events

ah~, it’s so nice to be on the street with my drawings.  i started busking at the fringe festival here in saskatoon last night.  this is my first fringe since elijah came along.  and this is my first time ever being away from elijah for more than an hour.

i’ve been showing my drawings at galleries nowadays, which is very nice.  but i really like being on the street, where most of the people who come by are there just to look around, not because they’re particularly interested in art or in my drawings.  i like the randomness of having people stumble upon my work and seeing their reactions, good and bad.

the busking areas at the fringe have been very busy already this year.  i’ve been setting up on broadway, near 10th.  i have a little table with books of prints and postcards that people can browse through at their own speed.  there are a couple little stands that i put single prints in, so people can see them from a distance walking by.

some of the prints and postcards are of my newer drawings that i’ve never made into prints before.  the only one of the newer drawings that i’ve shown in saskatoon before is ‘new wings’.  the other new drawings are on first view, but i’ve already put the images up on my blog.

for the fringe festival i do a different printing technique than the archival prints i sell in my online shop.  they’re not as expensive to make, so i can sell the 8.5 x 11 prints for $10.  postcards are sold for $2 each, or 6 for $10 (i’m from kansai, i have to offer a good deal).  people keep telling me the prices are way too cheap.  i want them to be cheap enough that even little kids don’t have to worry about the cost if they find an image of mine they want to take home.

this year i’ve already had a lot of people coming up to me who know me from somewhere — my blog readers, people who remember me from previous shows in saskatoon, and even some asian girls who saw my drawings in the hong kong fashion magazine, milk.

a couple people asked for my autograph.  i double-checked to make sure they weren’t out of their minds.

i got a few negative reactions — people saying ‘urrghh’, or ‘creepy’ — but not as many as i was expecting.  one older woman did sniff at me with a disapproving face, which i was glad to see.  i don’t know why, but those negative comments don’t hurt me anymore.  i kind of enjoy them.  a couple of harsh comments go a long way to motivate me to draw more.

i ran into some of the local artists as well — artist kris moffatt, poet taylor leedahl who is representing local book company jackpine press, artist carole epp, and young artist michael.  i’m hoping to meet the artist kristin bjornerud who will be back in saskatoon for the summer from hamilton.

if you’re in saskatoon, come and see me on the street at the fringe festival!  you can say whatever you want, and you don’t have to pretend to be nice.  i’ll be happy to see you anyway.

elijah and i are taking part in city park artists showcase tomorrow night. i’ll be selling prints, postcards and maybe small originals. if you’re around in saskatoon, please come and have a good time. there will be music, poetry reading, some sample food from local restaurants, and of course art work from local saskatoon artists.

this will be my first art fair since the birth of elijah. i’m really looking forward to this.

city park artists showcase
hosted by city park community association

Featured City Park Artists are: Chris Savage— Ivor Jones— Judith Bensen— David Geary— Lia Sunshine— Celine Schmidt— City Park Cycle — Wendy Waters — Kathyrn Trembach — Lynn McGinnis (Musician) — Shannon Brunner — Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan — CFCR — Taylor Leedahl — Mike Magnussen — Kris Engstrom — Priscella Settee — Yuka Yamaguchi — City Park Preschool —CPCA — Milton Taylor (Photographer) — City Park Collegiate Art department — Tannis Pratt — Craig Nelson — Tammy Boehmer — Pete Burgess

Music by:

Sean Hogan David Hutton Paul Tobin

Poetry performance by:

Taylor Leedahl

Date:
Friday, April 18, 2008
Time:
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
City Park Collegiate- Gymnasium
Street:
820 9th Ave North
City/Town:
Saskatoon, SK

$10 admission ( also includes coffee/tea/punch and samples of food)
Kids under 12 free

i’m showing these drawings for ‘a visceral valentine’ group show at apama mackey gallery in houston, TX. the curator, frank anthony porreco III contacted me in january and chose these two for the show. he found my drawings somewhere on the internet.

the gallery owner kindly asked me to send her extra drawings in case someone wants to see more of my drawings. so i sent her aibiki and tokimeki. they might not be displayed in the show, but they are also available for sale.

this is my first time showing my drawings in houston. the opening is today from 6 - 9 pm. if you are in houston during the show, please go take a look and have a good time!

