"New Beginnings" by Andy Kehoe

Lab101 Gallery is closing and their last show was called "Happy Endings". Andy Kehoe contributed a piece "New Beginnings" which I found very meaningful given the title of the last show.

Apart from the significance of the piece, the main reason why I bought the piece is because I really like the little acorn creatures. I hope to see Kehoe integrate the acorn creatures into his future artworks.

Open Air

OPEN AIR from knox on Vimeo.

"A Pound and A Bear Hug" by BASK and Tes One

Took some time to hang up this HUGE artwork by BASK. I absolutely love this painting. It is hard to see from the photos but I am impressed by the paint brushstrokes and layers of the different media. BASK painted the whole thing on a wooden table-top.

Definitely will be buying more of his paintings in the future.

"Hope Rests In Quiet Fields" by Andy Kehoe

I have told myself not to buy any more Andy Kehoe's stuff. Owning 2 paintings and 4 prints of his is enough.

But once I laid my eyes on his latest work at Thinkspace Gallery, I can't help myself.

Cool piece huh?

"Obstacle Movers" by Blaine Fontana

Blaine Fontana has a new giclee screen on wood called "Obstacle Movers" that I am trying to purchase. I like the glossy resin finish on the surface.

He also has 2 new prints called "Irregular Fauna #2" and "The Nestkeeper is Waiting". Time to add to my Fontana print collection. :)

Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks

This song is nothing but kickass!!! Stumbled upon the video on MTV Asia late one night and was totally blown away by the song.

What an infectious tune.

"Move So Far" by Brendan Monroe

I have just received the "Caretaker" painting by Brendan Monroe and I have admit: this is the best, most beautiful piece of artwork I have ever seen and owned in my life.

It is hard to describe but the colours, the texture, the visual and even the frame added up to one masterpiece of a painting that I absolutely love. Now I am such a big Monroe fan, I am on a hunt to own more of his artworks.

I managed to secure the above work "Move so Far" by Brendan. Even though in terms of visual impact, this piece is not as impressive as the "Caretaker", the title as well as the image of a little fella moving his tree home on his back brought a smile to my face.

Storm Clouds by Jeff Soto

This sucks. Jeff Soto's new show at Jonathan Levine Gallery is held at the same time as Blaine Fontana's show at Lineage gallery.

Unfortunately I have to decide between buying a painting from Fontana or saving it up for a Soto.

And I chose Fontana.

How I wish that I am rich and can afford "Land of the Free" (shown above) piece from Soto. Not only is it beautiful, now it is sold and I am regretting not buying it when I had the chance.

At least I saved US$4000 and bought a Fontana piece. Sigh...

"Arturism" painting by Alex Pardee

Alright. Brendan Monroe's "Caretaker" painting will be displayed in my baby's room. This Alex Pardee's "Arturism" piece will NOT be displayed in my house at all.

I love Pardee's insane artworks. But I have this feeling my baby (and perhaps my wife) will freak out or get disturbed if they see his pieces.

Guess I will hang this piece in my office, since most of my colleagues are freaks anyway. It is like they have just stared into a mirror or something.

The painting is drawn by Alex Pardee, inspired by the book "Geek Love". I will check out the book this weekend.

"Caretaker" painting by Brendan Monroe

A painting by Brendan Monroe that was created for a show at Little Cake Gallery to benefit the NYC animal shelters. I am pleased to secure a piece from Mr Monroe (I have always love his alien symbiotes paintings) as well as contribute to taking care of animals.

"Thunder Clouds over a Flower" by Jeff Soto

The new "Thunder Clouds over a Flower" Giclee by Jeff Soto is a real beauty. How I wish I have the US$350 to drop on this.

Doktor A MAD*L Collection

I have been waiting for nearly a year for Doktor A, a talented artist and toy customizer, from the UK to produce my commission. Not only did I got my Headgear mad*l from him, I were fortunate enough to score his Rapture mad*l from an auction and received his Stitches mad*l as a gift.

