APE next weekend!

APE is next weekend! If you're in the Bay Area don't miss this. I'm tabling with my buddy Jon Vermilyea and I'll have fresh copies of Nature Nurture, available in 2 color covers:

And only a handful of copies of my other screen printed books:

And a bunch of festival exclusive prints. It's gonna be an awesome weekend! Don't miss out. :)

APE and San Francisco Recap

San Francisco was beautiful as always! The weather was perfect this time around. APE was so much fun this year, I thought it was my 4th consecutive year but Jon Vermilyea told me it's my 5th?? I am completely losing track. APE is always awesome and I don't think I will ever stop exhibiting. Here is my recap of the trip, photo diary style:

I had the pleasure of hosting two lovely young ladies this time around. Pictured here are my friends Jess and Diana on top of a hill.

We got tacos at one of my all time favorite Mexican places, El Metate in Potrero/Mission area.

Here is Jon and Hilary playing some pinball at the Lasp Gasp warehouse.

Jess and Diana help me set up my table!

Post-APE dim sum with my ladies!

I did really well at APE! I sold out every advanced copy I brought of my new "don't follow me." I will have more copies available next weekend at Whitney Museum's very own Zine Day(!) as well as Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest coming up in December in Brooklyn, NY.

New book for APE "don't follow me"

Here are some quick photos of what I've been caught up with making during the past week.





About to catch my flight to LA shortly, and spending this weekend in SF! I will have advanced copies of "don't follow me" available at APE this weekend (fresh off the racks), along with the debut of "hot+cold". I will also have new prints available at my table, if you're in the Bay Area be sure to stop by!

October Events

Plenty of things going on in October! The show I was in at Alternative Cafe in Monterey is traveling to My Plastic Heart gallery in the Lower East Side in Manhattan! The show opens September 30th and runs throughout October.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the opening reception because I will be in San Francisco exhibiting at Alternative Press Expo the weekend of October 1st and 2nd. It's going to be a great time as usual! I'm always excited whenever I visit my hometown, beautiful San Francisco. I have a different table placement this year, find me at table #540.

I'm also participating in a zine day at the Whitney Museum organized by Desert Island, which takes place October 15 Saturday afternoon. It's a kid friendly event and all the artists will have a special made print available for attendees to collect into a book. Not to be missed!

Alternative Press Expo 2010

photo courtesy of giantrobotmag's flickr

I had a wonderful time this year at APE in San Francisco! I was there with Jon Vermilyea. We had a full 6 days in which we spent walking over the Golden Gate Bridge like last year, and sipped on some salted caramel hot cocoa at Ghirardelli Square, which has become sort of a tradition for us. We ate In-N-Out burger and Mexican burritos every single day. :)

The convention was very successful. I enjoyed talking to people about the silkscreen process (which is in itself a hard thing to explain). I had the privilege of meeting Anne Koyama of Koyama Press for the first time, she came all the way from Toronto and she is awesome! I got to hang out with the talented Cat Lauigan, and chatted briefly with Lisa Hanawalt (actually ended up running into her at the airport on our way back, boarding the same flight!).

Plenty of after parties and post hang outs ensued, Ryan threw his annual party which had a much bigger turn out this year than before. Had post drinks with some of the Canadian comics family at Elbo Room, and dinner the following night at Taste of Formosa with a bunch of rad folks, including Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong, and Aaron Mew. All in all, an amazing trip. :)

APE and Oakopolis art show

APE is bigger than ever this year! So big it moved its entrance to the other side of the exhibit hall, and the exhibitor list looks two times bigger than last year's and the year before! I found out my table placement and it looks like I have pretty much the same/similar table spot as last year, even with all the additional tables, which is great. :)

I'm in a show called "The Art of Comics" at Oakopolis Gallery in Oakland. The show will have two openings, October 1st and November 5th, part of the Oakland Art Murmur. They will have my "rainbow & i" books as well as the rainbow prints hung on their wall, revealing part of the process in making the books. This will be an interesting show, so if you are in the bay area, please check it out!

Here's what I did at the print shop today. Tomorrow I will be printing on tote bags for the very first time, wish me luck!

my art in Aorta magazine + upcoming events

Some of my pieces from the "femme bot" painted series were printed in Aorta Magazine.

Aorta Magazine (when I met them last year at APE they were known as ArtXX) is a bi-annual publication based in San Francisco. They are a sex positive, politically charged publication that is inspired and supported by the SF gay community. I am happy and proud to be a part of
this 3rd issue, and if you are interested in this
limited edition issue, you can find out how to order one here.

