Friends with You exhibit “The Beginning” at cult store Colette in Paris. The show is centered around a recurring theme and archetype in the design duo’s art: the boy, a cute and simple spirit that is also all powerful. The boy is representative of the child inside everyone and acts as a self-reflective tool for the viewer to connect to the art.
FriendsWithYou and AOL Artists are excited to announce the opening of the forty piece environmental installation “Rainbow City” in New York City, in celebration of Section 2 of the High Line. Originally commissioned by Luminato Festival of the Arts in Toronto and showcased in association with AOL and PAPER Magazine during Art Basel Miami 2010, FriendsWithYou presents a vibrant collection of mutable, air-filled sculptures.
FWY Studios collaborated with Hill Holliday to create a seasonal 15-second television spot for Dunkin’ Donuts. Two adorable Halloween party-goers stand before the last donut. Some devilish trickery ensues, and Dunkin’ Donuts invites the viewer to share in the Halloween fun. Says FWY Studios, “The challenge was conveying the angel/devil relationship in 6 seconds with only 2 camera angles. The result is a fun Halloween trick-or-treat.”
Viewers will be sure to delight at the characters and animation that FWY Studios have created. The television spot is airing now, look for it on a commercial break!
This weekend in New York City October 9-11, RE:FORM SCHOOL will be taking over 233 Mott St. in a call for the reform of the American Public Education System. RE:FORM school is an art exhibition, event series, and public awareness campaign that believes it is the right of every child to have access to high quality education. It is open to the public between 10:00am-6:00pm.
Artists involved include Andrew Bannecker, Gary Baseman, FriendsWithYou, Shepard Fairey (founder of Studio Number One), Tes One (pictured above: Wonders Never Cease), TrustoCorp, and many more. Events include a silkscreening workshop with Faile, a paper mural workship with WK Interact, and a breakdancing class with Ken Swift. Don’t forget to stop by the old fashioned bake sale! Proceeds support local arts and education.
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), also referred to as the Moon Festival or Lantern Festival, is a major holiday in China and Vietnam. Family members and friends gather underneath the full moon at the autumnal equinox to celebrate the harvest. An indispensable part of festivities is eating mooncakes (月饼), round pastries with a thin skin that contain a sweet, dense filling of ingredients such as red bean paste, lotus seed paste, dates and walnut paste, and more.
B&A Reps Asia has enlisted B&A artists to create 6 unique mooncake paper crafts for the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 22nd. Download the mooncake craft templates, print them out, assemble them, and then give them out as gifts! The paper craft kit includes five paper mooncakes and one box to hold them all. Andrew Bannecker, FriendsWithYou, ilovedust, Nicola Meiring, and Stanley Chow all contributed mooncake designs. Am I Collective designed the gift box.
FriendsWithYou bring their signature magic, love, and friendship to Taipei, Taiwan for the Very Fun Park exhibition sponsored by the Fubon Art Foundation. “Field of Dreams” covers the facade of the Fubon Banking Center skyscraper in the eastern part of the city. A smiling cloud nestled in colorful flowers reminds us to look up at the sky, reminding viewers of their hopes and aspirations as children.
Very Fun Park extends throughout the entire city of Taipei, with “Field of Dreams” as one of the focal points of the exhibition. Other artists are displayed on storefronts, outdoors, and more, making the art accessible to all and dissolving the line between gallery and viewer. The theme of “looking up” demonstrates how in a small movement, one can be reminded of the vastness of the universe.
For those of you who were in Toronto June 10-20th, we hope you had a chance to experience the magical world of FriendsWithYou’s “Wish Come True Festival”. Commissioned by the Luminato Festival of the Arts, FriendsWithYou spread their message of “Magic, Luck, and Friendship” throughout the city. Queens Park in downtown Toronto was converted into Rainbow City, a colorful alternative dimension of gigantic totems, magical mushrooms, oversize bounce houses, and inflatable characters that came to life. Appearing in Rainbow City and around Toronto was the Rainbow King, Wish Come True Festival’s very own ambassador. Rainbow King was present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Rainbow City, opened the Canadian Stock Exchange, walked the red carpet at the Prima Donna opening night, and more. A walking piece of art, the Rainbow King thoroughly enchanted all the people of Toronto to join in the magic that was stationed in many parts of the city. The Wish Come True Festival was a complete transformation of the city into a beautiful place where dreams and magic became reality!
FriendsWithYou brings color and festivities to Toronto for the Wish Come True Festival in what will be their largest interactive installation to date. The Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity has commissioned FriendsWithYou to spread their universal message of magic, love, and friendship throughout the city. During June 10th – 20th, 2010 visitors can enjoy larger-than-life inflatable installations, a gallery show, several pop-up shops, community events, speaking engagements, and more. The highlight of the 10-day event is Rainbow City at Queen’s Park. The Luminato 2010′s festival Mascot Rainbow King leads a host of celestial characters in transforming Queen’s Park with larger-than-life dimensions of giant totems, bounce houses, and inflatable friends.
N.E.R.D. rolls around the California desert in a custom-wrapped Rolls Royce designed by FriendsWithYou for their upcoming music video “Hot & Fun.” The single featuring Nelly Furtado drops in June. In the meantime, teaser music videos by Fro Rojas have been proliferated around the web. FriendsWithYou’s Super Malfi gets some special attention from a few party-goers in Rojas’ “The Party Version.” In creating the one-of-a-kind Rolls Royce FriendsWithYou says “Magical Explosions [were] born, a psychedelic take over of FriendsWithYou cosmic forces.”
FriendsWithYou has been very busy bringing magic to life. They paired up with US Sydney to produce the latest animated spot for Match.com. It’s never too late to find your match! “Better Together” tells the animated tale of a pea and a carrot destined to find one another. From strawberries and cream, fork and knife, to rabbit and hat, watch beloved duos connect in Friends With You’s delightful universe.
2009 is coming to a close and we would like to thank all of our talent, clients, agents, and friends for a wonderful year. A blog was started (which became our homepage), new artists were signed on, and lots of cool projects were carried out. We leave you with this animated video and wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
FriendsWithYou recently opened their flagship boutique in the heart of the Miami design district, perfectly in tune with Art Basel festivities. The boutique is a place “where fine art meets consumer products.” Marking the opening was a new line of limited edition merchandise including apparel, fine art, sculptures, prints, collectible toys and everything FriendsWithYou.
FriendsWithYou is a multi-disciplinary group that specialize in spreading their positive message of “Magic, Luck, and Friendship” through large-scale installations, special events, toys, and more. We invite you to “Shop Happy!” with them.
FriendsWithYou Flagship Boutique
3930 NE 2ND Ave, Suite 202
Miami, FL 33137
Hello Kitty celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Parent company Sanrio is not holding back when it comes to honoring the pink-bowed feline. At the center of numerous Hello Kitty events is the Three Apples exhibition at the Royal/T gallery in Los Angeles. Curated by Jamie Rivadeneira, owner of pop-culture shop JAPANLA, the show includes Hello-Kitty inspired work by over 80 artists such as Gary Baseman, FriendsWithYou, Ron English, Buff Monster, Camilla d’Errico, Luke Chueh, Deph, Yosuke Ueno, and more.
Illustrators and animators Friends With You are at it again with their latest book Try This. Inside this latest volume is a beautiful selection of recent works and some older classics. Fans of Friends With You’s colorful and vivacious style will not be disappointed.
For other goodies from Friends With You, check out their online art store.
