Liz OhanesianRead more in “Inside Misha's Studio: Where Hello Kitty Meets 'Ghost in the Shell.'”
Last week, we paid a visit to Misha, an L.A.-based artist whose work will be featured in the forthcoming Harajuku-themed group show Sweet Streets. We began chatting about pop culture influences and Misha mentioned video games.
“I'm really big on video game stuff,” she said.
In fact, Misha's love of video games inspired her to paint a series of characters from the Mario franchise in Star Wars scenarios. She quickly pulled a few pieces from out of a corner of the studio and unwrapped the first one.
“Part of me wants to hang it, but I have nowhere to hang them in the house,” she said as she showed us “The Return of Mario Bros.”
“Slave Girl Peach”; Credit: Shannon Cottrell
“That's the best of the set,” she added, “but I did Princess Peach as Slave Girl Leia. Slave Girl Leia is pretty hot.”
She pulled out a few more paintings.
“Luigi in Carbonite”; Credit: Shannon Cottrell
“The funniest of them, is 'Luigi in Carbonite,'” she said.
She continued, “I don't know if I ever want to get rid of this one. I'm kind of in love with him.”
“I wish there was a big Star Wars show,” Misha lamented. “I have fifty more ideas.”
“Bowser Strikes Back”; Credit: Shannon Cottrell
Check out more of Misha's work on her website.
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