Hana to Ookami

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. Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the dried film. Oil paints have been used in Europe since the 12th century for simple decoration, but were not widely adopted as an artistic medium until the early 15th century. Common modern applications of oil paint are in finishing and protection of wood in buildings and exposed metal structures such as ships and bridges. Its hard-wearing properties and luminous colors make it desirable for both interior and exterior use on wood and metal. Due to its slow-drying properties, it has recently been used in paint-on-glass animation. Thickness of coat has considerable bearing on time required for drying: thin coats of oil paint dry relatively quickly. MARI INUKAI was born in Nagoya, Japan. In 1995, Mari came to the US to pursue her studies in art. She first attended Santa Monica Community College (Mentor program), Santa Monica, California, then Associates in Art, Sherman Oaks, California, and finally California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, where she received her BFA in Character Animation in 2004. Her professional works include Sanrio Co., Ltd. Japan, Disney Consumer Products, Glendale, Cartoon Network, Burbank, Nickelodeon, New York, O entertainment, Los Angeles, Nylon Motion Inc., Los Angeles, Oishii Productions, Los Angeles and NGTV, Los Angeles. Her short animated film, Blue and Orange, has been an official selection at numerous national and international film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival 2003, and was the Japanese Grand Prix winner at the Short Shorts Film Festival EXPO 2005. Besides her animation and production works, Mari regularly exhibits her paintings and drawings, and designs clothes, ceramic toy figures and other fun products. She lives in Beverly Hills with her daughter, Sena. Check out more about Mari and her work here: http://www.mariinukai.com