chumpchampion

(Sneak peek of the Nike/UNDFTD billboard on La Brea and 1st St. Design by Keith Scharwath)

On Friday August 29th, Beautiful Losers makes it’s Los Angeles premiere at Landmark’s Nuart Theater. To date, the response to our little film has been overwhelmingly positive and audiences have eagerly embraced our message of inspiration and creativity with open arms. With no major film distribution company behind us, we’ve been fortunate enough to have gained the support and good will from audiences who have seen the film and have continued to spread the good word amongst friends, family, and something called the “internets”. Hopefully this grass roots approach can continue to bring our film to more and more cities as we have just added Boston to our tour which already includes San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago.

The 7:30 and 10pm shows on opening night will feature Q&A sessions with myself, Aaron Rose, and Money Mark. Tickets for the L.A. premiere and theatrical run are now on sale and can be purchased at Landmark’s website here (Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)

Fresh from Tokyo, Japan after our official theatrical world premiere (much more on the Japan trip coming soon), Beautiful Losers makes it’s homecoming with the U.S. theatrical premiere on August 8th at the IFC Center in New York city. This release has been a long while coming as we’ve been on the festival road for over a year now, even capturing a documentary jury prize along the way. Select showings of this weekend’s special release will feature Q&A sessions with several artists from the film. The lineup goes as follows:

Friday, Aug.8th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Steve Powers (ESPO), Chris Johanson, and Cheryl Dunn

Friday, Aug.8th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Tobin Yelland, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

Tickets can be bought right here. (Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)

The New York theatrical release at the IFC Center will run from August 8th through the 28th before shifting to the West Coast with runs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and finally end in Chicago (the film may have a longer run depending on the success of this initial roll out).

In addition to the the film’s U.S. launch, Nike Sportswear has partnered with us to give back to the people. “Make Something!!” is a series of D.I.Y. creative art-based workshops taught by some of today’s best creators aimed at inspiring and educating young people. The first set starts in New York and runs from August 8th through the 22nd and then moves to Los Angeles and goes from August 29th through September 8th. The workshops range from sign painting, photography, skateboard graphic design, toy design, filmmaking, tattoo art, footwear design and zine making. Classes will be taught by the likes of Aaron Rose, KAWS, Todd James, Tobin Yelland, Cheryl Dunn, Mike Mills, Ed Templeton, Money Mark, and yours truly to name a few. Come by my class August 30th where I’ll be teaching kids the dark arts of film editing! More on the workshops to come as they happen.

The paint is still drying and the time is almost upon us. The highly anticipated show will open tomorrow night at the Laforet Museum at 6pm! Like the sign says…

ESPO vs. Valentino? Find out what it’s about in a few days!

Steve Powers, a.k.a. ESPO, has long been one of my favorite artists for both his sarcastic signs and clean lines. Along with the rest of the artists putting together the show, the studio gangster is currently holed up in the exhibition space cooking up punchline after punchline. When he’s not perusing the aisles of Tokyo Hands of course. Here’s the hand made myth himself along with Jo Jackson, Aaron Rose, and Yours Truly.

Yesterday I failed to mention half of the other artists involved in the Beautiful Losers opening at the Laforet Museum. Here’s whose crates of artwork arrived yesterday: Thomas Campbell, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Mike Mills, and Ed Templteton (Mark Gonzalez sculpture to be included as well if we can track it down somewhere in Shibuya). And here’s who arrived via plane last night:

It’s the lovely Jo Jackson straight out of Portland!

Elevator at the Laforet in Harajuku.

This week I’ll be chumpchampioning from the far East as I’m in Tokyo for the Japanese Premiere of Beautiful Losers on August 2nd. A bunch of other peeps are out here as well as our director Aaron Rose will be curating a group show with Steve Powers (ESPO), Jo Jackson, Josh Lazcano (AMAZE), and Alexis Ross of the Gents of Desire, and will also include original pieces by Margaret Kilgallen and Barry Mcgee. The show also features Nike’s Lightning Bolts artwork and will open at the Laforet Museum in Harajuku the day of the film’s premiere. I’ll be documenting the setup of the show leading up to the premiere, so stay tuned as there’s much more to come!

Back in the day when Jackie Chan just started to Rumble in the Bronx and people still thought Chow Yun-Fat was a Chinese dish, I sent a letter to a (then) little known fledgling magazine called Giant Robot. I gave them props for highlighting the rise of Asian pop culture as they brought it to the attention of American audiences who wanted more. In return I got my first ever letter published in a mag I love and they also sent me the coolest Bruce Lee sticker ever (here in shirt form)! Today I get to return the favor as the awesome Asians continue their support of emerging artists with their latest group show at GR2.

