Media Launch for Mexico tourism @Union Station Chicago

I had the lucky opportunity to tag along with Juancho SC Photography at the media launch for Mexico tourism's new marketing campaign reveal at Chicago's lovely Union Station downtown.

Some photos of the event:

the ceiling was lovely!

Some contemporary dancers:

And we were treated to some really nice mexican choco! :)

hum hum hum :d

Can't wait to visit Mexico! :)

July Trip to Sicily/Italy

About a month ago I went on my first trip to Italy!! Everything they say and have said is true! It was beautiful more than I could have imagined, the food was amazing and the people were super warm. Some situations which probably would be considered offensive/racist in N. America (such as random kids doing things like singing the asian jingle, i.e. sounds like this, or teens dancing Gangnam style towards me in Rome) were mostly if anything hilarious and also interesting since I guess people in Europe really have a very superficial/lack of exposure to asian culture compared to the States and Canada (I think Oprah recently had some similar experiences ). Some guy I spoke to in Naples knew all about the history of Chiang Kai-Shek and Taiwan and also pulled his eyes up diagonally with his fingers to describe the shape of my eyes all in the same conversation - I saw this more as his lack of English vocab than a conscious attempt to be rude, he was sincerely making an attempt to make a friendly conversation. Also, I thought it was really inspiring that they were so proud of their own culture and yet still intrigued and knew many things about mine. (Our tour group even got our tour guide to learn a few phrases of Chinese - and he had excellent pronunciation!) I suppose you can't necessarily find perfection, there have to be SOME drawbacks, some flaws are beautiful after all.

I am going to pick up my processed film from my trip and my seoul trip todayyy!!! I'm excited..
For now a few phone photos (stereotype payback! mwahaha: Italy is just about pizza, pasta, shoes and Jesus/Mary!):

hipster pasta

This took me back to high school AP Art History - I was really psyched to see this sculpture in person!!

"Shoes were to die for"

Traditional super thin crust Napoli pizza

ceiling of one of the many church/cathedrals (I forgot which one!!)

Capri on the way to the Blue Grotto

An awesome piece by Japanese artist Hidetoshi Nagasawa at the MACRO gallery in Rome

Hey! I used this Magritte-theme in an illustration too. ;-)

An antique market in Sorrento

Back from a visit to Shanghai and Seoul + BLOOM kokeshi auction + old illos

The last two weeks I took a break from Vancity to visit Shanghai and Seoul and now I'm back! It was a really awesome and fun experience. I've been to Shanghai before a few years back and was excited to see how it's changed and of course to check out the local arts and culture scene. Sadly I wasn't able to stay for very long in Shanghai, but I got to explore Seoul for the first time and meet up with some very dear and old ECU friends! I have to say it is so much cheaper to party there compared to Vancouver...I actually got a little sick from staying out too late in Pusan, a reminder to never try to out-drink a Korean friend...ehehe. Anyways! - though I wasn't able to make many drawings as I had hoped, I did take lots of photos...more to come when I get all the film developed and scanned O_O I will probably post them on flickr. A sneak peek below... 

Shanghai:

(Those leftists!!)

Seoul:

(you can tell it was all about da food)

ALSO, last thursday evening Nikkei Museum held their BLOOM fundraising art auction. I got to hang out with my fellow artists and awesomely cool buddies Jody Kramer (of Juki Museum) and Jeff Chiba Stearns (of Meditation Bunny Studios) 

Some photos from the show:

(my doll hangin' out with Jenn Brisson and Brendan Tang's masterpieces!)

(and some old illos for CAP!)

 article about Vancouver Comic Arts Festival

article about students looking for summer jobs

PERMUTE posted on youtube

Yay.

BJJ

I submitted some of these for a show but didn't get in. So I'm posting them here!

Pact 4: TRADE @ Centre A, Vancouver

My film "Permute" was screened last night at 221a's Pact 4 show, hosted by Centre A gallery on Hastings and Carrall. Very cool way to project something. You could also see the screenings from outside through the windows. My friend Su-an snapped this very cool pic of both me and Andrea's piece "Revolve" playing at the same time! :D