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!

The year 2009 has been one that has delivered a plethora of amazing art shows and toy releases. Last night I was looking through my Flickr, and I realized that I attended at least 26 events this year. Well, with the announcement of When Hell Freezes Over, a custom show featuring Lou Pimentel’s Cranston Fellows Jr. resin figure at MyPlasticHeart, 2010 already seems to be delivering the goods.

I saw the line-up of participating artists, and it’s really got some of my absolutely favorite artists! Wow. I’m very lucky to live a few blocks from MPH, because I wouldn’t want to miss this show. More information and sneak peeks as they’re released. By the way, Doktor A fucking rules! Yeah!

I’m finally updating the hundreds of photos that I haven’t added to my flickr account, including the pictures I took of Lou Pimentel hard at work on his Cranston Fellows Jr. figure. Do you guys remember the video we shared the week of CF Jr.’s release? Well, here are some pre-release photos the Mr. and I took, along with some photos of MyPlasticHeart. We returned from San Francisco the day after Cranston’s release, and one of the first things I did was meet up with Lou and stop by MPH. Honestly, watching Lou sketch on people’s boxes made it feel like I hadn’t missed a thing.

I love waking up to a buttload of good news and emails. Today’s good news included the upcoming release of the much anticipated Cranston Fellows Jr. figure by Lou Pimentel. If you’re familiar with the site, then you know that the Mr. and I are both huge fans of Lou’s– and it helps that he’s such a friendly person.

I am so glad that MPHLabs has teamed up with him to bring one of his characters to life and Cranston is one of my favorites. To celebrate his release, MyPlasticHeart (another set of people who I hold dearly to my heart) will be having a release party on August 28th at their shop in Lower Manhattan.

I hope you guys didn’t forget about the name contest and giveaway we had on the site? Well, what’s important is that we didn’t forget. Today marked, 2 weeks since we (Lou Pimentel and IHCS) began the search to name Lou’s unnamed cherries. And, while the search provided us with a sizeable amount of responses– it seems we haven’t found a name yet.

Or better stated– the quest for a name, made Lou realize, that maybe, they shouldn’t have names. While some people came up with some rather expected names, others went in a whole new direction. This isn’t bad, it’s actually a good thing, because it made Lou realize, that you all have some idea of the character’s name and that’s part of interpreting his pieces.

So what do we do now? Although, you don’t get bragging rights for naming Lou’s cherries– kind of– Lou still picked his two favorite names.

And the winners are…

S. with the entry: Blossom!

& Shakey with the entry: Emilio!

Lou’s going to be contacting you soon, so look out for an email from him. Remember, you each get a one-of-a-kind canvas from Lou. Yay!! Congratulations, I’m officially jealous. =)

And so, ladies and gentlemen, above you’ll find the latest project my Mr. and I have decided to dive into. Artist Series, is just what the name entails– we’ll be going around, hopefully, to the homes of NYC artists; and invade their homes, their studios, their kitchens, etc.; and learn more about them, their collections, and their current projects. The first artist, as you can tell from the title post is: Lou Pimentel. Keep reading to see images of some of Lou’s work, and read a little more about the CONTEST!

Last week MPHLabs subscribers got a sneak peek of their upcoming figure. I, being the huge fan of Lou that I am, recognized it immediately! It’s Cranston!! It seems I’m not the only one who thinks so, many people on the net [SpankyStokes in particular] went as far as to piece together the “full” figure using a custom Lou produced a while back. We’re not 100% sure it is Cranston, but, I think we’re all 99.9% sure it is. I can’t wait to see it!! Lou Pimentel is such an amazing artist, I really can’t wait to welcome his first figure. I’ll update the post as more info comes along.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring happy biddings. Does that saying make sense? I think I meant to ask, did I use it correctly? Either way, I bring news of a chance to own your very own Lou Pimentel art for a VERY affordable price. How affordable you ask? How about $25 affordable? Hit the jump to view more images and read a message from Lou.