Suggestion Box at GR2

July 19 - August 13
Reception: Saturday, July 19, 6:30 -10:00

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

Giant Robot is proud to present Suggestion Box, a group show featuring new works by artists selected by our own store and magazine staffs in addition to pieces by many of the staffers themselves.

We intend our publication and shops to be catalysts as well as showcases, and are excited to mix artists that provide inspiration with homegrown talent that is inspired by them. Pieces will include drawings, paintings, comics, sewn work, and other mediums.

Contributors will include (but are not limited to) the following:

Aaron Brown
Jeffrey Brown
Seth Drenner
Jordan Fu
Michael Hsiung
Benjamin King
Diana Kwok
David Magdaleno
Tru Nguyen
Molly Colleen O’Connell
Sidney Pink
Yumi Sakugawa
Emilio Santoyo
Eric Shaw
Ryan Jacob Smith
Mark Todd
Christiaan Van Bremen
Katie Vonderheide

A reception featuring many of the artists will take place from 6:30 - 10:00 on Saturday, July 19. For more information about the opening, the artists, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311

(Another fine flyer design from Keith Scharwath)

This Sunday June 29th, kick down your old new shoes for a good cause. Nike, Undefeated, and the illustrious Gents of Desire are kicking off a benefit for the East LA Community Youth Center where every pair of unworn shoes donated will be generously matched by Nike. In addition to helping out your fellow peoples, Nike and Undefeated will be hosting a picnic for you filled with food, drink, music, and a “lady pants” competition in their back alley featuring the artwork of the Gents of Desire. Your ticket in is the pair of shoes you’ll be donating. Read on for more info:

Time and place:

June 29th

5pm-9pm

UNDFTD Los Angeles

112 1/2 South La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

For lovers of cool shoes, small companies who make cool shoes, and cool shoes on sale made by small cool companies, check out Keep’s sample sale this weekend in LA’s Chinatown. Music, drinks, and deals on shoes on a warm LA day, sounds like good times to be had.

And not only do the good peeps at Keep create fine shoes and clothing, they also keep good company as they are tight with an artistic community who support and share their same ideals. Among the Keep family contributors are photographers Tobin Yelland (who shoots most of Keep’s catalogs as well as being the director of photography of our film Beautiful Losers), Deanna Templeton (the lovely wife of Ed), and the brothers Ray and David Potes of the omni-present Hamburger Eyes (I actually just randomly met Dave in NY a few days ago through our mutual friend Ito!).

Thanks to Stephanie at Keep’s Hillhurst store for passing along the good info.

May 31 Sat 10 am - 6 pm
June 1 Sun 12 - 5 pm
Keep Chinatown HQ
418 Bamboo Lane
LA, CA 90012

Once again the Secret Headquarters of Silver Lake bring the goods with tonights opening featuring Mark Todd’s latest works on paper. His previous illustrations I’ve seen of iconic “bad asses” ranging from Mr.T to Miss Piggy and reconstructions of comic book covers from our youth, make Todd’s lo-fi sensibilities a perfect fit for our friendly neighborhood comic book shop.

From the secret heads of the Secret Headquarters:

Painter, illustrator and author Mark Todd took his first creative cues from comic books and Star Wars: worlds of inventive fantasy that still inform his art. His latest work involves intense scrutiny and alteration of classic comic covers from “Fantastic Four,” “X-Men,” “Iron Man,” “Spiderman” and other series, including the work of legendary illustrators like Jack Kirby.

“I love the type, the heavy shadows, the colors and the way they seemed to use every inch of the page,” says Todd. “I sit and study them, and my brush reconstructs them.”

Todd is referencing the past, waxing nostalgic about it and simultaneously lending his own post-modern sensibility to it, employing a limited palette, repetition, distortion and mixed media materials including spray paint, cel-vinyl, glossy varnishes and dusty stains. The pieces are rounded at the edges, appearing as prized objects; tablets encoded with civilization’s most iconic collective wisdom.

His work has appeared in scores of publications including Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, New York Times, and for Country Music Television. Todd graduated with honors in 1993 from Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, where he has also taught since 2003. He has also written several books, including “Whatcha Mean, What’s A Zine? ” co-authored with his wife and fellow artist, Esther Pearl Watson.

Join Mark Todd for a drink at Secret Headquarters
from 8pm - 10 pm TONIGHT, May 30th.

Secret Headquarters will feature Todd’s one-of-a kind original works of art through July 2nd, 2008

www.funchicken.com

Secret Headquarters is located on 3817 W Sunset Blvd. LA 90026 and is open Monday through Friday from 11am-9pm and on Sundays 12pm-7pm for all your geek book needs.