The Giant Robot Post-It Show is the ultimate stuff of legends. Every year, the Los Angeles-based gallery’s walls become plastered in Post-its, each one created by a top artist. Audrey Kawasaki, Stella Im Hultberg and Yoskay Yamamoto are in the list of esteemed artists for 2018, as well as The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Pop Surrealist painter Luke Chueh, and many more.
So how does the gallery get such big names to create art on Post-it notes? Eric Nakamura, the owner, and operator of Giant Robot’s Universe, nurtures his friendships with influential and new artists and shares his love with art fans and curious onlookers. Nakamura can do this because he is authentic, has a perceiving aesthetic style, and knows how to promote and support both emerging and established artists and art lovers. The Post-It Show is a fan favorite as it makes the art extraordinarily affordable and accessible. More than four hundred artists are challenged with Post-it notes as canvases (approximately 3,000+), and they're for sale for only $25 each.
Artists such as Sean Chao are not afraid to adhere clay sculptures to their Post-its. Danielle Krysa uses collage, and David Horvath graces his with the lovable Ugly Dolls. The entire walls of the gallery are lined in Post-its.
Nakamura notes the importance of Post-Its as an untraditional yet perfect canvas. When the gallery walls are covered in the small pieces, they turn into a patchwork quilt of creativity. When a buyer brings a piece home, it’s the chance to own a high-quality piece at an entry-level price. It’s also a meaningful way for children to see that anybody can be an artist. It is inspiring and shows the next generation that art is within reach.
This year, Kawasaki painted her ethereal figures onto the tiny canvases and they lasted mere minutes on the gallery walls before they were sold to grateful fans.
Following Kawasaki’s high praise, it should come as no surprise that people have been known to line up outside of the LA storefront, some sleeping outside for days. Nakamura remembers the first time somebody lined up in 2017. It was a fellow from New York who flew to LA and did not even book a hotel. He went straight to Giant Robot instead and went to sleep on the sidewalk in front of the store.
Giant Robot’s Post-It Show runs until December 9, 2018 at Giant Robot in LA.
Eva Katz / My Modern Met
Audrey Kawasaki
Yoskay Yomamoto
Yoskay Yomamoto
Eva Katz / My Modern Met
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