studio visits and L.A. Gear.

two days after the show, beau, christine and i went to haight to check out GRSF and fifty24SF where there was a sick sick nate van dyke show and usugrow upstairs- who took technical draughtsmanship to another level.

at upper playground we ran into mario again and he was gracious enough to invite us to his studio around the corner. we kicked it for a bit and david choong lee came up, lo-and-behold, he's good friends with him and we headed over to studio for a visit. these two guys are brilliant and have no business being as gracious as they are. they hooked me up with signed books that i'm taking straight to eBay. just playing.

then over to the hood to see mr. lee:

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that night, down to white walls to see erik otto's closing show:

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went on over to hollyhooo for the last two days. the weather is mm-mm good and the city itself isn't so bad. it really is true though, you can't do nada without a ride. luckily for me, beau was gracious enough to show me around.

so i stayed in a somewhat sketchy motel down the road from project gallery, but it ended up being kinda nice. i met part of the project team, who are real talented obviously, but real modest and easy-going people. i also met up with illustrators, ian kim, ken garduno and edwin ushiro.

i've said it so many times, but it's worth noting again- it's just so nice to meet people that are so crazy creatively, only to find that they're the humblest people ever. i think it's especially amazing when they're in a city like LA, where it's so easy to get caught up with frivolity and egos.

in two days, we checked out lab 101 and munky king on melrose; went gallery-hopping: billy shire fine arts, 1988 gallery, merry karnowsky gallery and the la cienega strip. what a crazy trip. here, painting is really appreciated and given a voice like i've never known before. there are 40 or so galleries in culver city, accommodating to a varying degree of "styles" and clientele.

because of this, i am proud and excited to say that i am now officially, a part of the team at project gallery LA.

tomorrow, on a plane back to canada.

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