artist spotlight: unmask beijing

if you remember, i mentioned the incredible work of unmask from a gallery i stumbled into while in beijing earlier this year. well ––– i contacted them to see if they would be interested in doing a customized nookanooka, to which they enthusiastically agreed [which i am very excited about]! this led to a product swap of which the fotos above are what i received. pretty cool stuff for their commercial projects, and the art, though financially less accessible is even more impressive. learn more with the links below.

exhibition information for unmask.
online shop for one of the toys above.
images of unmask sculpture on artnet.
their website here.

sounds like video

Sounds Like from Joey Roth on Vimeo.

nookanooka show in budapest!

budapest is a city i have always wanted to visit – rich history, their language is an isolate on the european continent [it's an altaic language more closely related to finnish, mongolian, japanese and korean than to any other groups], they have a culture of spending long afternoons in thermal baths, and the danube is a famous river. i was not disappointed!

my reason for coming was the hungarian custom nookanooka show organized by csap viktor, our man on the ground in budapest. the show featured 35 local artists, and i was blown-away by the enthusiasm and craft the artists applied to the competition. i will update the nookanooka pages on our website as soon i get the official photographs and artists bios from csap. larry tee was dj at the after party, and it was great catching up with him [i haven't seen larry since he moved to london]. i got to become friends with the madonna of hungary, kristóf steiner who splits his time between budapest and tel aviv and was our emcee for the evening. really great guy!

the only unfortunate thing was some planning issues, mainly the may day holiday weekend. like NYC on labor day, more than half of the city was out-of-town! hopefully the show will travel within buda or pest to continue the buzz when the city is back to full-tilt! i'll keep you posted.

so, let me end by saying, if you haven't thought of it, visit budapest! it's affordable, extremely bicycle friendly [i rented a bike for 2 days and it was AMAZING] and full of things to do. as for best thermal, i recommend széchenyi. gallért is more famous [matthew barney's cremaster cycle was partly filmed there] but not as nice overall [poorly signed, only some of the staff are helpful]. széchenyi is in a beautiful park with an amusement part and museums, so you can kill a whole day there!

tokyo this week

lobby of the MoT

art of kiyoshi KURODA

cut paper work of tomoko SHIYOYASU – mind-bogglingly awesome!

nooka!

the creepy work of junichi MORI

team nooka japan: yu YAMADA, myself and yuka SATO.

i am now on the first leg of a month-long business trip. i arrived in tokyo on friday so i would have the weekend to adjust to the jet-lag, but somehow, i'm exhausted today [waking up at 5am is probably the culprit!]. luckily i had 100% energy for my meeting with the PR agency we use here in Japan – got them up to speed on all the collab and event stuff in the US to find synergies and/or similar win-win scenarios relevant to the japan market. in particular, the more i talk about what's going on with the custom nookanooka shows around the world, the more i think we need to package it for a museum show somewhere [after budapest, we will have 50 nookanookas customized by local and international artists!]. curator friends: any ideas? connections with the cooper hewitt in nyc or the design museum in london [or any other ideas welcome]. i'll work the connections i have...

and on the same vein, i was happy to see an artist from the japan custom nookanooka show, atsuo OGAWA, featured in the annual show of new artists at the tokyo museum of contemporary art [known as the MoT, go figure]. the show was pretty amazing, i was blown away by some of the pieces, especially the ceramic work of katsuyo AOKI – glad i caught the show on the last day. you can learn more about the exhibition here. unfortunately, the catalog was sold out, so i had to snap some pictures of the library copy!

there was also a wonderful hussein chalayan retrospective which i also found inspiring. and to make it even more wonderful...they sell nooka in the MoT gift shop!

the newly renovated museum restaurant, content, is quite good – beautiful space, excellent service, but extremely overpriced for being in a municipally funded art museum.

