In conjunction with the exhibition, Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo, the Japanese American National Museum have collaborated with Frank Kozik for his latest custom show entitled ‘Year of the Labbit’. Featuring a host of painters and illustrators including Catherine Brooks, egg scissors, Joel Nakamura and Mike Shinoda, the exhibition uses Kozik’s iconic Happy Labbit art toy as a platform for the various artist’s weird and wonderful creations.

All of the featured artworks will be available to purchase through the museum after the event.

Opening July 14th at the Japanese American National Museum, LA, Year of the Labbit runs until Setember 11th.

(via- firstcentral)

Famed for their beautiful but extremely limited hand-cast art toys, Itokin Park are preparing for the next installment of their successful Workshop of the Handmade Oven Clay!, to be held at the Switcheroo Institute of Lower Learning, Pasadena, next month. Itokin Park will be creating an army of their latest Crab Head toys, revealing tips and techniques to budding toy designers and collectors alike.

The course is priced at $200 ($150 for the class, $50 for materials), with attendees guaranteed to be leaving the event “stuffed, and with stuff!”. Tickets are now available through Switcheroo’s web page.

Workshop of the Handmade Clay

Saturday July 30th

4pm-9pm

(via- switcheroo)

Up and coming illustrator A.J.Hateley has been working on a new project entitled ’30 Days of Videogames’, blending the style of classical literature’s cover art with some of gaming’s most influential releases. The self confessed nerd is releasing a new image everyday for a month through her blog, Wilderness As A Girl, with all artworks available in print and postcard form through Red Bubble. Currently, the impressive series has featured interpretations of Link (Zelda), Mario, Snake (MGS), Pokemon and Portal to name but a few, with still another 15 in the series to be revealed.

30 Days of Videogames can be viewed at Hateley’s Wilderness As A Girl .

(photos- Hateley/WildernessAsAGirl)

Gaining a reputation for their high concept architecture, G.O.Y.A (Group of Young Architects) have designed a kindergarten that can be appreciated by children and parents alike. The stunning timber and steel based structure has large floor-to-ceiling windows, rubberised paving, integrated play areas and sliding walls that can be easily moved to create larger/smaller spaces when required.

“Each project in its uniqueness be experienced.
Architecture lives for and by the people for whom it is produced. The team g.o.y.a. understands each project as a unique combination of objectives and priorities of the client as well as the specific context.”

-G.O.Y.A web page, rough translation

Visit G.O.Y.A’s web page for information on their extensive catalogue of projects.

(via- designmilk)

photos- Kurt Hoerbst

Japan/Australian based duo Cupco have collaborated with the Mishka gallery, Broklyn, for their aptly titled penultimate show, ‘Last Gasp’. The exhibition features a huge collection of hand stitched dolls in Cupco’s endearing, yet slightly disturbing style, blending the bold character design of Saturday morning cartoons with the surreal undertones of Gary Baseman’s twisted ‘JapanLA’ art works.

Working as designers, illustrators, animators and doll makers, Cupco’s portfolio is bursting with variety, with the couple having previously worked on Nickelodeon’s bizarro children’s TV show Yo Gabba Gabba (Here Is My Art, June 7th) and alongside Converse on their collaborative High-top trainer project.

Opening July 17th at Mishka, Broklyn, works from Last Gasp are now available to purchase through Mishka’s store.

(via- Cupco blog)

Up and coming Philippine artist Bjorn Calleja is preparing for his latest exhibition, The Color Bringer, opening this Sunday (June 26th) at the Secret Fresh Gallery, Manila. Known for his disturbing yet strangely alluring characters, Calleja will also be releasing ‘The Color Bringer’ in toy form. Limited to a run of only 20 pieces, the detailed resin sculpt will be available for $175, with any leftover becoming available through Secret Fresh’s site in due course.

Visit Calleja’s site here to view an all encompassing selection of his past works.

(via- vinylpulse)

Gaining notoriety amongst the art toy world with their superb ‘Jura’ resin sculpt, Planet Domu is set to release it’s latest creation, ‘Baby Gaman’ this Thursday (June 23rd). Available through the Planet Domu / Big Cartel’s site, the first edition of this beautiful hand cast figure comes in Jura Rainforest’s vibrant grassy colours, with a desert variant to follow.

A limited run of the figures will be available for $45 each here (Jura from $120).

