Little Tokyo · FAMILY PORTRAIT | Hold Up Art Gallery

Little Tokyo Family Portrait | Mixed-Media w/acrylic on canvas | Sean Danconia (2010)

Originally released at Hold Up Art’s expansion show in 2010, “Shō-Tōkyō (Little Tokyo) · Family Portrait” features a host of American, European and Japanese manga, anime and film iconography, collaged atop the Little Tokyo skyline (as photographed by Danconia at SAVOY in DTLA) including but not limited to Fred Flintstone, Popeye and Olive, Scooby Doo, Sonny Chiba, Hello Kitty, Astro Boy, Ayako Wakao, Akira Kobayashi, Frankenberry, Ashita no Joe, Alain Delon, etc. The original sold within a few days of the release but a new limited edition art print is now available at the DANCONIA GALLERY.

Hold Up Art | Little Tokyo LA | A collection of iconographic influence and memorabilia from Japan featuring Takakura Ken, Fuji Junko + Tsuruta Koji, along with several similarly-themed Danconia-designed accessories

A series of poems were composed by Jeff Britting (author / director), which accompanied the art presented by Hold Up during this period. Here is the poem inspired by this particular piece:

Shō-tōkyō (Little Tokyo)

Orochi - Snake on Her Back

A satin slipThe rustle of tissue

And there, like a bento of total Sun,

lies my town, my pride,

my ashita no Joe

Orochi - Snake of the Streets

The click of zori

A man's sandals and overcoat

Dark glasses and a bright Soul, contained:

Alain, Takakura, the Eye that Pops.

Orochi - Snake of the Body

Dream of the Past; A woman!

I watch you through a summer window

Feeling your wet neck after onsen

That smells of wind and the future

Orochi - Snake of the Mind

Come to me, tomodachi of my present,

Assemble like a painting: for you

I'd give my last breathe

To insure the razor of your ken