After locking my unsuccessful ISO thread for Hanuka's 'The Perfect Storm', I started one for this Ortiz set. Bumping it regularly, I received a lot of offers from other members to help with adding funds to my offer. Fortunately, I didn't have to take anyone up on it and was able to lock the thread for the right reasons a year to the day after opening it. (Set counts as 1 pickup.)
Speaking of 'The Perfect Storm', here's a quote from last year's 'Top 5' thread:
jmagee87 wrote:What? No Hanuka Perfect Storm? Slacker
It was no secret that I had been after this piece for some time. My ISO thread had caught a lot of attention without many promising leads. There was one brief glimmer of hope, but it was quickly squashed which still stings even now. Multiple people telling me to buy the magazine off eBay, or the expensive open-edition through The New Yorker with the title covering part of the art did little to help. Suddenly, murmurs started popping up in the Bottleneck thread about an alternate color-way of this possibly being produced, but it seemed like bullshit. Joe, on the other hand, began posting certain details that made it seem like something was in the works. Suddenly, everything became very real when Joe revealed that an AP run would finally be made available. The price-tag was steep, but as Rambosremodeler posted, everyone was about to find out how bad I wanted this.
I've been a fan of Matthew Woodson for a while, so when I realized he would have a few originals available for Mondo's 'House Party' show, I set my sights on them very early on. Photographing all of the pieces for the show was quite a daunting task, but it allowed me the opportunity to see all of the pieces up close and have enough time to whittle my decision down between two pieces. After camping out for my first show in a while, I was thrilled to have my choice of his five pieces from the show.
Vanessa's star definitely shined a bit brighter this year, making this pickup all the more special. She's continuing to evolve and get better with each passing day. This little guy is currently with Corey and the Furthur Frames crew getting settled in his new nest and will be on his way back to me soon.
Semi-NSFW, hence a URL and not an image.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/309/31373 ... 82fe_c.jpg
One of my favorite pieces I've ever received. Has a lot of personal significance and is absolutely perfect, to me. (Edit: This one might not be from 2016, but who cares?)