July's Artist Bio: Brian Justiniano

This month's featured artist is Brian Justiniano. His work has charmed and captivated many eyes of art enthusiasts and has been described as "neo-retro"and "refreshing". Brian's artwork can still be seen at Yojié DTLA until early August. Here's a bio written by Brian:

"My name is Brian Justiniano. I am Twenty years old, born October 25, 1989 in Los Angeles, CA. It was not hard for me to recognize my calling for artistry. For as long as I could remember, art would intrigue me— even as child, just watching cartoons would make me wonder how the characters on my TV screen were drawn. My imagination since has grown wildly, as I would become interested with all the art surrounding me. Although I don’t have a certain style, I believe my work is strongly influenced by some of my favorite artists such as Michael Hsiung, Teddy Kelly, Luke Chueh and Barry McGee. After a few months of hiatus, I got my art back on track and decided to change my college major from Radiology to Fine Arts and Illustration. My love for art since then has become a passion, and my work has only improved. Pursuing something I love and value so much is a decision I will never regret." 

Brian and his work titled "kaiko" 

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Shabu-Shabu: An Unsung Hero?

The Japanese culture is a big umbrella of multi-cultures that share common interests, and compliment with one another. Whether it deals with commercial media and traditional practices, to underground music of Japanese “Speedcore” and groundbreaking artwork, Japanese culture is full of serenity and harmony with all of these beautiful entities, if you want to call them “entities”.
I guess you can say I’m a bit biased to saying this because I immerse myself in this culture as much as possible. Particularly in the area of Japanese food, Japanese animated cartoons, or “Anime”, and I read a lot of their comics, or “Manga”. The particular subculture of Japanese art and storytelling really moves me. The stories are captivating and creative, always leaving a person wanting more. And for the food part—well, that’s a given. Japanese food is incredible.
This past week I had the opportunity to connect to other people like myself and really appreciate that particular subculture at a convention known as AnimeExpo, located in Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. It started on July 1st to July 4th. This convention holds a wide collection of people who enjoy the Japanese animation subculture and more. People come together and watch television shows, talk about tea ceremonies, sell Japanese related items, and even mimic favorite characters by dressing up as them known as Cosplay. While I was there, I wanted to find out what people there knew about how much they knew about the Japanese culture in terms of food.
Sure, these people knew about sushi, ramen houses, street foods like “Takoyaki”, and BBQ houses, because they were displayed in many popular Japanese television shows and comics, but did they know of Shabu-Shabu? And I wanted to find out.
I spoke to a few native Japanese people who were there and I found out that Shabu was quite common. However, it seemed like it wasn’t really given the limelight that it should. It interested me because if that was the case, did non-natives who also attended the convention and who also appreciated the culture, knew of Shabu and thought of it on a different level just like Anime at Anime conventions?
I went around the convention, asking people what they knew of Shabu-shabu and the conclusion that I came up with is that it’s acknowledged but not really known because a lot of Anime show mainly ramen houses, sushi bars, and other eateries, since majority of Anime take place during summer time. Since Shabu-shabu is commonly known as a winter dish in Japan, I guess you can see why Shabu-shabu houses aren’t really featured in a popular Anime series. And although Shabu-shabu could be eaten year-round as well, Shabu houses featured in winter scenes in Anime help strengthen the setting of time, aside from the snow and mounds of winter clothing, since it’s been a standing tradition to do Shabu during winter season.
I feel that Anime should really bring about Shabu in more Anime series since a good majority of them feature everything else—why not do it? Making more Anime in the winter season will help avid Anime viewers really understand more about the culture. Maybe they should make an Anime revolving around Shabu-Shabu?
Nah. I’m pushing my luck =P

-John E. Torres (aka Jet)

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"...think well, love well, sleep well..."

I am very sure that you’ve heard that work is never work when you truly love what you do. Well that’s exactly how it is for me. I am truly blessed to have a network that recognized my strengths and believe that I am worthy enough to be a part of this partnership. One of the biggest reasons I believe so much about this company is because of the food.

Because I’ve seen what revolved around this company- the passion, the work, the people, and can’t forget the food- I can truly say that it is a brand that I am so proud of. I was never one to really be passionate about restaurants, mainly because it was difficult for me to fathom the processed foods that different restaurants were offering (don’t get me wrong, I still eat out, but I am particular about what and where I eat AND I seldom take part in them). But when I came across Yojié’s and most importantly started my partnership, I truly believe that eating shabu shabu or sukiyaki is really, “more than just healthy food…[but an] experience.” (Sidenote: it also hits home-being born and raised in Japan- because I grew up in a home that often ate shabu shabu).

In an extended essay based on poverty, Virginia Woolf once wrote:

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

So, although I do not live in poverty, this still hits home. Because I can walk away from my day (or from my office, from work, from the restaurant, etc.) knowing that not only are my guests at Yojié’s eating well, but also dining in with an experience. An experience that makes you feel good and like Virginia Woolf stated makes you think well, love well, [and] sleep well. But more importantly, this experience can be recreated over and over again. So come on in, the door is always open! Hope to see you again soon!

<3, Elisa

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