weekend in pittsburgh

after a stellar night at the nooka X gommi arcade launch party at AC Gears on greenwich avenue in NYC, my boyfriend and i headed to pittsburgh PA with artist and friend, hiroki otsuka and his boyfriend andy. a posse of new yorkers descended on pittsburgh to attend the opening party for Playboy Redux: Contemporary Artists Interpret the Iconic Playboy Bunny, curated in part, by our dear friend Eric Shiner. Hiroki was one of the featured artists, and in fact, i will be seen on the playboy channel's coverage of the show with him! the highlight of the opening was the pajama party which filled the museum with locals and a lot of people from NYC. the show is still up, so if you are in or near pittsburgh PA, check it out. more info here. nooka was well represented on the wrists of hiroki, andy, eric, frank and myself. learn more about hiroki otsuka here.

the fun continued as eric gave us a private tour of his favorite bars. it was rare for me, but i was out bar hopping til 4am and had a great time with nyc performer maine, artist ain cocke, and eric's local posse. the drag shows were interesting enough to be classified bone-fide performance art, and even the crowd at the bars was enough to make simple people-watching a renewed pleasure [we ended up at a private club called the moose house before late cocktails at eric's loft]. hanging out with maine anders was a hoot! i really enjoyed the physical city as well – with its rusting bridges seemingly to appear out of nowhere at the end of a street to its ever changing views from the hilly landscape – it's a stunning place – part big city, part back-country, and part ghost town. there were enough museums and things to see to keep one busy for a weekend, and i highly recommend it.

and, as much as i enjoyed the warhol museum, i do not think it belongs in pittsburgh when there is not one in NYC. i am not saying that there shouldn't be a warhol museum in pitt, but 1. andy warhol made his career in NYC. even i am old enough to remember nights rubbing shoulders with him at the VIP rooms at palladium and area [i was an underaged club kid, luckily in a time when NYC allowed teens into clubs!]. NYC was his inspiration and his home from early adulthood til the day he tragically died. 2. he put pop art on the map! the "pop" in "pop art" = popular which implies it requires a LARGE audience, which quite simply is not happening for the work in it's current location. i think it's more appropriate for the warhol museum in pittsburgh be in the house he was born in or lived as a child with the permanent collection and foundation in the city he loved – NYC. just sayin....

nooka sighting: michael lau

i've been a big fan of michael lau since i first bought the complete tom kid collection many years ago! he's having a big show in kuala lampur at H-5, and their new gallery space called ZINC. if you're in or near malaysia, check it out. i think this link on hypebeast is the best place to learn about michael lau's work. the nooka zen-h looks great on him huh? get yours here.

nooka x doraemon

text by michael a. traverzo


doraemon and nooka have collaborated to bring you the japan exclusive (500 pieces) “nooka + doratch” timepiece inspired by the character. the collaboration will be sold for ¥21,120, in sync with the year that doraemon was born, 2112. the watch features the many expressions of doraemon.

doraemon, the story of a robotic cat who travels back in time to aid a schoolboy, nobita nobi and their journeys together was created by fujiko f. fujio in 1969. it is extremely popular in countries around the world, though strangely, was never released in english! [it's well-known in italy, taiwan, china, spain...]

if you're in japan you can order yours here!

the “Doratch” series is a line of time pieces created for doraemon and since its first release in 1997, it has been a phenomenal success. currently, there are more than 60 different timepieces and nooka is extremely proud and privileged to be part of their 40th anniversary.

nooka watches are available here!

also, don't forget to vote for nooka at pulchra. the voting process may seem a bit tedious, but it is actually really simple. simply drag nooka to the number 1 spot, if that's your choice of course and choose the other 9 objects until you have completed your list. In order for your vote to be valid, you will need to complete the details form. remember you can only vote ONCE PER DAY, so make sure to log on the next day and do it all over again. link is here!

follow nooka on facebook and twitter.

tokyo party report

the party for the tokyo custom nookanooka exhibition was this past friday. it was a lot of fun, and happy to see so many people show up...around 300 by my rough count of people coming in and out over the course of 3+ hours. it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and business associates. some major players in both fashion, music and urban vinyl/toy world were there [which is to b expected as most of the 9 japanese artists for the custom show are from that world]. i got to meet mutual friend and sony music recording artist immi who was there with her manager and producer. i was very honored to have ryu akashi, founder of medicom toys there as well. i got to meet makoto kajii, the editor of the brilliant online magazine, openers.jp which i write for. gloomy bear fame mori chack was there as well and we talked about him participating in our next event.

