THE NEW GePPETTOS: ILLUSTRATORS AS MAKERS BY STEVEN HELLER

THE WRITER AND ART DIRECTOR STEVEN HELLER, A FREQUENT COMMENTATOR ON ILLUSTRATION, CASTS AN INFORMED EYE OVER THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON OF TOYS MADE BY ARTISTS. UNDER HELLER’S SCRUTINY, THE TREND IS REVEALED TO BE NOT AS ‘NEW’ AS IT MIGHT APPEAR. THE DADAISTs – AS IS SO OFTEN THE CASE – GOT THERE FIRST.

Upon entering this past summer’s landmark contemporary endeavor, read on. figures, but enjoy the design and tactility of these Dada exhibition at the Museum of Modern The Dadaists, as well as kindred Futurists enticingly odd products. Although the main Art in New York, I was struck dumb by a large (Fortunato Depero), Constructivists (El Lissitzky, difference between the new art toys and old glass case containing a dozen or so handmade Ladislav Sutnar), and Surrealists (Salvador Dali), licensed versions – Power Rangers, Transformers, that resembled the weirdo-comic figurines designed uniquely eccentric and often bizarrely GI Joe – is their psychotic post-Pokemon look, sold at Kidrobot, the downtown New York and futuristic playthings for limited consumption. they nonetheless have similar marketing goals; LA emporia of contemporary artists’ vinyl and Pushing the limits of art and design was their both are produced to be sold in quantity, both plastic toys. However, this rare collection of collective mission and since toys were not part want to attract followings. Yet marketing aside, ogres, trolls, and robots were created over of the artistic cannon, the medium provided an these new art toys have something else going eighty years ago by artists such as Hannah Höch outlet for rebelliousness. The current wave of for them: attitude. The new plastic, soft and and partnership Sophie Taeuber and Raoul artist toys are made by poster artists, graphic vinyl toys are more like iconic statuary. They are Hausmann, and designed to be included in designers and comic book makers such as not actually meant to be played with, but rather Berlin Dada cabaret performances. And, like Frank Kozik, Geoff McFetridge, Gary Baseman displayed (or kept in their smartly designed those American Southwest native Hopi Kachina and Tim Biskup, among others. Their work packages). Object-ness is the key. dolls, to the untutored eye they looked like they often appears in alternative ‘weirdo’-mags So how have artist toys evolved from the might have been conceived yesterday. like Juxtapoz, and is an energized return to one-offs of the Modernists to the multiple The prodigious and financially lucrative what might best be described as a ‘consuming characters of the post-Modernists? How do they trend in eccentric, alternative toy objects, passion’. Unlike their modernist forebears, the keep from falling into the traps of mainstream which started over a decade ago in Japan and new toy-crazed producers are less concerned toy land? And why is there a common aesthetic washed over the United States and Europe, with making one-offs than multiples – that pervades the field and is imbued in even seemed so genuinely novel (in a post-punk- collectibles designed to feed their creative urges, the most outré of these toys? In the following new-wave-techno sort of way), that in some and simultaneously, satisfy the desires of their interviews with the new Gippettos – two pioneers circles these toys have come to define a 21st acquisitive audience. Whereas the Modernists from the early 'new' toy movement, the founder Century pop-cultural zeitgeist. They have agitatedly broke artistic conventions, the new of one of the leading toy emporia, and three certainly become an expressive medium for generation feverishly rejects the typical mass- contemporary toymakers – we are given an many artists and illustrators bereft of traditional market toy models that they grew up with, yet insight into their creative strategies. editorial and advertising outlets, and seem to have injected new concepts, materials and, most be an offshoot of new wave animation and importantly, new mass production techniques Further reading: graphic novels. into this otherwise venerable practice. www.vinylpulse.com But to realise that Dadaists – those old The new toy designers are filling a vacuum www.myplasticheart.com timers – had stolen this good idea back in among sophisticated toy-freaks who are no www.artoyz.com 1919 (even before vinyl had been invented) longer interested in mundane licensed comic underscores the notion that so much art of the and film character action figurines (even those All Dada images courtesy of National Gallery of late-20th and early-21st centuries is little more done as movie tie-ins designed by film maker Art in Washington (www.nga.gov) than retro reprise. Tim Burton). They are serving the aesthetic needs If this sounds harshly contemptuous of of people like me who never bought action

