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