Really love Doktor A's works. His customs are the gems of my mad*l collection.

My Blaine Fontana Mini-Gallery

I am proud and happy to have done up my "mini-gallery" of paintings from my favourite artist Blaine Fontana. "The Science of Retirement", "Pieces of 9" and "Zealous" pieces look beautiful displayed beside each other.

After completing this set-up, it is time to start working on my opposite wall for another Blaine Fontana set-up. Hope to get some beautiful pieces from his upcoming show.

Sleeping Prince

My little baby boy has decided to wait for his dad to return home in Singapore from Athens before he popped out. Good news for me as I was fortunate enough to be in the delivery room to see his birth, but bad news for my wife who has to endure 2 extra days of labour pains in the hospital :P

We decided to name him Leonidas. I will have to send him out to fight a wolf when he's seven.

"Wooden Warrior" MAD*L by Motorbot

My Framed Andy Kehoe's Prints

Got back my framed Andy Kehoe's prints and I am thrilled. I have choosen the frame that complemented very well with the designs and colours of Kehoe's artworks, methink.

The only issue is I have ran out of wallspace for my stuff. :(

I met Nekonoko in Tokyo!

I was shopping in Fewmany store in Tokyo over the weekend and bought a couple of Kaiju For Grown Ups and Touma toys.

While paying for the stuff, I spied a couple of custom Nekonoko toys on display. There were 2 girls at the Fewmany counter and I told them I wanted to buy one of the customs.

I had no idea why the girls started giggling and conversing in Japanese. I asked them what is so funny and one of the girls pointed at the other and said "She's Nekonoko."

I was delighted and told her that her toys are cute. I bought 2 more of her toys and asked her whether she could sign them. Not only did she signed them, she scribbled some drawings on them as well.

Nekonoko is a very nice person (shy though). I asked for a photo and she obliged. After that she even gave me one of her prints for free.

Now I am a big fan of Nekonoko :D

"Pieces of 9" by Blaine Fontana

This is the reason why Blaine Fontana is my favourite artist. My Buddha, how can anyone deny that the man is talented???

I was lucky enough to purchase Pieces of 9 from the Limited Addiction Gallery Opening Show. David, the gallery owner, was kind enough to give me first purchase right for this Fontana painting after I whined non-stop about missing out on the Audrey Kawasaki paintings. ;P

And to be honest, I am glad that I missed out on the Kawasaki. This is much much more beautiful.

My current favourite artwork. I love it!!!

Boy with Bear Hood & Beanie Mad*l by Kathie Olivas

A blast from the past. Heard that Kathie will be having a custom toy show soon at Copro Nason Gallery. Can't wait to prounce on her custom mad*l toys.

The Runts Show by Tristan Eaton

Am in Tokyo for business and rushed to the Lele showroom in order to catch the Runts show before the showroom closes.

Runts are cool new mouse-like characters created by Tristan Eaton for his show at Lele showroom in Tokyo. I wanted to buy a couple of the artworks but the Japanese staff did not speak English and could not tell me whether they would ship the artworks to Singapore after the show if I purchase.

There are many more cool multi-layers artworks at the show too. Tristan created a number of pieces showing the runts in various funny situations (like after sex, chasing girl, staring up skirt etc)

However while I was taking photos of the artworks, I was told by the staff (in sign language) that photos taking is disallowed :(

Overall a show with nice artworks by Tristan, but the staff at the Lele Showroom made it unfriendly for non-Japanese speaking customers.

“Goodnight Lava” by Alex Pardee

*Sigh* The one that got away...

When Alex Pardee had his "Goodnight Lava" show earlier this year in Feb, the piece that I really liked and wanted is the painting that shared the same name as the show : "Goodnight Lava".

However I was unwilling to spend US$1400 for a painting of that size, and dragged my feet on it, thinking that I may pick it up later.