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2 ALTHOUGH THE MAIN DIFFERENCE 11 BETWEEN THE NEW ART TOYS AND THE OLD LICENSED VERSIONS – POWER RANGERS, TRANSFORMERS, 4 5 6

GI JOE – IS THEIR 12 PSYCHOTIC POST-POKEMON LOOK, THEY NONETHELESS 10 13 HAVE SIMILAR MARKETING GOALS; BOTH 1 (page 73) 2 3 4 MUNNY several surprise MUNNY Dada Dolls Mechanical Head ‘22’, nails and bolt. Limbswish ARE PRODUCED Paul Budnitz and Tristan coloring books. Produced by Hannah Höch, 1916 (The Spirit of Our Age) Centre Pompidou, Musée Baroness Elsa von Freytag- Eaton, 2005 Kidrobot, Inc. Fabric, yarn, thread, board, Raoul Hausmann, c. 1920 national d’art moderne, Loringhoven, c. 1917-1918 TO BE SOLD IN 7" tall vinyl figure in black and beads. Berlinische Hairdresser’s wig-making Paris, 1974. CNAC/MNAM/ Metal spring, curtain tassle Available in 3 colors: white, Galerie – Landesmuseum für dummy, crocodile wallet, ruler, Dist. Réunion des Musées and wire mounted on wood 8 black and glow. Kidrobot’s Moderne Kunst, Fotografie pocket watch mechanism and Nationaux/Art Resource, NY. block. Mark Kelman, New QUANTITY, BOTH first do-it-yourself-toy, each und Architektur. © 2005 case, bronze segment of old © 2005 Raoul Hausmann/ York. set includes four secret mystery Hannah Höch/Artists Rights camera, typewriter cylinder, Artists Rights Society (ARS), WANT TO ATTRACT accessories, a hello-my- Society (ARS), New York/VG segment of measuring tape, New York/ADAGP, Paris. name-is card, and one of Bild-Kunst, Bonn. collapsible cup, the number FOLLOWINGS.

5 6 7 8 King Deramo The Middle-Class Philistine insignia of the Black Eagle © 2005 John Heartfield/ Muzribi (Bean Kachina) Hemis Sophie Taeuber, 1918 Heartfield Gone Wild Order on horse blanket, Artists Rights Society (ARS), Represents a prayer for (Rippened Corn Kachina) Turned and painted wood, George Grosz and Osram light bulb, Iron Cross, New York/VG Bild-Kunst, increased beans. Appears Appears in the Niman or bell, brass ornament, John Heartfield, 1988. stand and other objects. Bonn. in Powamu Bear Dance and Going Home ceremony. brocade and metal joints. Reconstruction of 1920 Berlinische Galerie – Mixed Dances. Courtesy Indicates that the corn crop Kunstgewerbesammlung im original. Electro-Mechanical Landesmuseum für Moderne Museum of Anthropology is assured. Courtesy Museum Museum Bellerive, Museum Tatlin . Tailor’s Kunst, Fotografie und University of Michigan. of Anthropology University für Gestaltung Zürich dummy, revolver, doorbell, Architektur. Art © Estate of C. 1890-1940 (exact dates of Michigan. C. 1890-1940 Photo by Marlen Perez. knife, fork, letter ‘C’ and George Grosz/Licensed by not available). (exact dates not available). number ‘27’ signs, plaster VAGA, New York, NY dentures, embroidered

9 10 – 12 13 Ang-Akchina Marionette per “Balli Plastici” Rinoceronti (Rhinos) (Long Hair Kachina) Fortunato Depero, 1918 Fortunato Depero, 1923 The bringer of gentle rains (reconstructed in 1981) Courtesy Mart. and flowers. Appears in Courtesy Mart Museo di arte 9 Niman Home Dance. moderna e contemporanea Courtesy Museum of di Trento e Roverto, Italy Anthropology University of (www.mart.trento.it) Michigan. C. 1890-1940 7 (exact dates not available).

