Last week, I shared I’d be attending New York-Tokyo and Frank’s Chop Shop party in honor of Shin Tanaka. The art of paper toys (not origami– although I also appreciate that form of art too) have been a quiet hobby of mine for a while now– and it’s always intrigued me how artists come up with the templates. Having the opportunity to meet Shin Tanaka, one of the biggest names in this movement was a true delight for me. Check out the rest of the post for more photos from the night.

This week San Francisco is hosting the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), and lucky for us locals, the Hotel des Arts is celebrating by opening their unique space to the “Into the Pixel” and “Video Game Art Show” exhibitions. Opening night is this Thursday, March 11 from 6pm – 10pm, and is free to all. The show will be up through April.

I found it surprisingly difficult to find out much about the event, as unfortunately the Hotel des Arts’ website hasn’t been updated recently. But according to Game Scenes:

In addition to the Into the Pixel exhibition on the main floor of the Hotel des Arts, all five floors of San Francisco’s ‘Art Hotel’ will be filled with artwork ‘from and inspired by video games’. … Gallery partners for this unique VIDEO GAME ART SHOW include Super7, Gallery 1988, Project One Gallery, and the START SOMA art gallery.

Joystiq also reports that the entire fourth floor will be dedicated to art from the making of EA’s “Dante’s Inferno”. The Game Scenes article also has some interesting history on the “Into the Pixel” shows, as well as some examples from last year. I’m loving this sneak peek of some art which will be shown at the Video Game Art Show, from 3 Fish Studios (my original source for the show). Eric shared the image above in his March newsletter. Keep reading for directions to the show, along with a view of one of Hotel des Arts’ rooms.

I thought I would share that tomorrow night, or better yet, tonight– I plan on attending Shin Tanaka’s shindig. Shin Tanaka, known as the “paper maestro” on the internets will be in town for a couple of days and what better way to celebrate the New York invasion than with a party?!  Paper toys is a medium that I’ve dabbled in the past– in attempting to put the figures together, not so much in the creation of a character– now that I have the opportunity to see Shin Tanaka live, I hope that the live art includes an insight of his well-known work with paper toys (I’ve collected the examples above for reference). I don’t really know what to expect though, the party is from 10pm-4am. Anyway, if you’re in town and want to check it out yourself, you can head on over to New York-Tokyo site and RSVP.

Also, check out Shin Tanaka’s website, if only for the design. I love his polaroid slideshows the most.

I’m very excited to have Podgypanda not only create the adorable art on this site, but also contribute his first post to the site. Please give him a warm welcome, the goods he’s sharing are already too adorable for words. =D

I’ve been a huge fan of Becky Dreistadt for a very longtime now (through the now defunct Toykong in Auckland, New Zealand) and a few weeks ago I went along to check out her first solo exhibition, showcasing her work for an up-and-coming self produced Goldenbook called TigerButtah.

The show is now moving to it’s second location at Popup gallery in Wellington which starts Today!

“Tigerbuttah is the hand-painted work of Becky Dreistadt, a retro-pop illustrator raised in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Since re-locating to Auckland in 2008, she has worked full-time on the painted online comic Tiny Kitten Teeth and recently completed a pseudo-children’s book in the style of 50s and 60s vintage picture-books.

Each page of the book will be exhibited in sequence at Popup, with the opening reception taking place on Friday the 5th of March at 6pm! Becky has also painted three Munnys for the show and will debut her Popup exclusive print!” /via popup newsletter

Both Becky and her partner Frank are very good friends of mine, who have an intense convention circuit  this year (check out their website for circuit details!) If you’re heading to one of those cons, why not hunt Becky and Frank down? You wont be dissapointed

Click through to view photos from her Auckland exhibition, including the cover painting I snagged!

Scene: When Hell Freezes Over from IHCS on Vimeo.

Last Friday MyPlasticHeart, located in downtown New York, hosted their first show of the year: When Hell Freezes Over. The show featured 15 customized Cranston Fellows Jr., created by Lou Pimentel. We were personally excited for this show, because we’ve witnessed the journey of Cranston’s creation. We instantly fell in love CFjr, and really didn’t expect to fall in love with any of the customs since the original is so damn great.

Well, we were proven so wrong. I suppose since the 15 invited artists were already working with a great platform, they really just went above and beyond. In an effort to make you feel more present at the shows we attend with our videos– we not only caught up with Lou before the show– but caught up with kaNO during the show. It was pretty awesome and laid-back and you get to witness some of the craziness that goes on during an MPH show. Hit the jump to see pictures from the event, and my favorite customs!