Lately I've been working on drawing and color separations for a series of mini-accordion books that should be out by the time APE rolls around. (taking place Oct 16th and 17th this year in SF) I wanted to make something a little more on the affordable side, as far as hand-made, screen printed objects go. In addition, I will have many screen printed posters (old + new!) and my larger books available.

This weekend I will make an appearance at SPX, which I am totally excited about. I've also secured a half table for the upcoming, second annual Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. The Brooklyn Fest was so much fun last year that I'm extremely psyched to be able to exhibit this year.
Above photo displays a small sampling of separation work waiting to be printed, and a large tube of Kalles Kaviar, a Swedish delicacy that I am addicted to! You're supposed to spread this smoked roe delight on crackers but I just squeeze this stuff straight into my mouth, tasty! I am almost out of this stuff :( so hopefully I can make it back to Ikea to replenish for my addiction. I also love the Swedish pickled herring, there are six different kinds, I've only tried the jar with garlic sauce but I hope to try all of them!

APE 2009

here i am placing postcards on the Tong/Vermilyea table!

I can't seem to get enough of San Francisco! Being there for APE made it my fourth time visiting this year and it's never short of a crazy good time. The weather was near perfect, different from last year when it rained and I was worried about not having plastic bags for the posters I sold.

The party at Lasp Gasp which kicked off the weekend was so good... it's a good feeling being surrounded by millions and billions of books while enjoying beverage in one hand and fancy h'our dourves in the other. (Or as Eliza and I put it, a cartoonist's wet dream) Seriously, endless platters of smoked salmon (!!) lots of cheeses and fruits, spicy curried chicken... bbq pork sliders. yummm

Jon and I did very well at our table! It was fun getting to meet and hang out with some folks who made it out. Got to know and chat with Helen Parson, she is super sweet and I hope to run into her much more. Chatted with Cat who is super cool. She was doing a residency in Oakland and has now returned to NY! My new book did really well, I brought just a handful and made it out with 1 copy left. :) We went to a party at Ryan's place and got to check out his rooftop with an amazing view of the city!



We did plenty of touristy things of course :) Jon and I sure are speedy walkers! We walked pretty much everywhere, all the parks, saw the full house houses. Japantown (checked out the New People store) Did the Golden Gate bridge and Haight st. Ate lots of amazing burritos.

The photo above is of Jon in the distance and one of my all time closest friends, Angie, at the sutra baths at Ocean Beach. We explored some caves and ended the evening at the Beach Chalet. We got there when they had an amazing happy hour of 2 dollar pints and oysters! They brew all of their own beers, my favorite was definitely the Fleishhacker stout. :)

My new book "rainbow & i" is now available to view on my site! Be sure to check it out. :)

a little vacation

I recently came back from a nice little vacation in San Francisco. Even though it's the city where I grew up, visiting the place with a bunch of east coast friends and making a point of touring there makes for a very different experience! I had an incredible time (at some points, surprisingly inspirational)

one of my all-time favorite activities: beach bonfire!!

I traveled there and back with my good friend Deo, he pretty much was taking pictures non-stop. For more incredible photos, visit his flickr!

Now that I'm back and off of vacation mode, I've been working hard on preparing drawings for my next silkscreen book, which I'm really psyched about. I'm finally getting to coloring in some separations and I have to say, scribbling with the extra BOLD tip oil-paint Sharpie is such a sensational feeling... It feels amazing, coloring like a kid essentially. I can't imagine making silkscreen separations on a computer screen?? (not that I know how to, anyway!)
So, I'm hoping to start printing once summer arrives and try and finish the project by end of summer with an all new silkscreen book for APE this year. I can't wait to print!

"Sweet Surrender" it opened!

The opening reception was incredible! I couldn't believe all the people who made it out! It was good to see my neighbors, my Brooklyn roommate and all his friends, former weekend art students (circa YWCA!), SOTA kids, people i've met at Wondercon, even people I met last year at APE (!) and some folks I met on trivia night that very week turned out for the opening. WOW! Met a ton of new people as well. The night blew my mind!

