sabato 30 novembre 2013

Stumble on MORI CHACK

For this post I decided to keep the fil rouge of the "through-vinyl-toys-discoveries" and those of you who adore such toys and type of art, like I do, will be pleased to read about Mori Chack. 
At least, that's my hope.. well I can't imagine someone who doesn't like him!!

Who's Mori Chack? Well, the below image definitely helps!


Gloomy Bear


Mori Chack and the Giant Gloomy Bear


I found no personal paintings but character designs, in fact Mori is originally a graphic designer and that's his nature. He only now entered the vinyl toys world as street artist.
The gloomy bear is his most famous character, followed by Podolly and Kumakikai. All of them are designed with the same style and in intense opposition to what we're nowadays used to: cheap cuteness.


Podolly, wicked sheep almost eaten by the wolf above


Kumukikai, the robotic flying Gloomy Bear


Nowadays we're overwhelmed by companies like Disney, Sanrio's Hello Kitty and others, which keep on emphasizing anthropomorphous animals (terrible!!). An animal is wild by nature and it will never feel the same that humans do. I can't prove it but I know it is so.
I really agree with Mori's belief that humans and animals are incompatible, they stand on a different levels, that's the reality and we have to accept it. Mori's Gloomy Bear shows it expressly as it's covered by blood and eats/attacks humans.
I love the way Mori ventured to design such a character. It's the contrast that we need to, at least, realize what the situation really is.

What I love in his characters is that he was able to smartly bond cuteness and wickedness. The Gloomy Bear, for instance, it's soft, smooth, harmonious, pink and then suddenly you see this bright red blood drops dripping from his mouth and suddenly you realize that it isn't what you imagined at first, because it's weird, wrong, tough.
The simplicity of the image creates such a perfect character, able to make the world's contradictions emerge and leave room to reflection.




At the end, the naughty Gloomy Bear seems to act the part of every single cute bear, which has been (mis)treated from humans and finally our naughty hero is wreaking revenge on them by actins finally according to his wild nature.

I found a video of the naughty gloomy bear and his human friend "hanging out" together, which is beyond limits and controls, as it has to be: totally insane!



domenica 17 novembre 2013

Stumble on AMANDA VISELL

Since in the last post the artist was particular and at points bizarre for some tastes, I decided to compensate by writing about a softer, smoother and vintage alike artist.
Here she is: Amanda Visell.

Her art is so naive and so funny that it makes me feel good every time I see it.
As happened with Yoskay Yamamoto, I discovered Amanda Visell in the same way: through her vinyl toys (like the zebracorn, the pink elephant, the fat cat, etc. ).


The Zebracorn and Amanda Visell


She's been very productive so far and seems that whatever she has in mind she can realize it, both 2D and 3D, and of course I profited by collecting all her vinyl toys (needless to say how proud I am of it).
It seems to me that through her characters I can lighten in 3D the atmosphere of her art.
I love to see at home all my (tiny and giant) Amanda's toys moving around and making a mess in my room, because, of course, they do not really stay still... huh-huh :)
At the very moment that you turn the corner you don't know what to expect from them!


the other day jackalope threw a party under the couch &
the devil businessman was already on the floor.


As you have noticed my username seems to have something in common with the vinyl toy above and I confirm you that your assumption is totally right!
I loved it at first sight and I imagined myself as a tiny zebracorn. Is it a zebra with a corn bizarre? Of course it isn't! 
Well, in any case, I love it because the corn adds a magic halo to the zebra character and moreover it reminds me to my childhood's characters I used to imagine.
What's more intriguing are the corn' special powers that the tiny zebra has (of course without beeing even aware of it) and the same is true for me: I know I have this special ability too, but I'm still figuring out how to activate it, so far works only accidentally.

Here you have some of her quirky paintings.

 Bayou Hoo


Robot Tea Party


Cats

I enjoy her bizarre characters and the stories she tells through them. It's amazing how powerful and harmonious they are and by looking at them you can imagine what will happen next. It seems to me that the image comes into life and if you close your eyes and reopen them quickly, something in the painting has changed: as if in that very moment one of the characters is having fun by winking at you.
You have no idea what a crazy story of the stray cats above I could tell you... huh-huh.

One of my favorite is this crazy alligator. I laugh by imagining that he devours the icecream pile and pretends the second after an instantaneous refill, like he never had one.

Ice Cream Crazy Alligator


If you wanna smile and see the quirkiest stories don't hesitate and have a loot at all her art. You are going to enjoy it, like I do continuously.
I heartily recommend you to check here her website and her blog.






venerdì 8 novembre 2013

Stumble on MARK RYDEN

Who would have said that he used to design album covers for musicians including Michael Jackson?
He indeed states "I have never been so deliberate or conscious of a particular career path. I just go where life takes me and try to enjoy the adventures" (From "The Upset", Young Contemporary Art)

..and I love to think that his great art has spontaneously come out.



As I stumbled on his art I got immediately captured by this bizarre feeling and couldn't understand how can images be so pure and so rough at the same time (for instance when thinking about "The Meat Show" -characterized by steaks placed weirdly throughout his art).


 The Ecstacy of Cecelia, The Meat Show


 Incarnation, The Gay 90's Show

So as a first approach, I spontaneously tried to distinguish the pure from the rough, but then I realized it was an impossible attempt: his art is so strong and intense especially because of this inner force that Ryden has been able to establish in the image.
Then, when one accepts it, this sense of contrasting feeling appears harmonious in a way. Bizarre, who would have thought it?
His unique style of using fables, childhood immagination, iconic figures as inspiration and the way he turns them into ambiguity with an aesthetically appealling and creepy image, is brilliant!


 The Meat Train


The Butcher Bunny


In my opinion he wants to show  and reminds us about the complementarity of contradictory elements, such as of happiness and sorrow for instance. The two feelings go arm in arm together: one can't be happy without any kind of influence of sorrow, as well as the opposite.
What reinforces even more such a contrast is the perfection of his characters, which stimulates one's lust for aestetics and the obvious sadness in the character's eyes.
I see it a lot in the pieces of "The Snow Yak Show":


Abominable


 Heaven


Sophias Bubbles


Girl in a fur skirt


What else happens to be present in his art is also the creepy and gloomy scenarios.
At a first glance one enjoys the perfection of the images, but then gets captured (like in a spider's trap) and starts realizing the hollow and macabre waves in the image.
The art process is then complete, the artist succeded in spreading any kind of emotion to the public. It doesn't matter if the creepy or the aesthetics triumphed, it just matters that a connection between the two has been settled.


 Wound


Cloven Bunny


Little boy blue


My favorite Ryden's piece of art is the one from "The Tree Show", The Apology.
Here I like the magic trunk component reflected in the eyes of the young girl dressed in yellow, proposing herself as a vanishing hope for becoming one and overcoming the troubles between them.
I like the magic connection between the two characters, but at the same time I can't stand the melancholic feeling of the impossiblity for them of becoming one. So close but still so distant. Is an apology still possible?


The Apology