Reduced Figuration

Why do you go to conventions or openings of exhibitions? Is it...

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:26:53 +0200

Why do you go to conventions or openings of exhibitions? Is it because you are interested in all the new stuff that will soon be out? Is it because you want to brag about how you’ve seen it first? Or is it because you get to meet like-minded people that may open up the doors to new opportunities? Well, in the case of this incredible candy-like resin set by MonstreHero (website, flickr) painted by none other than Paul Kaiju (website, flickr) for San Diego’s ComiCon makes me envious of everybody that got to see this in person while being able to hang out with Sean, Cliff and Paul and all the other great folks.

For years I’ve had the secret wish to visit San...

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:10:00 +0200

For years I’ve had the secret wish to visit San Diego’s ComiCon. For years I always wondered what people were talking about when they were referring to the “con flu”. No sooner that this years convention is upon us Ben Mininberg of Prometheus Rising Studios (website, twitter) unveils his new strain-1 of his Escherichia Killer. Bad timing I say. Ben might argue that these are very professionally made, sparkling resin cast toys but we all know better. Hah! The culprit has been discovered. Give up now and send me at least one specimen so I can develop a counteragent!

Seriously though. Ben, student of biology, combines his love for nature and plastic and the outcome is this cool little monster. Painted with the best color available (MonsterKolor) featuring one point of articulation this resin toy is really hard to turn a blind eye on. The first wave of purchasable figures (5!) will go up for sale at 8:00PM EST Saturday, July 31. For 35$ not including shipping these are a good score.

And for the record it also comes with a neat little background story: In 2010, the esteemed Dr. Hayflick was experimenting with macrocellularification, an experimental technique for making normally microscopic specimens large enough to be analyzed using the naked eye. Using highly unstable ATP-X, Dr. Hayflick was able to grow individual cells that were up to two or three inches in diameter for analysis. What happened next is still under investigation, but early reports indicate that a mutagen experiment elsewhere in the facility suffered some complications, and an experimental mutagen leaked into the ventilation system at the same time that a major breakthrough in Dr. Hayflick’s work was expected. The facility was destroyed in the aftermath of what happened next, with Dr. Hayflick still unaccounted for, but the world now faces a deadly new menace, the Killer Cultures! From the mutagen ATP-X birthing pools beneath the site of the lab, macrocellified pathogens have been launching their attacks on humanity, wreaking havoc wherever they appear!

There is very little that I do not like about the sculptures of...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:37:00 +0200

There is very little that I do not like about the sculptures of AJ Fosik. In fact, I can not remember not liking anything. Nuff said for today. Hehehe. This one is titled “In the Teeth of Stupefying Odds”

A lot of art that I feature here gets a raving review because I...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:25:35 +0200

A lot of art that I feature here gets a raving review because I do not see the sense in criticizing things that are not worth it. However once in a while I stumble upon something that reminds me that constructive feedback can be more helpful than an encouraging pat on the back.

Today? A platform paper toy and four illustrators that produce some awesome work published in conjunction with the much liked anthology “I Want Your Skull”. Should be nice, right? Well, no, if you ask me.

Despite the above credited illustrators and their good work there is nothing that I like about most paper toys. With paper being around us pretty much everyday since the better part of 200 years or so you would imagine that someone could come up with a better paper toy design that just two squares glued on top of each other. But no, I waded through 20 pages of search results on flickr, google, deviantart, etsy, etc. and all I keep finding is boring blocky shapes. It looks like paper is harder to sculpt into original shapes than wood the material most paper is made of…

PS.: Dear Horrorwood (website), I checked your portfolio and I do really like what I see, especially your illustrations. You just were unfortunate today that your paper ignited a gripe I’ve had for a while already. Please don’t take it too personal. That “guardian” paper toy is a nice approach, for example, but I won’t feature it here because this site is about original creations. ^_^

There is a question I have been asking myself. One that my sex...

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:59:13 +0200

There is a question I have been asking myself. One that my sex ed teacher wouldn’t answer honestly. One that my mail application doesn’t want me to ponder as well. Is my dick too small? Does size matter?

