It was also a coming out party for art-brand Poketo with a pop-up shop inside Royal/T.

With Karaoke and more incredible art than some museums Royal/T is always worthy of visiting.

More Images + Info »

This weekend opened the “Kokeshi” show curated by designer Christina Conway at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, which has been showing some great emerging work as of late.

Kokeshi featured nearly 100 custom traditional Japanese Kokeshi dolls from some of the most talented artists in the emerging contemporary scene including Amy Sol, Travis Louie, Yoskay Yamamoto, Tara McPherson, Kozyndan and more.

What was even better was that the museum had an entire exhibit of traditional Kokeshi and a timeline of Kokeshi dolls through history to give you a real sense of the importance of the doll in Japanese culture. An excellent display and a worthwhile excuse to visit JANM.

More Images + Info »

Several LeBasse Projects artists are taking part in the Kokeshi show this weekend at the Japanese American National Museum. Tessar Lo, Edwin Ushiro and Yoskay Yamamoto all have custom Kokeshi dolls in the show.

Join us at the museum tomorrow. More details here.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles California 90012

Edwin Ushiro at GR2

Summer is more than officially here and the gallery world is opening up their last big shows before everyone hits the beach. There are quite a few good openings this weekend and you will be hard-pressed to get to all of them. Here are a few choice suggestions:

FRIDAY:

EINE, “The A to Z of Change”
Carmichael Gallery
1257 N. La Brea Ave.
Thursday, July 9th, 7-10pm

Stella Im Hultberg, “Momento Mori”
thinkspace
Preview images and an interview with Stella here.
4210 Santa Monica Blvd.
Friday, July 10th 7-11pm

SATURDAY:

“Bitch Is The New Black”
Honor Fraser
2622 S. La Cienega Blvd.
“Bitch Is The New Black” isn’t a re-envisioning a new collective feminist consciousness; it is about celebrating talented artists in the city of Los Angeles who happen to be women –- with attitude.
Artists include: Cathy Akers, Kathryn Andrews, Rosson Crow, Krysten Cunningham, Pearl C. Hsiung, Annie Lapin, Shana Lutker, Ruby Neri, Catherine Opie, Amanda Ross-Ho, Anna Sew Hoy, Mindy Shapero, Kirsten Stoltmann, Bari Ziperstein
Saturday, July 11th, 6-8pm

“Monster?” a group show curated by artist Travis Louie
Copro Gallery
2525 Michigan Ave. at Bergamot Station
Featuring “Monster” themed works from Audrey Kawasaki, Isabel Samaras, Ana Bagayan, Tiffany Liu, Ron English, Jessica Joslin, Vincent DiFate, Miles Teves, Chris Ryniak, Amanda Visell, Dan May, Brian Despain, Kris Kuksi, Chet Zar, James Zar, Mari Inukai, Nouar, Dan Quintana, Brom, Dave Chung, Vince Natale, Mark Garro, Kirk Reinert, Mark Elliott, Attaboy, Annie Owens, Vince Nguyen, Peter Nguyen, Robert Mackenzie, Mike Lee, Willie Real, Amy Botello, Donato Giancola, Davey Wong, Fred Harper,Molly Crabapple, Jason D’Aquino, Francesco LoCastro, Ekundayo, Deseo, Tristan Elwell, Stephen Hickman, Steven Ellis, Mark Texeira, Bob Eggleton, Clayton Stillwell, Bob Lizarraga, Bill Basso, Lola, Dave DeVries, Dice Tsutsumi, Steven Dailey, Tim O’Brien, Tessar Lo, Stephen Price, Jordu Schell, XNO, Genevieve Zacconi, Justin DeGarmo & others
Saturday, July 11th 8-11pm

“Printed Matter: Prints To Take Home!”
Giant Robot 2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Apak, Christopher Bettig, Bigfoot, Ryan Bubnis, Buffmonster, Matt Furie, Saelee Oh, Deth P Sun, Bwana Spoons, Edwin Ushiro, Marci Washington and many many more.
Saturday, July 11th 6:30-10pm

“Kokeshi: From Folk Art To Art Toy”
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
A group exhibit curated by Christina Conway featuring customized wooden kokeshi dolls from many artists including: Kent Williams, Yoskay Yamamoto, Kozyndan, Tessar Lo, Stella Hultberg, Tara McPherson, Edwi Ushiro and quite a few others. Some preview info here.
Saturday, July 11th 6-9pm

Victor Castillo, “Gameland”
Merry Karnowsky
170 South La Brea Ave.
More coverage on DD here.
Saturday, July 11th 8-11pm

SUNDAY:

“Celeritas” a group show benefit
SURU
7662 Melrose Ave.
featuring customized elements from motorcycle racing culture including the likes of Futura, Barry McGee, Audrey Kawasaki, James Jean, Joe Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Estevan Oriol, Mark Dean Veca, Alex Pardee, Usugrow and more. More info here.
Sunday, July 12th Noon-8pm

R to L: Amy Sol, Kelly Vivanco, Stella Im Hultberg

Presented by LATDA, Kokeshi from Folk Art to Art Toy opening on July 11th, 2009 @ the Japanese American National Museum, offers a broad survey of a multitude of  Kokeshi – Japanese wood dolls that were traditionally  collected as souvenirs by hot springs visitors.  The large show will feature three sections – the first features over 300 examples of traditional kokeshi from the collection of Itske and Anthony Stern, the second features contemporary original takes on the koekshi from eleven artists working in diverse media, and  the third section entitled Custom Kokeshi 2009 curated by Christina Conway features over 100 international artists interpretations of an identical blank kokeshi  wood form.

Dailydujour had the pleasure of visiting the museum a few weeks ago to get an early look at the varied pieces in the show with the assistance of Maria Kwong (LATDA) and Christina Conway.  Though we were primarily focused on the work done for Custom Kokeshi 2009, the follow-up to Christina’s successful 07 Kokeshi show, what we saw of the other show sections was quite impressive.

Conway selected a varied and talented group of artists (full list on the flier after the jump) based on their ability to bring an interesting interpretation of the blank kokeshi form.  While it goes without saying that Conway invited some of the best and brightest artists in the low-brow and pop surrealist genres, she also invited perhaps lesser-know artists who she had become familiar with over the years.  The result is a very strong collection of work which in our opinion surpasses that of the first show – by no means a trivial task.

Enjoy this preview which features pieces from Amy Sol, Caia Koopman, Kelly Vivanco, Meredith Dittmar,  Mike Rivamonte, N.C. Winters,  Stella Im Hultberg, and Tara McPherson.  Look for more shortly. Finally, be sure to mark July 11th on your carder to catch the opening of this excellent show.

Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles California 90012
213.625.0414

More Images + Info »

Mike Shinoda and DC Shoes are releasing a sweet summer version of last year’s collaboration sneak. Somehow I managed to get a preview pair of the “Xander’s” sent to the gallery. Not normally a hi-top fan…or even a sneaker freak…I really dig these. They are like more slick versions of my Rod Laver adidas. Plus they have one of Mike’s signature illustrations on the soles.

The shoe sales actually go to support the Michael K. Shinoda Endowed Scholarship at Art Center College of Design, benefiting students based on financial need and artistic merit.

Still not sure if I want to wear em or keep em clean on my side board at the gallery. We will see. Maybe I will save them until Shinoda’s next big art show at the Japanese American National Museum this August…

More Images + Info »