Eyezon in the Buff

Giant Robot Store, established in 2001 features products from around the world. Notably, fun house wares, gifts, stationeries, t shirts, comics, plush and toy figures. Giant Robot is often cited as the birthplace for Asian Pop Culture products and Uglydolls. GR2 Gallery features art exhibitions by notable artists like Katsuya Terada, Luke Chueh, David Choe, Mari Inukai, Deth P Sun, Rob Sato, Ako Castuera, Sean Chao, Yoskay Yamamoto, Uglydoll, and countless others. Over the years Mark Nagata has collected thousands of toys and a fair amount of titles. The man behind San Francisco-based Max Toy Company is widely known as: Toy Collector. Illustrator. Magazine Founder/Publisher. Toy Designer. Artist. Author. Husband. Father. But the one description that might fit best is an unofficial one -- Kaiju Toy and Art Ambassador. In the Japanese-inspired art and toy area, as well as throughout the larger toy collecting community, Mark is welcomed and recognized for his personal passion and commitment to supporting artists all around the world and the unique works they create. Beginning as a collector in his youth, Mark has had for years a keen eye for great art and a personal interest in collecting that he has spread through a variety of outlets. Trained at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, Mark honed his skills working for himself and for some of the most notable businesses in the country. As a freelance commercial illustrator, he completed works for such prominent companies as Lucasfilms, DC Comics, Hasbro Toys, IBM, Sony, and numerous advertising and design firms, both national and international. Mark's Buff Monster is best known for his wheat-pasted, street art featuring lumps of ice cream, clouds, and squirting breasts. He needs just a few tones to seize your eyeballs–black, gray, white, and pinks–and his disarmingly sweet imagery has spilled over into the worlds of fashion, collectibles, and galleries, as well as collaborations for the likes of The Standard, Hurley, Vans, Helio, and Nike. For this exhibit, the Los Angeles artist is asking 49 of his artist friends, peers, and colleagues to customize three-inch toys based on his work. A full-color, limited-edition poster will also be made available to commemorate the event and capture the one-of-a-kind pieces.