I’ve been told size doesn’t matter. Content does. Story. Impact. Uh,… whatever. Forget it. It’s all not true. The only two things that really matter today are size and context. Good artwork is exclusive. It is big. And it is, of course, expensive. No, art is not for everyone. Or maybe it is? Another thing I don’t know. Go to artmarketingsecrets.com and read all about the impact of size. It’s about the art of marketing art. Hopeless indoctrinated romantics like me still believe that size (or marketing) doesn’t matter. Unless, of course, you’ve got a shiny bedazzling yacht.

In contrast to me there are actually people that create great art at an even bigger size. Case in point: Carlos Enriquez-Gonzalez (website, flickr) who after creating a monster-sized Vagina Brain monster and selling it at an auction of Phillips De Pury went ahead and also recreated his Mother Lips Vagina in human dwarfing 2.7m (9 foot). Painted with sparkling glittering automotive effect paint you’d have every right to call this “vajazzling”. And if you still doubt all this, just take a look at the smaller version that has a real golden grill with a real diamond.

Still got questions? Good, because that’s one of the things that art is all about. And even if the fine art market sees this in a different light, regardless of size, context, content, material, craftmanship, etc. well made art doesn’t necessarily give you answers but instead poses questions that you need to answer yourself.

Via the always awesome neonmonster blog but from mishka bloglin (I think).

Several times already I have stumbled across dolls on flickr and...

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:48:00 +0200

Several times already I have stumbled across dolls on flickr and I am probably going to feature one sooner or later again. In fact I dimly remember posting some in the early days of this blog. You may ask yourselves what a doll has to do with the picture above? You also may know from experience that my written words do not always coincide with the pictured photos. But today the title of said image by Philip Luschen (flickr) is “doll”.

Attentive readers may just as well have already long assumed that most of the assembled letters here are merely an excuse for me to put together unnecessarily complicated sentences instead of simply saying that I enjoy a certain creation. This does indeed apply to this beautiful headless varnished wood sculpture that is probably much more inspired by the ever present mannequin in store fronts than by toys. Were in not for the extraordinarily elongated extremities I probably would have dismissed it as such without featuring it.

Surprise sometimes come in groups. For example a goal for...

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:55:00 +0200

Surprise sometimes come in groups. For example a goal for England in the soccer world cup games that should have counted but it did not. Or a goal for Argentina that counted but should have not…

Or a hand sculpted cute monster from someone that has been showing talent for quite some time already but who I still would not have expected (shame on me) to create something as cool as “Martin Longbottom”. In this case I am talking about Richard Page (flickr, blog, twitter). The photo is very aptly titled “And breathe“ underlining my impression that above mentioned character is practising some lung ventilation techniques. Possibly something he learned in monster school in the course “Anger Management 101”? Hehehe.

According to Mr. Page Mr. Longbottom started out as the first drawing in his new sketchbook and from there on evolved into this three dimensional super sculpey realization. I do like what I see here but since this is still a work in progress I am looking forward to seeing the final prototype. A cute litte stove hat is still missing, for example.

From trying to post something controversial to posting a...

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:13:50 +0200

From trying to post something controversial to posting a completely harmless but wonderful house-tree house by Sabine Timm (flickr, Sebastian Foster Gallery, Mire Magazine) - how is that for you? Not quite a big deal, is it? Browsing the internet each day such randomness is nothing new anymore. Then again, this being a blog about figures, toys and related arts this is a bit on the fringe of what I usually cover but I found it so charming that I could not keep myself from writing a little blurb. I have always had this dream of a house that is build around a big tree and as such that construction above does indeed resonate… if not take that dream a step further towards awesomeness. (by virginhoney)

When toys get controversial. Now that is a topic I would love to...

