Otuya & Beyond..

Checked out a great show at Compound Gallery last thursday. It was called Otuya (the Japanese word roughly referring to something similar to a funeral wake here.. i think) featuring ImaOne, Tenga, and Shohei, all artists from Tokyo. I don't think this is common knowledge, but one of the artists, Shohei, is the son of Katsuhiro Ōtomo, the infamous creator of the even more infamous Japanese animated classic Akira. Imagine that much creativity and skill in one family! And the guy was just a normal, talented, cool and awesome guy.. whooda thought!

I had a chance to meet and hang out with all of them and they are really enthusiastic and talented people.. The opening was super fun, as was the rest of the night..

First image courtesy of Matt from Compound Gallery and his blog.










Dinner and drinks anyone? ImaOne, Tenga, and Shohei - from the left to right across the table

Somehow the Googly Eye crew struck while i was having a beer and a whiskey.. with my mouth open no less.

It was first thursday last week too, so I had a chance to check out a number of other openings going on that night.. In general, there was lots of great work! Portland stand up!





Then it was off to Someday lounge for a night of party time..

Then getting drunk and zoning out..

Then experiments with a Tazer..


Then my eventual ruin from too much booze and Tazerings.. All in all, I can't complain.. It was an awesome night.