Apama Mackey gallery in collaboration with Porreco Productions presents:

A Visceral Valentine
A group exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture curated by Frank Anthony Porreco III.

Featuring work by: Marcus Adams, Lisa Alisa, Rene Cruz, Sean Flournoy, Derek Hess, Wyatt Nash, Frank Anthony Porreco III, Carol F. Smith, Jenifer Tong, Kuro Unagi, Jason Villegas and Yuka Yamaguchi

*Due to the graphic nature of some images, this exhibition may not be suitable for all audiences.*

Saturday February 16, 2008 6-9 PM

Apama Mackey Gallery
628 E. 11th Street Houston,
Texas 77009
ph.713.850.8527

www.mackeygallery.com

i’m doing a show at cafe pause in ikebukuro, tokyo. i’m showing some prints of my favorite drawings. initially, i was planning to show original drawings, but i realized it would be much easier to bring prints with me, especially since i’m travelling with my baby. we all came to japan at the end of december to spend new year’s with my family in wakayama. then paul, elijah and i went to tokyo to set up this show.

this is my first show in japan, actually. i started my art career in canada, years after i left japan in 2000. my work is pretty well known online, with my website and flickr and many links from different sites around the world. i write my blog in english, so my contacts have been mostly non-japanese. i’ve shown work in many different places, but never before in japan.

jean snow and elijah

the person who contacted me to do this show is jean snow. he’s a canadian living in tokyo who writes a blog about design and pop culture in tokyo. he found me after my drawings were linked from drawn!, even though the link was broken (he searched my name on google). jean asked me if i was interested in doing a show at cafe pause, where he sets up events. we arranged the time so we could also spend new year’s with my family on the same trip.

cafe pause is about a 10 minute walk from ikebukuro station. it stands on a corner lot and the two walls facing the streets have big wall-to-wall windows that create an open-air feeling. there are display areas on the pillars and on the walls (but not much wall space because of all the windows). i put up small prints on the bookshelves on the pillars and along one wall, and some big prints on the open wall space. i filled up the space with images tightly, using 44 prints in total (many of them used twice in different places). i made two prints (’inside of me’ and ‘after all’) so large (18 x 24″) that their heads are bigger than lifesize. someday, i’d like to make huge prints that would swallow our minds and bodies –ultraman size would be nice.

it’s been awhile since i did a show in a cafe gallery - my favorite place to show my drawings. i like my work to be seen as part of daily life. people come to a cafe for a cup of coffee or to meet someone, not specifically to look at art. when they go home that evening to have a bath, if they suddenly remember my drawings and the images come out of the mist of the bath, that would be wonderful.

the show will be on until january 13th. the prints are all for sale, and there are free postcards, too.

cafe pause
2-14-12-1F Minami-Ikebukuro
Toshima-ku, Tokyo
171-0022

Phone: 03-5950-6117
Fax: 03-5950-6180

thank you everyone for ordering at plastique monkey SHOP. i will be on holiday for a few weeks, starting next saturday (29th december). i’ve already pre-posted updates for the blog, so there will still be new things on this page during that time. but i’ll be in japan, so i won’t be able to ship anything from the shop until i get back, january 15th.

plastique monkey SHOP will still be accepting orders, but december 27th will be the last shipping day until the 15th of january.

when i come back, there will be some new items in my SHOP. i made a bunch of new prints, including some of the heart + a trunk body series. i made them for my show at cafe pause in tokyo coming up in january. they look great, so i’d like to add them to my SHOP for sale as well.

tonight is the opening of a group show called, “the ornament show” at J Flynn gallery in costa mesa, california.

these are my ornaments. the red ones are called “severe pain pin cushions”. i created these severe pain pin cushions last year. they are the only somewhat useful toys in my useless toy collections. for one thing, they come with a wrist band. they are for sale at J Flynn gallery as well as in my online shop.

in addition to my useless toy collection, i made this “milk head-chan” (centre) for this ornament show. this is the character shows up in my matchboxes. i hand-stitched her face. i wanted to make her as ugly+cute as possible. i think this ugliness will brighten the holiday spirit even more. this is available at J Flynn gallery. please contact J Flynn gallery, if you are interested in them.

UPDATE

OC register’s art critic’s blog on ornaments…