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:53:00 +0200

When toys get controversial. Now that is a topic I would love to explore a bit more some time. Yet for today I have got only love to share: A unicorn and a panda (looks more like a little bear to me) in a loving embrace of passion. Love for Blamo Toys (website, twitter, facebook), actually. I have featured their sculptures here (post) before and now they have got a show coming up at Los Angeles’ Toy Art Gallery (website, twitter) where I had the pleasure to show my own works just recently. The preview list (this is where the image has been borrowed) has been uploaded and from the looks of it this is a show you do not want to miss. Now, you may have read this kind of promotion over and over already but I do not say this lightly. During my exhibition at said gallery there were already a few of the sculptures present and they were impressive to say the least. The combination of the different materials such as laser etched leather, brass, wood and found objects produce some of the best collectibles available. Enough of the praise. If you live in the greater LA area you should definitely go and see this. And well, at $300 dollars that original hand carved wooden display of love above is quite a steal compared to what you have to pay for some mass production pieces with a lot less appeal.

Yesterday I wrote about a certain type of facial geometry that...

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:09:00 +0200

Yesterday I wrote about a certain type of facial geometry that is prone to evoking sounds such as “awww” from girls and also boys. As is the nature of things that work well these are used a lot and quite often more than one can sometimes bear. At least for someone like me who enjoys to see the world with a discerning eye. Still, I would be the last one to deny the effects of such genetic and hard-wired programming…

If you squint your eyes and then try to imagine the above pictured resin sculpture without that unusual addition you may very well end up with a sad green bear that does indeed classify as cute (or “kawaii” as the specialists like to say). Yet, Cade Roster’s (blog, flickr) “Plush Gaiden Series - 8th Grade“ goes beyond the normal characteristics and adds a quite disturbing tower. With its asymmetrical position and veiny stone-wall pattern on the face it looks more like a tumor than something that was added with consent. The sculpture (and a few more) was made for a biennial show at the The Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu. The series focuses on the alternate lives of stuffed animals and consisted of eight pieces that were exhibited. Now this just leaves one question: What kind of secret life has a plush bear that is actually made out of resin and whose head features a protruding tower that would normally be seen in a fairy tale?

Here is a lucky encounter for me. While touring through book...

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:10:00 +0200

Here is a lucky encounter for me. While touring through book shops with Emilio Garcia in Barcelona I stumbled over the work of Meritxell Duran [website] (who lives in Barcelona, it seems). Unfortunately her (?) website does not offer any further information about her or the sculptures except that they have been made out of fiberglass in an edition of seven pieces. The specimen above is named “Without You I am Nobody” (disclaimer: translated with google from the catalan original “sense tu, no sóc ningú”). I enjoy the simplicity of the sculptures that seem to betray their ambiguity. While they look like a child could be perfectly happy playing with these there is also a certain uncertainness to these. Instead of using the usual facial geometries many of them are slightly askew giving a feeling of a deeper personality than the shallowness of kawaii. Many are asleep while other creations of her look surprised or slightly irritated. Worth checking out.

Despite my recent complaints I have good news to share. There is...

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:33:07 +0200

Despite my recent complaints I have good news to share. There is still good work to be found. And you know what? I would be really surprised (and aggravated) because, well, time hasn’t stopped so naturally there will be always someone with a good idea that has not yet been realized.

Crocheting is a versatile medium for shaping threads of yarn into complex forms but in regard to character based art it is probably most found in connection with something that insiders call “amigurumi”. 90 percent of the creations to be found are cute and incredibly boring. Very seldom I come across a great critter (bird? fish? what is it?) such as Jöran by Cecilia Levy (flickr / blog / website). For me this is (almost) an amigurumi kaiju something that I wished more people would try. Not because kaiju toys are better than others but crocheting surely can be more than cute, can’t it? Oh and don’t get me wrong here, I actually like cute things, it just that… It is a vicious circle, hahaha. =(n___n)=

Here is something cute and wonderful as well without conforming...

