Thursday, May 19, 2011

Cast in Plastic: Art from the Designer Toy Revolution

(Photo credits: Cast in Plastic artists, Valerie G, TOYSREVIL)



(Credit: Abe Lincoln, Jr.)



Cast in Plastic opened this past Saturday night @ Domy Books. Marie Ung curated an amazing show with a packed house- finally, a custom vinyl toy show in Houston! Several pieces were sold opening night, and it would appear that many Houstonians bought their very first designer vinyl toys on Saturday as well. It was all very exciting! Hopefully the peeps around here will understand my custom vinyl critters a bit more now...

Marie, Anville and I were interviewed by the Houston Press:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/05/cast_in_plastic.php

Marie was also interviewed by Andy, of TOYSREVIL: http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2011/05/event-images-for-cast-in-plastic-domy.html

I've included just a few photos of my favorites:
(Photo credits: Valerie G)

Cast in Plastic
Artist: Ack!





Abe Jr.'s Pal, Nooka Olsen
Artist: Abe Lincoln, Jr.




Hill Monster
Artist: EvokerOne




Gears
Artist: Squink!




Prepare for Glory
Artist: Mr. Den




Monkey Bao Bear
Artist: Martin Hsu




Don Diablo
Artist: Chauskoskis





Rabbit in Respite
Artist: Andrew Shondrick




Claude
Artist: Ack!




Hynobot
Artist: Fried Gold Productions




ty-po dunny ex. 8ab - bold future
Artist: Ryan The Wheelbarrow




And of course... Manbearpig! He looks quite happy...



If you missed the opening, be sure to stop by and visit Manbearpig and his new friends- Cast in Plastic runs through 23 June 2011.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Uglydoll Construction Crew

Time for another Uglydoll adventure and a little break from the art shows...

The Uglydoll Construction Crew (UCC): Where the workers are cute (but always extremely respectful), they complete their projects in an efficient manner, and management prefers to be paid in snacks...

Wage and the gang had grown especially dismayed at the nasty construction on our street. The idiots had ripped up both lanes and it was rather dangerous (and hideous!!) to drive in/out of the apartments... Wage was convinced that he could put together his own team and finish this project in a much more efficient and neater manner- I had to agree with him...




Project #1: Our Street!

"Good Morning! I'm Project Manager Wage-pleased to meet you. We've been brought in to examine quality control and to speed up the completion of this project. My assistants will let you know what tasks you will be assigned from now on. Anyone who finishes their work before the deadline will receive extra snacks..."




Project Manager Wage looked over the plans with Assistant Project Managers Wedgehead and Jeero. This was not a complicated project-why was it taking so long?




Wage was a firm believer that Hydrostatic made the best red construction vehicles. Vroom... vroom... He felt about 100 feet tall!




Hmmm- Wage was quite the demanding (but kind) Project Manager... Jeero and Wedgehead were hoping that they could convince him that it was time for them all to take a break!




Project Manager Wage was definitely ready for a break as well, so the guys decided to go relax up on the hill... They were almost finished with this project, next they would deal with another mess in the neighborhood!




Project #2: Houston Inner Loop

While Assistant Project Managers Jeero and Wedgehead finished up the UCC's current project, Project Manager Wage moved on down the street to survey the next disaster they were going to deal with. This nice big, orange truck definitely met his stringent standards and he began drawing up their plans immediately. Wage did wonder though- how come there were all of these unfinished construction projects in Houston, with the trucks and tools just abandoned, almost waiting for them to arrive? Hmmmm- maybe the reputation of the UCC had preceded them...




Yikes! Jeero wished he had seen this warning sticker BEFORE he had decided to inspect the arm on the truck. He had thought things were getting a bit too tight and slipped out just in time... Whew! Obviously the arm worked, yet the crew couldn't seem to figure out why this nifty truck still wasn't being used...




Wowie! Jeero said that he hoped to be able to wear boots like these someday... Impressive!




The Uglydoll Construction Crew will be back! They can't wait for you to see their new work site, and... their new recruit. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

It's Manbearpig!

I bet that you have all guessed that by now... especially since this lil' guy is not my first Manbearpig-type critter. However, he is my first vinyl version of the furry South Park "hybrid" that we've all come to know and love!

Manbearpig was created using a 7" vinyl Munny, over 1000 pompoms (!!), Sculpey, acrylic paint, glass eyes, poly fur, leather, varnish, and found objects.

Here he is admiring the spring flowers:



Enjoying the sun amongst the greenery:



It was a windy day today!



On his "woodsy" display base with his TV (watching South Park, of course!), and box of Cheesy Poofs:



I hope you all like him! Manbearpig is looking forward to meeting lots of new Houston peeps- please stop by Saturday night and say hi to him:

Cast in Plastic: Art from the Designer Toy Revolution:

Opening Night
Saturday, 14 May 2011
7-10 pm

Domy Books
1709 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77098

Cast in Plastic runs through 23 June 2011

Monday, May 9, 2011

Almost Time for the Big Reveal...

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! My piece is finally finished for Cast in Plastic: Art from the Designer Toy Revolution which opens this Saturday, 14 May 2011. Woohoo!

My second hint:


Here is my third and final hint until I post my photos tomorrow:
Episode from Season 10
Enjoy!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Meet Artist and Designer Mari Inukai!

Sorry everyone- I know it's been a whole week since my last post... I'm almost finished with my piece for the Cast in Plastic show on 14 May 2011, and I'll post some photos soon! Here's a hint: he's "half-man, half-bear and half-pig..."

Now on to the super-exciting news!

Mari Inukai, artist and designer, will be at GR2 (Giant Robot Store #2) this Saturday, 7 May 2011 from 2-4 pm (PST) for the release of and to sign her new Sekaiseifukudan vinyl figures. We first heard about these awesome critters this past January, and I've been anxiously awaiting for this day to arrive- if only I lived in California!

"Sekaiseifukudan" translates literally from Japanese as "world conquer team," and features seven characters who work together to conquer the world through love. How adorable is that? Produced by Inner Sanctum, their outside is composed of a hard vinyl, which contains a polysynthetic inside that enables Mari to add tiny extras (like their little hearts) before it hardens. These adorable conquerors stand at about 6" tall and come complete with their own display bases. Which one is your favorite? I think mine is #7-Usagiman...

If you are in Los Angeles, stop by GR2 tomorrow afternoon:

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

If you can't make it, there are some up for pre-order in the Giant Robot webstore, and you can request them to be signed as well.



Photo credits: Mari Inukai and Giant Robot