the space, designed by yu yamada, featured display blocks of solid white styrofoam arranged as a giant nooka zen-h face. music by my favorite tokyo dj kurasho who spun my request of italo-disco+electronica. wine, beer and shochu for me + galceau vitamin water guaranteed a good time for all who came.

all the artists were in attendance so i was abe to thank each and every one of them for the amazing work they did with the nookanookas! again: thanks! i will write a more expanded post on each of their bios for the november 10th exhibition in NYC.

next stop tomorrow is taipei in taiwan. there will be an invitation-only event with an auction to benefit typhoon survivors on October 7th which i am looking forward to.

i love dust in barcelona

i love i love dust. they are my favorite art collective in the UK and they do bitchin work all over this great world of ours. there will be one-of-a-kind limited nooka watches on display along with toys by kidrobot and of course, original art by i love dust!

nookas always available here.

me encanta i love dust. ellos son mi colectivo de arte favorito en el Reino Unido y hacen un trabajo cojonudo sobre nuestro fantástico mundo. habrá reloj nooka de edición limitada junto con los juguetes de kidrobot y, por supuesto, arte original de i love dust!

nookas siempre disponible aquí.


inauguración el 19 de febrero en
opens february 19th at
VALLERY
Calabria, 85
08015 Barcelona
Spain
+34935396430

studio visit: me at ryan mcginness

i had the pleasure of visiting ryan at his studio on december 30th [the camera date is 31 because it was on tokyo-time!]. i know ryan for over 10 years – actually since he graduated and came to new york – so it was nice catching up after not having a real conversation for a number of years! i was excited to see the new work en-process and even more excited that he loves the grey leather nooka watch i gave him.

i'm planning on doing some serious artist collaborations in 2009-2010 and ryan is definitely on my list.

learn more about ryan mcginness on wikipedia/google and here.

grey leather nookas at fine stores and here.

my t-shirt by supremebeing UK.

studio visitors: hiroki otsuka and ricky jackson

i'm posting this late, but thanksgiving and having family in town has eaten up as much time as i've eaten turkey and stuffing.

the wednesday before thanksgiving was a busy day at the nooka studio. first, my parents stopped by for lunch. then my favorite erotic manga artist, hiroki otsuka came to use our facilities while he was in the hood. later, ricky [of accessory designer twins dee and ricky] came by to talk shop. it was great to see hiroki's new artwork and it was also great to hear what ricky was up to with his biz. i'm really impressed with dee and ricky and hope they can maintain the momentum and leverage the current attention into a thriving business – something which feels like they are going to accomplish. they have great attitudes, drive, good-looks – which are three nice ingredients to have in one dish! the white zub looks great on ricky as well.

hiroki has a friend casting a skateboarder documentary tried to get ricky in on that, but i hear they went with an older skater to cover in the piece...oh well! also, notice the ephemeral art hiroki left on my wip-off board...also, if you're interested in the watch ricky is wearing, it's the white zen zub 20 available here.

nooka sightings: takashi murakami

i have been a big fan of takashi murakami's ever since i bought an issey miyake t-shirt stuffed into the head of a plastic figure in the marui men's kan on yasukuni avenue in tokyo a few years before he burst onto the art scene [i remember reading about him as a graphic designer for a brief moment]. it also came with a poster of a monster holding the character on a background of his signature eyeballs [that poster is framed and in my living room – i'd love to replace it with a real painting of his, but even when i went to gallery to try and buy one, they were all pre-sold!].

he truly is the andy warhol of my generation, so i was so happy to see these photos sent to me of mr. murakami wearing one of my creations bought at one of my favorite stores, ddc lab [locations in new york and los angeles, their site here].

caption: Takashi Murakami preparing for his 10/16/2008 appearance at Pratt University, where be was honored along with two other artists.