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:43:23 +0200

Here is something cute and wonderful as well without conforming to those standards that are visible all over the place. The so called hollow bear sculpted by Sergey Kruk (flickr) begs the question if the hole in his stomach is just a way of making the bird inside visible or if it is indeed meant as a hole which is used by the bird as hiding place? I don’t know and the caption on flickr does not have much information either except that it is not a cast piece and that it was a collaborative project between Sergey and Irina Troitskaya (website / flickr). I love the fact that the sculpts look as if they come with a matching mask. It’s almost like Cameron’s Avatar. It allows you to communicate with your toy on the same visual level - good as long as you don’t have a black hole in your stomach because in that case you should visit a doctor instead of playing with toys! ^_^

Today, trying to find something new to post, I waded through...

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:12:00 +0200

Today, trying to find something new to post, I waded through flickr, etsy and deviantart without being all too happy with my discoveries. It seems I am slowly running out interesting subjects to post. Or maybe I just need to try harder?

Then I remembered that folder of bookmarks titled “review” and found the whimsical creations by Annika Sandin (blog / flickr / facebook). With this wee blog’s name being what it is one could be rightfully wondering why her work hasn’t been posted earlier. I don’t have an answer to that though. All I know is that I adore these little felted people. Sure, I have been lamenting the overabundance of cute more than once but here is something that feels different to me. There is a certain personality, almost like well-developed signature handwriting, that is missing in many other creations of this genre.

Choco Bar! by Jon Malmsted (flickr / website) is another...

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:16:32 +0200

Choco Bar! by Jon Malmsted (flickr / website) is another creation that I’ve kept open in my tabs for a bit now. He made a series of different seemingly angry/grumpy food products ranging from cupcake over cookies to chocolate bars (which is my favorite).

I like the raw nature of this sculpt. Why? Because it feels appropriate to the portrayed character. He looks like a dark chocolate bar that did not get the love it deserved. Left melting in the sunlight, carelessly dropped and then thrown away because he didn’t look perfect and pristine anymore…

Jon writes this background story: “At some point, this tasty fellah’ found himself boarding a ship in Brazil bound for Portland, Oregon. What attracted him there? Was it the vibrant music scene, the myriad of watering holes, or the moderate climate? - all of the above? What we know for sure is that Choco-Bar knows how to rock out on the drums, and his penchant for loud music eventually led him to team up with Devil Dawg and Choco-Chip to form the ‘Choco-Fiend-Trio.’”

For a while now I have been staring at this incredibly weird...

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:01:16 +0200

For a while now I have been staring at this incredibly weird thing. I assume it is as a custom but it could also be an original sculpture. I don’t know. What I do know though is that I love robots, anime and bizarre combinations or the first two. And then name is just as great. Not that I feel inclined to own anything with such a name at the moment but still,…

The piece above is title Love Removal Machine and was made by flickr user robotgeisha aka Sean Madden. Sean has a few more pictures more on display there but not many. This is really my favorite.

It must have been during what I consider the early days of...

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:05:45 +0200

It must have been during what I consider the early days of Reduced Figuration that I came across an interesting resin toy by a Russian designer. At the time I was not familiar with the work of Sergey Safonov but I enjoyed what I saw and among the set of figures he was creating there was one that really caught my eye: Kluth the R’Lyeh Student. Described as the third and last character from Moon Wanderers series, unseen Kluth, the mysterious sea creature is pictured here in his boat of ice roaming at night in search of his home city underwater R’Lyeh. And, reminding me of one of my all-time favorite movies a quote from Willam Blake: “Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.”

Back then I was already itching to get my hands on of these. Fast forward a few months and my wish has come true and I got one from the man himself and I am utterly honored because this is an incredibly cool toy and, knowing this because I make my own figures, giving away something for free that has been created in an incredibly low quantity by hand is even more humbling. But, let’s have a closer look at the toy.

A few weeks ago a wonderful box arrived almost out of nowhere. Judging by the characters printed on the outside it seemed to have originated in Russia. And that’s where it came from. It even had a giant wax seal that was so cool (I have never seen anything like it before - at least not in any serious usage) that I hesitated to break it. But then, a seal is made to be broken and that was one of the things I had never done before.