Now, I have no idea how to get it after the show ended, and whether it has been sold to anyone.

The image of "Goodnight Lava" will always be on my mind now...

More pics from Blaine Fontana's “Taxonomy Animalia” show

I love the latest works from Blaine Fontana so much that I wanna share those paintings that I have to skip to buy the "Zealous" piece from the “Taxonomy Animalia” show.

Enjoy.

Prints by Andy Kehoe

"War Hovers Over Us Again"


"Death Comes for Me on a Beautiful, Autumn Day"


"Souvenir of the Lovely Stranger"



I read the May issue of Juxtapoz magazine and there is a one-page profile on the artist Andy Kehoe. I liked the painting shown and checked out his website.

Man, the guy has talents! I find his arts beautiful and the titles of his paintings bring a smile to my face.

Just ordered the attached 3 prints from Andy. Can't wait for a chance to score a painting from him.

"Zealous" painting by Blaine Fontana from the “Taxonomy Animalia” show

My favourite artist, Blaine Fontana, has a show at the Limited Addiction gallery called the "Taxonomy Animalia" show and I must admit: his latest works must be the best and the strongest collection of artworks he has ever done.

I love his paintings so much that I wish that I am uber-rich and can afford to buy as many paintings as possible.

In the end, I have to limit myself to a single piece (at a acceptable size since my apartment is small) and I chose the "Zealous" painting.

The painting, literally, screams out at me. Somehow I find a screaming zebra amusing and I am digging the "street-styled" design Blaine has integrated into the background.

Can't wait for it to drop into Singapore.

"Yume No Ato" print by Audrey Kawasaki

Yume No Ato

giclee print on archival paper
11"x13" on a 13"x16" sheet
signed and numbered
limited edition of 100

Saw the print went up for sale on Audrey Kawasaki's website and I immediately ordered one. The print sold out in a day's time! With a print run of 100, I was very surprised at how fast this piece sold. But I guess everyone is as mesmerized by the beautiful girl in the "Yume No Ato" piece drawn by the red-hot Audrey-san as I was. Personally I thought that "Yume No Ato" was the best painting at the "Four Dreams" show at Compound Gallery earlier this January.

I'm glad it was made into a print... and I got my hands on one :)

"Cluster" print by Joe Ledbetter

The "Cluster" print by the ultra-popular Joe Ledbetter was listed on the Kidrobot online store without any major announcement. I was lucky enough to stumble across the sale on a thread in the Kidrobot discussion forum and spent an hour thinking whether I should buy the print. (I am not a big fan of Ledbetter, even though I own one of his paintings, one of his prints and a couple of his toys)

The print was listed without any details about the run edition or dimensions, which added to my hesitation. Kidrobot's practice is to list the new products first and fill in the details later. This time I took a chance to purchase the US$79.95 print, and thankfully I did because I bought the last piece! :D

The print is SOLD OUT now in kidrobot store. Hopefully everything went well with my credit card and I don't receive a refund email from them.

I am leaning towards keeping the "Cluster" print. It is rare to own a piece of art from Joe Ledbetter that compises all of his popular characters like Mr Bunny, Firecat, Teeter and Ringo the bear. It even has the Monkey with the attitude. :)

"The Immoderates" print by Shag

Framed my first Shag print "The Immoderates" and now this baby is hanging on the wall of my living room.

I was not aware that Shag prints are so big in sizes and this particular framing costed me a bomb. I still have 2 more Shag prints that I am going to frame when I have saved up a bit more money :P

I can't stop staring at this artwork. I believe only the ultra-rich have properties that are so humongous that they need to communicate with their family members under the same roof via their phones and cellphones.

“The Clovervine Slumber” Print by Amy Sol

The latest print from the beautiful Amy Sol is out on her site (amysol.com). I was unfortunate enough to miss out on her first 2 prints and am happy to secure the “The Clovervine Slumber” print.

Cute, isn't it? :)