(via- toysrevil photos- planetdomu)

Celebrating the Apocalypse Now cover of their latest issue, Little White Lies is hosting an exhibition of commissioned works from iconic artists and illustrators including Michael Gillette, Von, Joe Wilson and We Buy Your Kids. Inspired by films from one of cinema’s golden eras of aesthetic, the 1970’s, the artworks have been created to closely resemble LWL’s unique cover style.

LWL70, which opened last Thursday, is running at the prestigious Kemistry Gallery, London, until July 2nd.

Prints of all the submitted artworks are available through LWL at £45 each.

(photos/via- LWL)

In it’s 3rd year running, 1800 Tequila’s design series is back with it’s strongest line-up of artists yet. Tasked with creating designs for the iconic 1800 Tequila bottle, Gary Baseman, Tristan Eaton (of Kidrobot), Yuko Shimizo, Tess One, Ray Smith and Alex Hank were given the Lucha Libre theme as inspiration for their charming creations.

Documentaries of the making of Baseman, Eaton and Shimizo’s entries are available to watch over at A76 Production.

(via- ifitshipitshere)

Praised for his illustration work on the now infamous Supersize Me documentary, Ron English has been illustrating the harmful effects of global industries and corporations through his satirical character design for years, building him a tremendous amount of respect amongst the design community.

English is now set to unleash his first exhibition in Japan, calling on the talents of Touma, Jason Freeny and Kim Songhe to create interpretations of his work. The show, entitled Popaganda in Japan launches on Friday 1st June at the Public/Image.3D gallery, Japan.

Below is a ‘work in progress’ of Jason Freeny’s Lucy custom. Featuring in an earlier Tru:Teknology Files post, Freeny is best known for his intricately sculpted ‘Dissected’ custom pieces.

The Kubrick x ZacPac x Ron English Bearbrick collaboration that will be available to purchase at the show:-

(via- zacpac/jasonfreeny)

Formed by legendary art toy house Kidrobot, the Kidrobot Black offshoot has grown strength by strength with each release, with collaborations from Jeff Soto, SSUR and Gary Baseman selling out within minutes. Black was created as a platform for artists to truly express themselves; without the constraints of working in colour, the form and detail become more important, resulting in some truly stunning pieces that every collector worth their salt should own.

Kidrobot Black Mission Statement-

“In the color restrained world of Kidrobot Black, artists transcend current confines of technique and expression to both innovate in existing formats and promote the exploration of new ones. Kidrobot Black thrives on the untried, the unexpected, and the unusual.

Forging pieces that feature primarily black materials with minimal secondary highlights, Kidrobot Black frees the artist of the complications derived from color. These limitations compel artists to surpass the norms of material and form, and push past the line between consumer product and art, as well as between object and design.

Featuring darker themes inherent to the medium, and available in only limited quantities, Kidrobot Black distinctively unites higher and lower forms of expression as it draws production to the brink of unique.”

The latest artist into the Black stables is Doze Green with his Goddess figure. Standing an impressive 20″ tall, the man/woman/creature is said to symbolise growth and fertility. The detail is truly amazing, with some of the best sculpt work seen in the industry, but this unfortunately comes at a price; Kidrobot have tagged the figure at $500 with a limited run of 200. It should be available any day now, so any serious collectors interested should check Kidrobot’s site for more details.

Kidrobot Black

France’s most infamous street artist, Invader, has returned to Paris to celebrate his 1000th Space Invader mosaic on the city’s streets. Invader’s 2-bit designs have graced over 5o cities world wide over the last 6 years, garnering the artist a huge amount of attention across the urban art world.

Invader 1000, an exhibition at La Galerie Le Feuvre, Paris, has been organised to signify this monumental mile stone for the artist, featuring a wide range of photography and Invader’s signature  ‘Alias’* artworks. The show opened last week (June 7th) and runs until July 2nd.

*Every Space Invader put up in the street can be reproduced as an Alias. There is only one Alias per Space Invader. An Alias is made of the replica of the original Space Invader fixed on a black perspex panel which contains its ID card.

photos- space-invaders.com

 

Celebrating the long standing relationship between two of black music’s most respected stars, The R&R Gallery will be hosting the Willie & Snoop group art show, opening June 27th. Featuring a wide variety of works from R&R regulars including Dave Frey, Mr Frivolous and Jesse Williams (pictured), the opening reception is set for next Friday (June 24th) 8 pm til midnight.

Willie & Snoop will be showing at The R&R, LA, until July 8th.