The insides revealed a cardboard box with some cute doodles of Kluth, a nice letter from Sergey and his business card. All things that I will keep close together. Because my cell phone sucks at taking good pictures here is one of the box.

Opening the box revealed two pieces that were carefully secured in bubble wrap. One piece was the boat and the other one was Kluth himself. Of course I immediately put the two together they way they were meant to be. Awesome. I remember I had a very unsatisfactory day but this made everything look better again. The honor of seeing and feeling this in person was just incredible. The toy is really one of those that makes me smile every time I look at it and in my opinion it is the best out of the series. The figure is not based on some sort of animal and the boat is less realistic as well. Yes, both are still very cute in their proportions but on the other hand they are very refreshing. Compared to the other two this is still speaking the same language but it also is visually much more interesting. The biggest difference here is the boat, of course. While the cat and the fox both sit in a normal wooden boat, Kluth has an angular boat made of crystals. This particular variety in shapes is what I love so much. The sharp angles versus the round curves make the whole sculptural composition come together in a visually very appealing way.

Both, Kluth and the boat have been excellently crafted and I cannot find any bubbles or other imperfections in the sculpt. The choice of colors is very fitting (black and red always works for me) and hence this particular run is called “Raining Blood Edition”. I like the fact that the boat is a dull black and Kluth presents himself in a metallic red that really sparkles in sunlight. In a few areas the paint on Kluth is not as smooth as it could be but that is a minor concern and since I make figures myself I know that the most difficult part about painting toys is not necessarily the paint application itself but actually a smooth gloss coat. When I am going to visit the US next month I need to visit Matt Walker and pick his brain for the secret of creating an all around smooth finish. But I digress… Back to Kluth.

His back and his front are pictured here. Granted, this is an angle that most will not take on this sculpture but that is the way that I love to play with my toys. Taking pictures of them… Especially the photo of his face made me smile. I suppose the phallic shape is not intentional but, yeah, it is undeniably there. I hate my illustration teacher for seeing penises everywhere, and especially in my drawings, but sometimes things happen that one has not consciously decided and it is the perverted mind of your audience that does the interpretation… ^_^

As you can see in the picture above Kluth has a fixed position on the boat. I am not sure if this is a necessary feature though it does keep him in the place that the designer intended. Recently Sergey published a little one page comic about Gooma capturing a little Moon Wanderer Fox and placing him in a cauldron so there may be a hint why the peg and hole feature was integrated. I have yet to test this and this will give me another opportunity to play with this wonderful toy. Here are some more silly photos of Kluth and the friends that live on the desk in my studio.

Kluth and the girls. You know how he is. “Kluth, oh my, you’ve got such a big yacht!”

“Kluth, look, I’m gonna kick-flip this thing.” “Kamen, you douche, you don’t even know how to stand an Ollie!”

And did you ever wonder why he’s got this stoic, dreamy face? Well, you see, everyone wants to join the fun. We’re all in this together. “Let’s reenact Noah’s Ark!”

You can follow Sergey Safonov on twitter, visit his website and catch him on flickr or pester him on facebook.

A few days ago I wrote about the Duster by DMS (link) and how it...

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:32:16 +0200

A few days ago I wrote about the Duster by DMS (link) and how it uses an unwanted side-effect of resin casting as a central element of its design. At least that was my interpretation. Well, it seems I was right. I notified DMS about my little article and he told me that the original sculpt was too clean for his taste so he cut up and damaged the mold, made a casting and remolded that (including holes from bubbles, etc). In this way the sculpt does not only give us weathering as a sort of reminder of the reality of decay but it also shows the inherent problems in reproduction. Nothing is perfect in the first place and thus a copy can only be worse… until, of course, a mutation/error leads to an advantage or new development which in this case would be called evolution. The texture in the resin casts of DMS may not be to everyone’s liking but they do show that there can be more to toy design than just realizing a vector graphic character via rapid prototyping to be made into a smooth rotocast piece of thermoplastics. In a way it reminds me of the late Bob Ross and how he always would remind the viewers that in painting accidents are actually desirable and may breathe life into the creation.