Styled by: Image Director: Alexander Allen.

if you are not in nyc or los angeles, watch worn is available here.

thank you alexander!

chanel chanel chanel

from the article in the link below: "It’s not just the economic turmoil, although the timing could hardly be worse. It’s that the pavilion sets out to drape an aura of refinement over a cynical marketing gimmick. Surveying its self-important exhibits, you can’t help but hope that the era of exploiting the so-called intersection of architecture, art and fashion is finally over."

it always surprises me when people write stuff like this! unless you go back to cave painting, i doubt there was ever a time when art, architecture and fashion did not intersect – moreover, for the financial gain of some or many! then again, it is probably the opinion of someone born into a rich family afforded the luxury of studying art and design as a purely academic pursuit (i am jealous!).

i myself am excited to see this perversion of art!


Photo: Michael Falco for The New York Times

reminder: new paintings and sculpture at halcyon

don't forget to swing by halcyon in dumbo brooklyn to see my new paintings and black fairy sculptures this thursday evening. dj's nick chacona and alex graham will be spinning. i will be super jetlagged as i'm posting this from narita airport in japan!

kogane-cho redevelopment

yesterday was a BUSY day. i worked the booth at rooms all day, and then we were off to yokohama for an event related to the trienalle:

the opening of the kogane-cho redevelopment dedication. koganecho is an area long plagued with crime and prostitution and the city of yokohama has put up the money to make the area into artist studios, gallery spaces and fashion shops. the new buildings fit snugly under the train tracks of the keikyu line. nooka zub 38s are available in the GOLD shop [kogane = gold] next to one of the cute cafés scattered through the area.

i really enjoyed the paper fruits project by a thai artist wit pimkanchanapong. you buy the flat sheet and if you cut it out and make it into the 3-D fruit, he will exchange it for a real fruit and then resell the paper one as a souvenir at a higher price than the flat one. it's really a brilliant way to mix community, recycling and real commerce concepts into one experience. his site here.

also, the installation by naro tamiya in the issey miyake shop is wonderful! lots of information on everything is here.

i then met fellow designers and friends from osaka at an impossibly small bar in shibuya, but i'll make a separate entry for that.

also pictured in this entry is the nooka limited edition for the yokohama trienalle which will be available at the art fair itself as well as spiral yokohama and online store [also on the nooka.jp site and online store]. it has a beautiful dark gold face and green body. limited edition of 500 exclusive to japan!

weekend in tokyo

i arrived in tokyo on thursday evening and used the weekend to avoid jetlag for the upcoming shows, do some shopping and catch up with friends [as well as fill up on food i can only find here, like mos burger, basahi etc.]. i really should write a travel guide to tokyo one day, but i'm not sure how accurate it could ever be with things changing so quickly here year to year. so, for now and for this entry, a few highlights and photo-diary.

muji opened a new store in shinjuku on yasukuni-dori, close to my hotel [which is great, as the yurakucho main store is a bit far to go by bicycle with packages]. i spent a half a day there looking at everything [they added the IDEE furniture collection to their larger stores in japan, though the selections is limited due to space], eating in their organic cafe [fiber!], shopping the yohji yamamoto directed muji labo line, and stocking up on bath salts!

i spent saturday at tokyo midtown, the SOM designed mixed-use space in roppongi with my friend and musician of far east music, soichi terada [upper left in collage foto]. we saw an exhibition in the suntory art museum as well as the typography exhibition at the ando designed and issey miyake curated 21_21 design site. the suntory museum always has a great show of japanese art/craft, this time the pre-history of the kimono. i was disappointed with the show at design site this trip though – it came off more like a graphic design exhibition at a university than something becoming of their great space.

soichi and i also had a really authentic mexican meal at la colina in midtown – expensive but delicious. the band was pretty good...can someone identify what the giant 5 string bass guitar is [i've never seen one like that]? i requested "piensa en mi" which they actually knew [i would lose my appetite is i had to listen to "la bamba" one more time].

of course i went to my fave t-shirt shop, graniph. i got stuff for myself, but mostly souvenirs for my staff in NYC. our tokyo office mate, BACH curated the manga collection at the art shop installation/shop at isetan in shinjuku where i went with my friend tomoyo and i bought an overpriced polo shirt [please note: only in japan can you have a "fuck forever" neon sign in a major department store].

i'd list the meals i had if i was writing a food blog. enjoy the pretty pictures.