(info- DunnDealPR)

photo-Jesse Williams

 

Illustrator James Jarvis’ art toy company Amos will be opening it’s new online store this weekend (June 18th). Following the success of previous workshop projects in both Japan and London, the Online Miniature Plastic Workshop will be offering a wide selection of art works and toys, including the limited Caleb’s Adventures in Wonderclean comic book, that will be exclusive to the site. An online gallery of Jarvis’ latest drawings will also be available, which can be purchased through the main Amos store.

A pioneer of the soft vinyl toy revolution, Jarvis originally created characters for designer Silas, before starting his own company. Now nearly 10 years old, Amos has been accountable for some of the scenes most iconic pieces including King Ken and the vast In Crowd series.

(via- amosblog)

Artist Jason Freeny and his Moist Production company have worked on several illustration projects for the likes of Heavy Metal, Juxtapoz, Erotica, Penthouse and Time Out, but it’s his skill in sculpting that’s really pricking the ears of the urban art elite. Based on his ‘Dissected’ CGI renderings of iconic cartoon characters, Freeny uses the shell of existing toys to create his cross-section anatomy style designs. Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbit is Freeny’s latest victim (pictured above) and is currently available on Ebay for a princely sum of $625.

Check Freeny’s Moist Production web page for an in-depth look at previous digital, lead and custom toy work. His Skelanimal production toy, a precursor to ‘Dissected’, is still available through Toy2R’s site.

(via –toysrevil)

Opening at the beginning of this month, the Kittens and Icecream exhibition marked the 5th anniversary of the JapanLA Gallery, Los Angeles. Founded to promote the fusion between contemporary East and West illustration, JapanLA’s latest exhibition features works from some of it’s most prolific artists including Luke Chueh, Gary Baseman and Buff Monster.

In keeping with the cat theme of the show, a share of all the artists profits will be donated to the J.E.A.R.S fund, a charity set up to help animals affected by the Tohuku-Kanto earthquake tsunami.

Kittens and Icecream is running at the JapanLA Gallery, LA until July 3rd.

(via/photos- hifructose)

With rumours flying around for some time now, images of the collaboration between Swatch and art toy house Kidrobot have finally emerged.

Featuring a 20″ Kozik Dunny, 8 3″ Dunnys and 8 matching Swatch watches, the limited edition collectors piece is housed in a foam lined metal case, with the price for the set estimated at around $1000. Artists featured include MAD, Joe Ledbetter, Tara McPherson and the legendary Gary Baseman.

Check the Kidrobot web page for new information on release dates and prices.

(via- vinylpulse)

In collaboration with Sub-Urban Vinyl, Joe Scarano will be exhibiting his latest works at the Dead Enders show, opening June 25^th. The New York based artist, increasingly renowned for his dead-pan characters and pastel dreamscapes, has created a wide variety of both paintings and custom toys for his eagerly awaited first major solo exhibition.

Dead Enders runs for a month from June 25^th at the Sub-Urban Vinyl Gallery and Shop, New Jersey.

www.suburbanvinyl.com

(via- toysrevil)

Officially opening tomorrow night (June 10^th), Age of Uncertainty is the latest group exhibition from artists Chester Huang, Daniel Yu, K.C Gan, Sarah Choo and Zxerokool. Exploring issues such as childhood influence, the finality of death and the cultural exchange of East-West design, Age of Uncertainty features a wide variety of mixed media including “apocalyptic comic book covers, 3D vignettes and sculptures of mutant childhood heroes”.

“Age of Uncertainty explores how five young artists observe not only society’s response to the constant evolution of the environment around them, but also offers an insight into the artists personal actions and reactions when being faced with uncertainty.”

-press-release, Age of Uncertainty, artinasia.com

Age of Uncertainty will be running at the Chan Hampe Gallery, Tanjong Pagar, until Jun 21^st.

www.artinasia.com

www.chanhampegalleries.com

Writer and illustrator Ken Tanaka is set to release his latest work at the LeBasse Projects Gallery this Friday. The solo exhibition entitled ‘Everyone Dies’ is set to feature original art from Tanaka, along with the launch and signing of his new book.

Intended as a children’s book for grown ups, Everyone Dies’ use of colourful illustrations and light-hearted text help raise very real questions about are own mortality that we are often afraid to touch on.

Everyone Dies will be running from June 10^th – July 9^th at the LeBasse Projects, Chinatown, LA.

www.lebasseprojects.com