On my recent journey down to Portland, Oregon, I spent a lot of time in their exceptional shops. I managed to hit up all of the big ones that you may have seen Bendis tout in the back of the most recent issue of Scarlet, without a doubt my favorite was Jason Leivian’s Floating World Comics, a shop that Leivian himself describes as “the record store of comics stores.” That title is exceptionally accurate, as it has a different flow and feel than almost any store I’ve come across in my travels, not to mention an inescapable charm and phenomenal selection that is quite rare.
While I was in the shop, they also happened to be doing a month long art show for Portland’s First Thursday art walks. This art show featured over 30 artists (including entries from personal favorites like Jim Rugg – whose effortyou can see to the left – and Angie Wang) who put together pieces inspired by the remarkably innovative and entertaining video game Katamari Damacy. Not only that, but they were selling prints and t-shirts featuring the works that were being sold to benefit not-for-profit organization JOIN.
This show featured a bevy of superb works, and if you’re in the area I highly recommend checking it out. If not? Get your Katamari on here (for a Flickr stream of the launch event) and here (for a preview of the individual pieces), and keep checking Floating World’s website as they will be auctioning off originals on eBay the last week of September.
