A documentary film
exploring the world of vinyl toys.

Jan 25 th Mon
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The Custom Yoka Show at Black Maria Gallery

My Custom Yoka

“Ceci n’est pas un jouet”

Daniel Zana For The Vinyl Frontier

DKE Toys and AdFunture present the Custom Yoka Show
Premiere gallery exhibition February 18-23, 2010
Opening Reception Thursday, February 18, 7:00 - 10:30pm
Black Maria Gallery, Los Angeles CA

A while back, I was lucky enough to be asked to do a custom Yoka for the Custom Yoka Show.  AdFunture provided their 3” blank Yoka panda bear vinyl figures and DKE Toys co-founders Dov Kelemer and Sarah Jo Marks found over 200 artists to participate in the Custom Yoka Show.

Featuring work from 20 countries the show turns the quirky little panda into everything from a dirty thug to a sweet snail in this tremendous exhibition. Pieces range from $25 to $800 and will be available for purchase through Black Maria Gallery.

Show features: Anthony Ausgang, Jophen Stein, Heidi Kenney, Steven Daily, Snaggs, Arbito, Chris Ryniak, kaNO, Itokin Park, Dan Goodsell, olive47, Dacosta!, Chino and literally hundreds more

The Custom Yoka Show is meant to coincide with the release of Yoka Series One, a blind boxed collectible figurine that is now available. http://www.adfuntureworkshop.com/feature_show.php?ft_id=42

The Custom Yoka Show premiered at Designer Con in Pasadena, California on November 21, 2009.  More tour dates, following the Black Maria Gallery exhibition to be announced soon.


Black Maria Gallery

3137 Glendale Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90039,

323.660.9393

blackmariagallery.com

info@blackmariagallery.com


Jan 13 th Wed
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Black Magi by Gary Baseman x KidRobot Black

Black Magi

The Black Magi figure (ed. of 200) by awesome artist and VF star Gary Baseman was released a few days ago under the new label of KidRobot Black.  These toys are limited in number and hearken back to the halcyon days of vinyl toys.  Once the edition is made the mold is apparently destroyed, which seems rare in a world where toys have several colorways.  More toys will be released in the future and i’m excited to see what is next!

Click Here To Check It Out!

Jan 8 th Fri
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Nov 26 th Thu
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The Vinyl Frontier Interview with Spread Magazine Blog

Spread Magazine

I recently got the opportunity to be interviewed by the Spread Magazine Blog.

Check out the interview HERE and lemme know what you think.

-Daniel

Oct 11 th Sun
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Frank Kozik "Hubris" Art Show

Frank Kozik is having his Hubris solo show in at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles.  Check out the full coverage from Vinyl Pulse here.

Billy Shire Fine Arts
5790 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
323.297.0600

Sep 4 th Fri
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Brian McCarty featured in Photoflex Showcase

Brian McCarty, one of the hardest working and most talented toy photogs out there today, was recently featured in one of Photoflex’s Showcase.

For those who dont know, Photoflex makes professional lighting and photography gear used by most pros out there, so it’s fitting that they would choose Brian. The article takes a look at his process and vinyl toys in general.  Congrats!

Check the article out here.

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Bellhedz and the Death To Vinyl Rally

Bellhedz

As a result of Taco Bell’s recent foray into vinyl toys (read here) which to many is seen as blatant ripoff of the Kidrobot Dunny, Kidrobot has decided to stage a “Death To False Vinyl” rally in NYC (details here)  Definetly check it out if you have a chance.

KR Rally

It’s sorta strange to see vinyl toys becoming a more and more mainstream slowly but surely in the three years that the film has been in production.  Whether its larger companies making their own versions of “urban/vinyl/art” toys or having the toys show up in movies or films, vinyl is certainly becoming more prevalent in society.  Whether or not that is a good thing remains to be seen.

DZ

Sources:  Spankystokes & Vinyl Pulse

Aug 27 th Thu
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SUCKADELIC Group Suckoff 2 Custom Toy Show

The Sucklord, one of the amazing artists featured in The Vinyl Frontier 
is having an upcoming custom show in NYC coming up.  
Here are the details:

SUCKADELIC GROUP SUCKOFF 2

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4 APW GALLERY LIC QUEENS NYC

THE LONG AWAITED SEQUEL TO 2008’s MUNKY KING CUSTOM EXTRAVAGANZA!

OVER 40 NEW ARTISTS AND RETURNING FAVORITES TAKE A SHOT AT CUSTOMIZING THE FAMOUS SUCKLORD 600 VINYL MASTERPIECE!

COME GET LOOSE AT THE EXCITING OPENING PARTY AT THE GIGANTIC 
APW GALLERY IN LONG ISLAND CITY NYC.

SEPTEMBER 4 2009. 6-9 PM

48-18 VAN DAM STREET LIC NY

DIRECTIONS TO GALLERY HERE

SPONSORED BY BEER LAO

SCROLL DOWN FOR LIST OF ARTISTS 
AND SNEAK PEAKS AT SOME OF THEIR FANTASTIC WORK.

PARTCIPATING ARTISTS:

ITOKIN PARK

ILANENA

DEAD PRESIDENTS

ERICK SCARECROW

EVIL DESIGN

JESSE HERNANDEZ

KANO

KILL!

KOJI HARMON

GARGAMEL: KIYOKA IKEDA and NAOYA IKEDA

CHANMEN

KATOPE

LeMERDE

LOU PIMENTEL

CLIFF and SEAN of MONSTER HERO

GEORGE and AYLEEN GASPAR of OCTOBER TOYS

PATRICK FRANCISCO

PAUL KAIJU

PON

SARA ANTIONETTE MARTIN

JESSE MOORE (CALLGRIM)

J-ROO and J-BAT of DYNOMIGHT

CUPCO

SKULLTOYS

DAVE PRESSLER

OSIRUS ORION

GIBSONIAN and AKIROPHOTO of NERDCORE

PHETUS

SNAGGS

BRIAN SLIVKA of PLASTIC and PLUSH

JAILBREAK TOYS

NASTY NEIL

NEMO

MEZ of MEZCO

LIVING DEAD DOLLS

MATT “MOTHER” CONNELLY

TONE TANK

SPOOKY BOOTY

BURT BANGER

MIO MURAKAMI

CHA-IRO BROWN (CHEF)

ATOM A. ARMWRESTLER

REFRESHMENT

UAMOU

TULIP

DICE ONE

ANGIE DUTCHESS

BILLY ROIDS

KILLA DICER



Jul 31 st Fri
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The Vinyl Frontier Sneak Peek (12 min)

Here’s the 12 minute long video that was shown at 5&A Dime during Comic Con.  Enjoy.

Jul 28 th Tue
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Vinyl Frontier Sneak Peek (Event Recap)

So last weeks San Diego Comic Con was fantastic and it was really great to see so many familiar friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen for about a year.  We had a screening of a excerpt from the film and afterwards a very insightful Q&A from several artists in the film.

We Had:

Jermaine Rogers

Jermaine Rogers

Tara McPherson on the Mic

Tara McPherson

KaNo on the Mic

KaNo

Keith Poon On The Mic

Keith Poon

Sucklord on The Mic

Sucklord

IMG_0847

El Maz

Thomas Han on the Mic

Thomas Han

Attaboy on the Mic

Attaboy

Kozik on the Mic

Frank Kozik

Here are the rest of the event photos: