SNAG @ the Cobalt, Vancouver Jan. 29

Since I was in Vancouver for a visit, Drew Young asked me to do SNAG last week with a group of artists including the awesome Katie So (who had just recently been feature on booooooom.com)
It was kind of crazy to do this the last night of my visit to Vancouver (I was waayyyy tired and groggy) But it was so nice to hand off my finished piece to the lovely lucky Lucy who won it! (horse theme for chinese new year :P)

(photo by Lucy)

Congrats to Hua Foundation on their LAUNCH + their new logo!!

[image from huafoundation.org]

Recently I helped design a logo for Hua Foundation, a Vancouver-based environmental and community geared non-profit. It was such a pleasure to work with these passionate and amazing peeps! I totally dig their values and really appreciate the opportunity to contribute to their group (and through their message- towards all our benefit, health and well-being!). Earlier this week, Co-Founder Claudia Li talked about Hua on CBC TV and Radio. You also get a sneak peek at Co-Founder Kevin's 皮蛋(1000 year old eggs)! They look so good - hope to try them in the future.

This was a really exciting project to work on since it melds a lot of my interests and own attempts to combine the experience of 2nd gen. immigrant, cultural heritage, health, environment and plus using the arts! what a winning combo! yay
I heard their launch event at BaoBei (mmm one of my favorite restaurants in Vancity..hum hum hum) was a great success, I wish I could have been there!!

{the approved design}

Check them out at:
www.huafoundation.org

Or on
Twitter
Facebook

For more about our collaboration on the Hua Foundation identity: check out their post

'Patriarchy' screening at the Vancouver Short Film Festival!

Last year I got to finish up a short experimental film with director Karen Chapman at SmallAxx Film Productions and editing genius Rajarshi Basu and fellow animator/filmmaker Warlo Melgarejo (that's Karlo to laymen! ;]). 'Patriarchy' integrates live action and animation together over Travis Blackman's spoken word piece...  

Vancouver Short Film Festival! Check it out!

schedule can be found on their page:
http://www.vsff.com/pg/films

Work from Robots & Monsters @AydenGallery

I found a shot of the gallery opening night below (my work is in the corner)! Too bad I could not make it but excited to see all the fun times. :)

Original photo and article by Aaron Morris found on grinddown.com

The two pieces in the show:

Coder, 18"x24" Ink + gouache on paper

Meigui, 18"x24" Ink+gouache on paper

SNAG 28 photos

Drew shot some awesome photos of the piece I did for SNAG 28 (on June 12). You can check out all the action for this night and previous SNAGs on the tumblr page or the Facebook page.

photos: Drew Young

"Matriarchy"/"Patriarchy" video for Travis Blackman

UPDATE (August 2013): We've actually submitted this piece to VIFF '13 so we can't broadcast it online at the moment, sorry! I may have some snippets in my demo reel which I am currently cutting and will be posting soon. Until then..hope to release this after the festival run!

I collaborated with the team at Small Axx on this video - it's a visual accompaniment to the spoken word piece "Matriarchy" by Travis Blackman from Toronto. The director wanted to combine animation with live-action footage, with help from my talented friend Karlo Melgarejo, we brought some of Karen's ideas to life! Thanks to Raj for editing everything together (...also it was fun to have a small onscreen role with the other superstars - including Lady Mary James!...ehehehe)


Patriarchy from Small Axx on Vimeo.

Postcard Show Vol. II photos + SNAG tonight @9pm!

TONIGHT I'm doing SNAG again, come to the Cobalt on Main St. to see some live painting by other amazing artists as well. The lineup can be found on the facebook page.

Also the postcard show vol. 2 was a lot of fun. Saw some really awesome pieces as well as ran into some fantastic artists! I submitted the series below:

Some photos I snapped at the opening:

my buddies hangin out in the front window with all the other hip art

Some of my faves below:

 

Drew Young:

I loved this series by Shannon Elliott!!

 

SNAG + Burlesque night tomorrow!

I've decided to do a last minute SNAG appearance to say goodbye to Vancouver! If you're able to come out to the Cobalt, come say hello/goodbye and have a chance to take away some affordable Awesome-sauce art!

The piece from my first SNAG event, won by the Cobalt's very own DJ that night:

I dunno what I will paint this time...I guess you'll have to come and see, eh? (wink wink)!

TONIGHT: Grand Opening of new Chinatown Night Market!

Last night was super fun...got to hang out in chinatown and eat delicious fooods while speaking to a lot of cool, interesting, familiar, friendly and awesome faces!!

Our friend Dara snapped these photos from the night market last night!

...can't wait to do it again since TONIGHT is the grand opening!! - there will be special performances as well as many more new vendors participating.  (Runs 6pm - 11pm, in Chinatown on Keefer St. between Main and Columbia)

 more info: http://vancouverchinatownnightmarket.com/

The Postcard Show Vol. II

Next weekend (June 7 + 8) I will be part of the Postcard Show Vol. II which is being held at Ayden Gallery in Chinatown. There will be tons of great, new and exciting work. All cards are unique creations by artists and up for silent auction so you could come away with some awesome original pieces (plus they're quite versatile - frame them or send them as a missive to a lover..or a hater)! There is a $5 admission fee to cover event costs - cheap for weekend outing and totally worth it!! (PLUS - I will also be manning the station at the Chinatown Night Market, so you can swing by and say hi and grab food post-show!)

A sneak peek of the cards I submitted:

Hope to see you there!

Vancouver Chinatown night market with Ed Juan!

(photo from vancouverchinatownnightmarket.com)

This weekend I will be setting up shop with fellow friend and artist Edward Juan of Forest & Waves at the new Chinatown Night Market in downtown Vancouver! I'm super excited to participate this year in the local community as a vendor and as 2nd generation!

We will be selling handcrafted pieces, artwork, cards, and prints at our table on Columbia and Keefer. Stop by to say hi! We'll be there 4 nights: May 31, June 1, 7, and 8.

Ed makes lovely maps of places he's lived and travelled. You could get yourself a nice shiny new layout of Vancity like the one below!

(photo from Ed's website)

And you can come see some new and other stuff I will have for sale (sneak peak of those coming soon!)

You can also check out the night market website for more info and other vendors:

http://vancouverchinatownnightmarket.com/

and you can follow night market updates on instagram or twitter @ChinaTownYVR!

"13 Orphans" short film collab between Zachary Rothman and Howie Tsui on Cineworks blog!

A month ago I helped out filmmaker Zachary Rothman and artist Howie Tsui on their short film collaboration "13 Orphans" for Intersections at the Cineworks studio. You can now check it out below or on the Cineworks blog!!

BLOOM Kokeshi silent art auction fundraiser for Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre

TONIGHT! I’m back in Vancouver after a visit to China and S. Korea  and will be attending Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre’s fundraiser in Burnaby. I, along with fellow artists Jody Kramer, Jeff Chiba Stearns and Brendan Tang (!!!) have contributed custom, hand-crafted dolls for silent auction. Come check it out and support the arts and culture! Tix only $25.

More info: http://centre.nikkeiplace.org/kokeshi-project/

For online preview of all the awesome dolls: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kokeshi_project/

Sketchie Peeps

I recently started participating in a sketch group called "Sketchie People" organized by fellow friend and artist Michael Lee (check out Michael's blog, he has some awesome work!) that meets on weekends Saturday/Sunday in different locations around town. Some sketches done from the last two meetings:

SNAG, more work and past show!

Last wednesday I had the lovely opportunity to participate in SNAG at the Cobalt in Vancouver thanks to DrewYoung who organizes the event (You can find more info on the facebook page) and all my friends who showed up to support! :D
Some shots of my finished piece and the process: (you can also find more photos on tumblr of this event and the past ones)

I was also really excited to meet fellow artists Ed Juan, Ed Spence and Lianne Mitchell who were also part of this event! 

  

Lianne's diptych

Ed Spence

Ed Juan

Also I participated earlier in mid-Feb. in [Chris Bentzen's]/Hot Art Wet City's "FUCK" show. You can also see some more event pics on flickr.