This brings me to the Aleatron kaiju sculpture by the Robert Android Project. After some experimentation with shaving foam (I featured that one on Reduced Figuration) he now has started to work with a longer lasting material. Again, like in the Duster by DMS the spontaneous and uncontrollable is the main aspect of this figure and while it may look like some cheese cream, it is acrylic paste. What I particularly like about this sculpture is the fact that it does not want to be a specific monster or alien and it is merely the abstract and irregular surface of this humanoid shape that we assume it is closer to eastern monster toy mentality than it is to western. I’d love to see something like this produced as a collectible in Japanese sparkly, glittery and translucent vinyl.

‘Aleatron’ by Robert Droid (via the robert droid project on flickr)

I’ve been noticing a trend lately. Maybe it is not really...

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:52:00 +0100

I’ve been noticing a trend lately. Maybe it is not really a trend. Maybe it has been around for a while. Depends probably on the angle from which you are looking at it. What?

Grime, dust and decay. Scratches, rust and signs of usage. It certainly isn’t new, it has been put to use by model builders for ages now. Why? Well, to breathe live into the plastic bits. To make them seem more real and less like piece that has just left some anonymous factory. But toys? No, certainly not. And I think this still holds true today. It is probably only adults that enjoy patina because it tells us that something has lived. That it has a story and was put to use. As a child you want a toy because you want to play with it, not because you want to preserve it in pristine MIB condition for later resale on eBay.

I recently watched a TED talk and the speaker argued that there is a reason behind people favoring organic grown foods over regular ones. Not only because it might taste better or possibly be more healthy but also because it creates the impression of being closer to reality. Many get the impression that we have lost touch with nature and reality completely and that we need to find a way back to a closer relationship with out surroundings. By purchasing such goods we ease our minds even if we can not verify if the product can hold its promise.

Now, it might seem somewhat of a stretch but I see a similar motif behind the creation of toys that show the above mentioned signs of aging. Ashley Wood’s rugged robots certainly have established a high number of ardent followers as well as a high standard in paint and weathering application at a commercial level. Chris Rose is another well known toy artist that has raised the bar in this regard. Compared to the thousands of brightly colored super deformed plastic cuties these really do look more real in a way.

The “Duster” by DMS (website | store) follows a similar path and yet it manages to stand on its own in special way. The one thing that really caught my eye here is neither shape nor concept. That is not all too unique but it is the texturing that made me go back and is really a reason why I appreciate this sculpt. At least for me it is the first time that I have seen someone play with something that usually is regarded as unwanted side effect. The one thing that every bedroom toy artist wants to get rid off immediately: seam-lines. Not only are they visible they play such a big role in this sculpt that they have been featured more often than one would expect to be necessary. I may be completely off the course in my understanding of this sculpture but enjoy the playful use of something so unpopular. So in a way DMS is making us look at the reality of toy production and that there is actually life behind even the products that later look like they were born perfect. And as much as we try, that is one thing we humans will never achieve as long as we create.

What makes a good toy? Is it articulation? Is it the fanciness...

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:01:00 +0100

What makes a good toy? Is it articulation? Is it the fanciness and details? The size? The answer is ‘no’ to all of the above. It should be obvious that it should enable your imagination to go to places you could not have gone without it.

And what is a good starting point for an art toy? That is probably even harder to say. Really it can be anything. Just like anything can be a toy. Remember the times you were flying an airplane in the kitchen and there was nothing but the spoon that your mama left on the table? That was good airplane, wasn’t it? Oh, you never played with a spoon? Aww, I’m sorry. Let’s hope you had some lego or maybe some alphabet blocks. Compared to a spoon they are even further away from an airplane. And still, look how far one can go with just an alphabet block as a starting point. ‘O’ like octopus? Check! ‘O’ like “Ohh-some”? Check! A steam-punk octopus at that. Constructed from the aforementioned wooden cube, wire and beads. Simple and effective doesn’t get any better than this. Thanks, e47art, for showing us.

Source (October Toys Forum)