i love dust, artful dodger, jay-z, beyonce, ashanti + nooka

last tuesday i went out for drinks with mark graham, the creative director of UK-based i love dust, and his creative team after being introduced by my dear friend anya who is an art buyer at the martin agency in richmond virginia. mark and team were in NYC to install a show at the chelsea art museum which happens to be an early and constant supporter of nooka – ah circuitous synergies abound! and over cocktails and beers at temple bar, they offered to do a collab. not next season, or next year, but the next day. and at a speed i've never seen, a few custom painted nookas were displayed next to the customized nikes at the opening invitation only party on friday. jay-z, beyonce, ashanti and their entourages were there, but alas, i was NOT. i was [and still] in tokyo. the nooka studio was there to represent and i have the pleasure of simply blogging about it:)

there was also art by nyc-based vault49 in the dj room [one of which is featured in the foto above]. great stuff jonothan!

we will do more collaborations in the future, until then, enjoy the i love dust website here. i love their work.

art show in brooklyn postponed til the 18th

i know it's not much notice, but i will have a small art exhibition at the halcyon store in dumbo brooklyn, thursday september 18th, 2008. nooka, nookanooka, and some fairies will be there along with a new set of acrylic on canvas paintings by me – all in the theme "life on mars". the show will feature some new small sculptures as well.

the halcyon store site is here.

london culture

this past sunday, dan came into london from brighton with lovely wife anna and strapping lad sam. i am part of anna’s art collective in brighton though i’m very behind in my duties, it’s the institute of unnecessary research and the website i here. i am head of crypto-zoology and anna is the director of the institute. i really like her artwork, so check it out.

we first went to the royal academy of art’s summer show, which was full of very interesting work from newcomers and established artists, and surprisingly, architects! [i went to the tate modern on monday, and they have an exhibition on models which featured many architectural models as/in art, so i sense a trend here…start asking your architect friends for their discarded models!] this show has been held every summer since 1768!

my favorite of the architectural piece was a cut paper grey scale piece by c. j. lim titled the baker’s garden: smell, heat and light which explored ephemeral qualities of built space in a very emotional expression. i also liked the laser cut model of a gem cut building, though not sure a potentially mass produced model could work as art as i’d rather see it in the gift shop at a more affordable price or as a accessible limited edition. most of the work in the show is for sale, so it’s really an amazing blend of gallery in a museum setting. i think i’ll submit some work for next year’s show, maybe see if they’ll accept a nooka [or at least sell nook in their gift shop. sorry to plug but remember, this is my nooka blog☺].

tracey emin curated a room, which was spectacular. the silhouette piece by tim nobel and sue webster called pink narcissus (version 1) is everything i like in an art piece, provocative, whimsical, challenging, and full of good craft (and pretty penises of all sizes).

other pieces of note or just ones i like are by julian opie, and photos of large scale sculpture where the medium was an actual building. there was a nice egg by jeff koones as well. the show is up until august 17th, so if you’re in london it’s worth the admission charge [it really should be free admission, but it’s not]. the royal academy website is here. tell them nooka sent ya!

we then walked all the way to the serpentine gallery to see the summer pavilion [an outdoor pavilion commissioned by the serpentine each year and designed by a different architect. this year is by frank gehry. it opens june 20th so we got to see it almost finished. we were then treated to a show by richard prince, another artist who’s work i really like. more information on the serpentine gallery here, located in the beautiful hyde park and also well worth the walk from anywhere [you can take mass transit as well, but i like to walk in london. next trip i’ll rent a bike].

der nookanooka wurde über Berliner Himmel entdeckt

my trip to berlin is winding down. i got to see my friends, do some shopping and visit the holocaust memorial near the newly opened u.s. embassy. last night, after dinner at a beer garden [i drank this thing called berliner weissen which is bright green woodruff syrup in a light wheat beer] i met yuna at platoon, an art organization that does some cool stuff in korea of all places [as well as locally and in europe]. i signed up as a member of their platoon and got a membership dog tag. their website is here. berlin is full of great art spaces and it seems every night is a party right in the museums and galleries . we hit a photo installation on one street and then a dj party at the KW [kunstwerk] after platoon. the dj at KW was amazing but the cops came and made them turn the volume down at midnight.

foto is of a nookanooka near alexanderplatz. next stop...rome!