Hello Kitty Closing Party Japanese American National Museum
On May 22nd the Japanese American National Museum (JANM )held it’s closing party for their Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary exhibition. There was an artists signing that i attended which was 2 hours plus of autographing and sketching for a steady stream of amazing Hello Kitty fans. I don’t get out to these types of events much anymore, so it was nice to have the talented Martin Hsu next to me … as entertainmentΒ π
I actually missed the opening of this show and Hello Kitty Con a few months back due to illness, so I was determined to make this event. My goal was to take a picture with Hello Kitty… goal accomplished !
The show will end on May 31, so you have only one last weekend to see it in Los Angeles at the museum. The piece above is my contribution to the show called “Hello Kitty Kaiju “.
I actually spent a part if my early childhood growing up in the Sawtelle area of Los Angeles in the early 70s. I have childhood memories of various LA buildings and such … like city hall.
Artists group picture above. I wish I had more time to introduce myself to my fellow artists, but these types of events are hard to do so. I’m so lucky to be asked to such shows, sometimes I’m not sure why I am with so many talented artists.
Photo by Richard Watanabe
All during this event we’ve been releasing with Sanrio and JapanLA our original sofubi toy, Hello Kitty Kaiju via the JANM store. The clear version above is our last release … and it barely made it to the signing from Tokyo. According to Jack at Vinyl Pulse, the postal guy wasn’t planning on delivering it since it was late at night, but stopped by anyways and was able to drop it off. We had 50 pieces sent early for the signing … and yes they sold out. Don’t worry the next and last batch have shipped. Keep checking the JANM twitter (@jamuseum) feed for more info on how and when they will be sold.
Lulu approves π
Many thanks to the JANM, their staff and volunteers for making this event run so smooth. Looking forward to the future of this Hello Kitty show !
Their web site:Β http://www.janm.org