I wasn't able to take any pictures, but here are some photos courtesy of friends and the gallery:


from left to right: my friend Scott, neighbors Paul and Jon, and myself

my parents and me looking fascinated by whatever Sarah is saying (Sarah, my former art teacher from the Y)

it was packed!!!

from left to right: Camilla, Krista, Allison, me

Also, there's a nice write up of the show on ARTslant: http://www.artslant.com/global/articles/show/5521

"Sweet Surrender" @ Gallery1988SF

I'll have about a dozen new pieces for this show and will be in town for the opening reception. I'll be staying in San Francisco for 2 and a half weeks starting end of February to finally unwind, and to attend Wondercon. I cannot wait!

Details: "Sweet Surrender"
opening reception, Friday, March 6th 7-10PM
1173 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94109
www.gallery1988.com
g1988.blogspot.com (stay tuned for the preview of the show)

one. hundred. BEASTS! @ GRSF

Opening Saturday, Jan. 17. The beasties make their way to San Francisco, at Giant Robot shop!

For previews, check out the BEASTS blog. Quite a few artists created new versions of their beasts exclusively for GRSF and it looks amazing. If you're in SF, don't miss this!

details:
Beasts! at GRSF, January 17, 2009-February 18, 2009
Reception: Saturday, January 17, 6:30 pm-10:00 pm
GRSF
618 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

"Giant Robot is proud to present Beasts!, a group show featuring artists from the worlds of comics, skate graphics, rock posters, children's books, and other commercial and gallery arts."
"...To commemorate the publication of Beasts Book 2 and the simultaneous release of the paperback edition of Beasts Book 1, Fantagraphics Books art director Jacob Covey has pulled together artists from both volumes for an eclectic exhibition of original works and art prints."

APE weekend, halloween, and everything else

I had an incredible time at APE! But, because I don't own a camera i'm afraid I don't have pictures. It took place during halloween weekend and i do, however, have a picture of me and my friends on halloween night!from the left: me as a rainbow, tabitha as pimp, allison - ms lovett, and tony -johnny depp

This took place at a bar close by after the APE exhibitor mixer /pre party, which took place at Last Gasp publishing office/shop. The night became a bit of a blur, as to be expected on halloween in SF.

The next day, arrived an hour early to set things up, I managed to remember everything except for a table cloth! (which I didn't even think about) but a table neighbor was kind enough to loan me his extra one. It was my first time at APE and my first time having my own table so it was triple exciting! and very successful. I sold plenty of prints and books, all silkscreen, and had the pleasure to interact with so many people. It was definitely the best time I've ever had at a con, despite being glued the entire time to my table (although I managed to attend 30 minutes of the "Making of Kramer's Ergot 7" panel, on Sunday)
The Isotope party that Saturday was also an amazing time. I am deeply grateful for my friends, Teddy Hose and Scott Norton for helping me out with my table and for keeping me company! And my mom for bringing me food all weekend.
I will most definitely return to APE next year (too good not to) and I will try to drag with me my very talented, former roommate and close friend Jon Vermilyea (perhaps we will share a table next year? hopefully!)

In other news, Obama is our new president! My friends and I couldn't stop screaming, took ourselves outdoors and everyone else felt the same. Tabitha asked me to paint an Obama mural in their household, i might do it if I find time (still in mural painting mode, especially after Asa's ginormous one)

Now that APE is over, I'm continuing my work for my next show which is taking place at Gallery1988 (SF), opening in March 2009. One of the owners, Katie, who i believe runs the SF location, stopped by my table this weekend to say hi. The group show is going to be a good line up of myself and 3 other very talented female artist, more info to come!

In the mean time, here is my set up at my parents' home as I try to spend the rest of vacation doing a little catch-up.
This is the birds eye view where I have a view of the porch ahead of me and a TV next to that. I pay most of my attention to music and reference photos on my computer.


Above is a detail of part of my painting surface, my muses, the antelope brown ink I always use, and a new bottle of Prussian blue ink (beautiful color!!) I originally was looking for purple but was happy to discover (or rather, rediscover) prussian blue. Its purpose will be revealed later.

old show, and the new

I've updated my website with all the new pieces I did for Lab 101 in LA.

Click here to check it out!

Also, here is a preview photo of a new painting that's nearly complete. For the show at Metropolis, opening September.

I've been vacationing in San Francisco and it's been a surreal experience, to say the least. One of the first things I made sure to do was to attend the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SFMOMA. Ever since then, my dreams have become slighty more haunting - sharing these dreams with my friends have been an increasingly interesting experience.

Every time I "vacation" in SF is really more of an opportunity to dedicate more time in making art/getting things done. Its also a nice breath of fresh air from being in New York, but I love both cities for its differences. I wonder if I'll be able to someday live in both places, take turns.