kozyndan

5 “Schooling Bunnyfish” Paintings
12 in. x 12 in.
acrylic gouache on handmade Japanese paper
2020

Kozy made these paintings to help us raise funds for our big move to the countryside of Japan (just shipping our furniture, and some belongings will cost $7,000US!). Thankfully our fans responded and bought these up quickly! SO SO grateful for our fans after all these years. Its a reminder that this is a two way relationship - we could not live and make art without the support and appreciation of those people with whom our work resonates.

A few of the many new “bunny primitive” sculptures kozy made for our show “The Exodus” that opened in December 2019 at Nucleus Portland. Some of these pieces are still available through their website, so check it out!

SHOP HERE!

“We Are Never Alone”
acrylic gouache and pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches
2019

One of the paintings kozy made for our exhibition “The Exodus” at Nucleus Portland. This was the first time we made some 2D dimensional art to pair with the “bunny primitives” sculptures series that kozy has been making the last 6 years. When filling pages sketching ideas for new sculptures forms, Dan always thought the results of the results looked like cave paintings of early man and decided to make a few paintings for the show like this. Kozy liked the concept and ran with it, experimenting by complexifying the technique to add color, In this painting, we had a dual intention of describing the peaceful intermingling of all the different shapes and colors of the creatures, but also, like in the "Shrine of the Ancestors" painting, we were thinking about the idea of ancestors still being present with us, guiding us, and helping us towards happiness.

The painting is on view and available now at Nucleus Portland!

“Shrine of the Ancestors”
acrylic gouache and pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches
2019

One of the paintings kozy made for our exhibition “The Exodus” at Nucleus Portland. This was the first time we made some 2D dimensional art to pair with the “bunny primitives” sculptures series that kozy has been making the last 6 years. When filling pages sketching ideas for new sculptures forms, Dan always thought the results of the results looked like cave paintings of early man and decided to make a few paintings for the show like this. Kozy liked the concept and ran with it, experimenting by complexifying the technique to add color, gradients, or in this case, modeled shading. The results of this one reminded Dan of a sculpture garden and envisioned the society of these critters erecting sculptural totems of their ancestors that they could interact with, not just in some solemn remembrance, but to enjoy and interact with, get advice from, dance and laugh with, to keep their ancestors close their hearts and present in their lives.

The painting is on view and available now at Nucleus Portland!

https://www.coreyhelfordgallery.com/shows/art-collector-starter-kit-vi/morning-ritual/

“Morning Ritual”
Acrylic Gouache
12 x 12 inches
2019

Dan - a memory of a morning spent with a good friend along my favorite river, the Smith River in the far north of California, the last un-dammed river in the state. It runs through the heart of Redwood country, an area of pristine beauty and relatively few people. There is a private camping spot I have found along a lovely spot along the river. I try to go there annually now around the time the blackberries are in season (in this part of the country the grow wild like mad - and the area around the campsite has tens of thousands of berries bursting on the bushes. Its fun to start the morning with some berry picking and on this occasion my friend Kat wanted to be photographed smushing some of the berries all over herself for portraits that were alternately slightly gruesome and delicious, before jumping into the crystal clear river for a brisk and cleansing skinny dip.

I wanted to make some representation of this memory that was a bit alien for a group exhibition were asked to participate in at Corey Helford Gallery. Its available now through the gallery!

Our new exhibition, “The Exodus”, opens TONIGHT, 12-13-2019 in Portland!

If you are in Portland, OR please come by Nucleus Portland tonight 6-9pm and say hi and check out our new show of kozy’s ceramic sculptures, and paintings by us as well! We are presenting almost 130 new “bunny primitive” sculptures, most of whom have been on a long journey from the traditional wood kilns in the Japanese countryside, to Los Angeles, to Portland to share with all of you! We also made 7 new paintings to accompany the sculptures.

As always, each sculpture is a one-of-a-kind, hand built ceramic sculpture, and each comes with a card with their picture, name, and story, stamped and signed by kozy.

The show runs December 13, 2019 - January 15, 2020 at Nucleus Portland. 1445 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, OR. 97214 ph: (503) 231-2702

“The Bunnies Fall”
Digital, 2006

The autumn image in our “Seasons of the Rabbit” series. Dan turned falling autumn leaves into bunnies drifting down over a rushing river. Print available in our web shop. Like “Bunny Blossoms” it is not based on a specific ukiyo-e masterpiece, but captures the feel of a genre of landscape in those Japanese woodblock prints.

Boroboro

Drawings of dilapidated buildings in the Japanese countryside Kozy made for our $70 patrons on our Patreon for June 2019. If you subscribe at the $70 level you get some original artwork in the mail every month. Sometimes its just a little sketch or quick painting, other times something more time intensive like these beautiful renderings. Dan wrote about the subject of the old buildings in our blog for $5 and up subscribers. Consider joining us in our Patreon to follow along as we renovate kozy’s 130 year old farmhouse in the Japanese countryside and get something from us in the mail each month!

Title: “A Super Day In California!“
Size: 16x20 inches
Medium: acrylic on board
SOLD

We did this little painting for the massive Hello Kitty 45th Anniversary Exhibition that opened last week here in Los Angeles, CA at COREY HELFORD GALLERY. We were thinking about the experience of seeing this past spring’s wildflower super bloom paired with a once in a decade mass migration of millions of painted lady butterflies. I think we spend far too little time appreciating the miracles that nature creates, and far too much time contributing to its destruction. Many would argue that by viewing, or making known the existence of these remaining pockets of natural beauty/ ephemeral wildlife events, we contribute to their ultimate destruction. On the other hand, sharing these things may make people appreciate them more and want to care for their continued existence on the Earth.

Its hard to know how to walk this fine line, especially in this age of social media, where people can flock to any place you/event you give a name or location to. Still, we do want to share it with people we know would appreciate and respect these natural events - if Hello Kitty came to visit us in California, I think we would entrust her with this experience as she would probably be in the moment and appreciate its beauty deeply, rather than just scrambling for a selfie.

Anyhow - the opening for the exhibition was a massive event - TV news coverage, line around the block all night to get in to see it, people decked out in costume, with Hello Kitty herself on hand to take photos with, not to mention a massive collection of amazing interpretations of Hello Kitty by 100 international artists ( Caro Buermann did an amazing job curating this huge show).

The show is on view till August 3rd, 2019, so if you are in LA and love Hello Kitty, do go check it out!

“Westside”
12 x 12 inches
Nihonga on board

A very LA painting for kozy. Proper ink on the hand of our friend that lives in Santa Monica.