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!

If you’re not going to be lining up to see one of the thousands of sold out Dark Knight showings this Saturday the 19th, you might want to check out the Santa Monica Pier anywhere from 7pm to 7am for the event known as Glow. After perusing the website and checking out the scheduled events (DJ’s, live bands, parades, and a possible Grunion run sighting!), this fairly huge and ambitious art offering may not be right for me. Maybe if I had gone to a Burning Man or two I would be all over it. But lucky for me I’ll be enjoying a glow of another kind, namely the glow of a 60 foot Joker’s smile on an IMAX screen.

From the Glow website (not to be confused with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling-G.L.O.W.):

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

(Flyer design by the Scharwath)

Like artist designed shoes? How about a mean espresso? Maybe you’re into motorcycles, mopeds, and vintage motorized bikes? If you answered a ‘yes’ to any of these then come down to Choke in Silver Lake this Thursday, July 17th for a DC Shoes release party for Aaron Rose’s new practical ortho-cools. Last year when we were still editing Beautiful Losers in the Manzanita house, Keith Scharwath would periodically stop by to work with Aaron on the extras (zine, fabric, and shoebox design) for this shoe project . What they came up with was a sharp looking package that’s as classy as it is creative. Come by and enjoy a cup of joe at this unique bike shop and check out the finished goods for yourself!

From A.Rose:

Hey Everyone,

This is kind of a strange invite, but for the last three years I’ve been working with my friend Damon designing a shoe for his company DC Shoes. Well they’re finally done so we’re gonna have a little party Thursday night at Choke Motorcycle Shop. If you’ve never been to Choke, it’s seriously one of my favorite places in the world. If you don’t care about some weird pair of shoes I designed (I know a party for a shoe is a weird concept), then come to see the place cause it’s awesome!

Thursday, July 17th, 7-9PM
Choke Motorcycle Shop
4157 Normal Ave (at Virgil)
Los Angeles

This Friday night, July 11th, at the Hollywood Car Wash on Sunset come get clean. Squeak E. Clean that is. One of LA’s finest party starters brings us another evening of Sudsy fun with ass-shaking, skating by the Girl Skateboards team, live screenprinting, more ass-shaking, and art and video installations created by Aaron Rose and edited by yours truly.

Don’t forget to RSVP!

SUDS

Friday, July 11th

10pm-2am

Hollywood Car Wash

6200 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028