Lookie here! While we’re on the subject of shows… I’ve just realized that myplasticheart has posted the flyer for their upcoming New Moon: Interpretations of the Chinese Zodiac show. First, congratulations to John again (I assume he curated this show too, since he curated last year’s New Moon show). Second, wow! Do you see the list of participating artists?! Some are returning artists, and it’s a pleasure to see some of the new additions. Stella Im Hultberg, Yumiko Kayukawa?! Both female artists do some amazing work.

From the postcard, I can see Yumiko chose the tiger? I wonder what Stella chose– this is the year of the tiger, and it’s also my zodiac sign, so it would be awesome if she got my sign too. If only. I’ll work on winning the lottery before the show so I can purchases several peices. I know I’m going to love what Leontine delivers. ^__^ Can’t wait to see what these artists offer up. The show will be held February 5th, 2009.

Wow, Dragatomi is really working hard this year (not that they haven’t been already– but you get where I’m going). They just held their Art for Wishes opening, and have just announced their upcoming show with kawaii extraordinaire NReazon!

I’ve been aware of nreazon’s works for a while, I have a radar for cute, but in the last couple of weeks I’ve found myself continuous “window shopping” on her site. I like t-shirts with underwear on them. haha! I’m curious to see her body of work and can’t wait for sneak peeks in anticipation for the show.

I’m in the process of researching her, as I’ve got loads more questions about who she is and how her art came to be– which leads me to the following request: if you could ask her anything in regards to her as a person and artist, what would it be? While I learn more about her, I recommend you stop by her site and even watch some of her v-blogs. The Mr. and I were watching some the other night, and really enjoyed them.

Can I just hit the replay button and say it again: this weekend is mad with show openings! On Saturday, Dark Pop 2.0, at Last Rites Gallery will be opening. The 2.0 suggests that maybe they’ve curated this show in the past– something that I missed if they did. In any case– the theme of the show is DARK. According to the description, they asked artists to create dark peices. My instant reaction is that I may get a little freaked out. Some of the participating artists include Joshua Clay, Stella Im Hultberg and Tara McPherson.

I just wanted to share something that occured the night before. I know I haven’t posted about Audrey Kawasaki’s opening at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery– it was amazing!– but I did post the pictures up on my flickr. Anyway– if you checked out my flickr, you’ll notice that I not only met Audrey Kawasaki, but I finally had the pleasure of meeting Stella Im Hultberg. I got to hug her, share my love of her art and even compliment her kick-ass bicycle pin. In my excitment however, I forgot to ask her for a sketch. I could’ve sworn I did. I mean– I have a memory of asking her for it and handing her my moleskine and everything. WRONG. It wasn’t a memory, it was yet another dellusion. I, immediately got out of bed, searched for my sketch book and flipped through the pages awaiting to find my ever so lovely Stella sketch (because I know I’d love it), and what I found was a blank page behind Scott Campbell’s pyramid mummy sketch. WHAT! So, this leads me to the following… I hope to make it out to Last Rites, and I hope to run into Stella yet again (hopefully I won’t be a total fangirl), and this time I hope to score a sketch.

These weekend Thinkspace will be hosting their group show, A Cry For Help, a benefit show for the endangered species of the world. The show will feature many of my favorite artists including: Amy Sol, Apak, Dan May, Jason Limon, Leontine Greenberg, Travis Louie and Yoskay Yamamoto. Wow, that’s a lot of artist, and that’s not even a quarter of the participating artists in the show. What I appreciate most about the show is their following request:

We will also be accepting donations of old blankets to give to shelters so dogs don’t have to sleep on cold concrete floors
as well as old/new pet beds, towels, comforters, treats, toys, leashes, collars and carriers/crates
(please bring all you can weekend of Jan. 9th/10th).
http://operationblanketsoflove.org/

Look forward to a live painting session, and exclusive print releases. Please share photos if you attend the show.

This Saturday, San Francisco residents are in for a treat. Gallery1988SF is hosting Krista Huot’s solo show, Nepenthe, which promises to be an enchanting evening. Her new works will focus on the world of “storybooks and fairytales.” I really wish I were in San Francisco for her show, as I’ve yet to get the opportunity to meet her in person. I get the sense that she’s a cool, laid back talented artist. So, if any of you are in San Francisco, please visit Gallery 1988 on Saturday and shoot some pictures for me. I’d love to share her works on the site, and show her as much support as I can.