Scene: New Moon 2010 from IHCS on Vimeo.

Last week Friday, was the 2nd annual New Moon show at MyPlasticHeart. I’ve been waiting for this show for a while, especially when I began to overhear the names of some of the participating artists. Lou Pimentel, Andrew Bell, kaNO, Stella Im Hultberg, Yumiko Kayukawa, Leontine Greenberg, and many more of my favorite artists and people were in one single exhibit. And!!! I scored a sketch from Stella, this time for real– not the whole I’m so excited and I’m holding my sketchbook ready to ask you for your soul and in my excitement have forgotten to ask you for a sketch kind of way. hahaha. >___<

As you can tell from my run-on sentence, the night was a blast and I even took cupcakes to the opening. They’re too rich I’m told, so I will work on my recipe… in the meantime, hit the jump to check out my favorite pieces and some photos from the ultra-packed gallery.

I’ll start with Dan May‘s Ponder. Having been born on the year of the tiger, I was really looking forward to see what artists did with my animal– well Dan May isn’t quite what I expected and I’m so glad he surprised me. When tigers come to mind, I think orange, tinges of black and some white– this tiger, he does indeed ponder. This piece was so great, it pretty much sold instantly. Lucky owner, whoever you are– damn you!

With Stella Im Hultberg, a question pops up: will I ever dislike anything she produces? She does fine airy lines with touches of light and bits of color and I love it. She does dark flowing heads and I love it. She sketched in my book– and man, I obsessed over the drawing for quite a while. I am completely enveloped with the rapture of the snakes.

Ken Keirns‘ monkeys are exquisite. Monkeys are one of my very favorite animals and a monkey that’s a monk is something one doesn’t typically encounter. I like the way he manages to give this monkey a cool aura, age, wisdom and handsome characteristics. This piece has also been sold.

kaNO also chose the monkey– and his is completely different from Ken’s. I’m a fan of kaNO and his work– but I have to say that this may be my favorite piece ever. I like the contrast of the orange with the sketched out aesthetic the monkey has. It could just be me, but this piece makes me think of Noodle from the Gorillaz– I’m not sure if this was something he was channeling or not, but it makes me appreciate it even more. This piece, also sold.

Lauren Gregg‘s goat is still available, not sure why because I personally think this piece captures several emotions. She uses a myriad of colors, but they’re not too loud or too subtle, although I fear sounding like Robert Southey– the colors are just right. And her goat manages to evoke several reactions from me. He looks calm, but he also looks rather lonely– I suppose depending how you feel this could either be a pick-me-up or an enforcer of your sadness [this isn't necessarily a bad thing, think of your emotional reaction to music; when you're excited the music pumps you up, and when you're heartbroken or depressed-- every lyric speaks to you]. I would be a proud owner of this piece but I’m not fortunate enough to have $450 right now– if you do, I recommend this purchase.

Leontine Greenberg has a similar status to Stella Im for me– I can’t really imagine disliking anything she produces. Her pieces confuse my senses sometimes. I’ve learned that in her world, birds are very curious creatures that are fixated on umbrellas, gramophones and chandeliers. Rabbits have names like Peggy and sometimes they have human features while other times they stand very tall. I like Leontine’s world, scratch that, I love Leontine’s world. This piece was also sold.

I want to throw a suggestion out there– if you yourself are a fan of Leontine’s work, I recommend you commission or purchase one of her works now, while you still can. She is quickly blowing up, and I feel fortunate enough to be an owner of one of her pieces, but this has a lot to do with still having been able to afford her work. She’s gonna get bigger, she’s already shown at Thinkspace (group show), Gallery 1988– in a group show and a solo show on their online gallery, a duet opening at MyPlasticHeart– you get the point, she’s going places fast. So, don’t miss out.

Lastly, Tom Whalen‘s print piqued my interest. I am a fan of robot, and I think that’s why this print called my name– sadly, like everything else I liked, it was sold! [Check out his explanation on the piece.] See the trend here? Red pins were taking over MPH on Friday, but there are still several incredible pieces available. MPH hasn’t posted the available pieces yet, but I’ll update the post with the link once they do. Check out some of my photos below– it was pretty packed all night so I didn’t start taking pictures until closing time, hence the lack of detail photos.

Finally, congratulations once again to John Wong for a stellar line-up of artists and a successful show.