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Byron Glaser, with Sandra Higashi, fit better in ‘arts and crafts’? A few years ago, invented Zolo, the post-modern Mr. the toy industry recognized Zolo as creating Potato Head, and the first of the a new category – we called it ‘playsculpture.’ new wave of artist/designer toys. Before, Zolo toys were positioned for either boys or girls. Now there are lots of toys that Steven Heller: What inspired you and Sandra are for both. One of our favourite response Higashi to create Zolo? cards came from a woman in her nineties Byron Glaser: We were working on the interior who suffered from arthritis, she played with it graphics for the F.A.O. Schwarz flagship store everyday because it made her feel creative and on 5th Avenue in and had started was good for her hands. Like Postmodernism, to look at the toys that were being offered; and Zolo rejects the boundaries between high and we both thought that there were some really big low forms of art. It is also about playfulness. I holes in the market. think there was a lot going on in the culture at Did you love toys as child and adult? that time that is reflected in Zolo. Maybe it’s the They have always played a part in our lives. patterns that feel like Memphis, but people have Sandra was very good to her toys and still has said it reminds them of Miro too. Part of the 16 some of them. I was much harder on mine. appeal of Zolo is that it often reminds people of How did Zolo reflect this passion? something. I think it more closely resembles the With Zolo we wanted to make a toy that inspired inside of Sandra’s wardrobe. creativity and engaged whoever was playing with Was Zolo originally meant for commercial it. We wanted a toy that we would like to have. application? That was an element that was often missing We weren’t really thinking about that. We were for us in a lot of the toys that we were seeing thinking it was fun and we wanted it, so we around us. We wanted it to be loads of fun thought other people would want it too. Of but to also inspire a message, that all kinds of course children would like it. We had no idea shapes, colours and patterns can work together how the toy industry was structured at that time. and that the results can be extraordinary. At first The only way we were going to see it [sold] at Zolo was only hand-carved out of wood. We F.A.O. Schwartz, was if we were going to make it thought as we were creating it that it should also ourselves. While we were [on sale] at the MoMA reflect nature, which we are both in awe of. But we made up a third of their trade sales. We were it was not indestructible, as are so many toys not really prepared to handle those kinds of 20 made today, so it was another good lesson for numbers, so we had to learn quickly. Not that it everyone playing with it to learn. has ever become easy for us. Was the model you used Mr. Potato Head? Where is the product these days? Of course we both had the whole family of We have recently started to sell Zolo 5, the fifth- potato heads, but Mr. Potato Head is always generation of the handmade wooden sets. Of a Mr., always a potato, always a head. I really course they all work together so people who 17 don’t think we had him in mind when we were have all five sets can really go to town. This set creating Zolo. It was more about freeform has metal studs, feathers, silver leaf and fuzzy and organic structure. Because many of the balls! We are also in production of a new plastic 15 that you could make had animal-like set that has mixed materials as well, it’s more characteristics, eyes became a part of it, but affordable and is a game. We also have a line 14 & 17 15 16 Zolo 4 Wild Thing Zolo 3 they were secondary elements. No offence to the of anatomically incorrect Bonz, with movable Byron Glaser and Development drawing Byron Glaser and Potato family, but that was the kind of one note joints that you can build with, that we license to Sandra Higashi, 2000 by Byron Glaser and Sandra Higashi, 1998 play pattern that we wanted to avoid. in New York. Photo by Don Chiappinelli Sandra Higashi Photo by Don Chiappinelli Was there a style you were after? It looks very Are you involved in the new generation of vinyl toys? © Zolo Inc. © Zolo Inc. © Zolo Inc. postmodern (like Memphis)? We love the category and the medium. We I think that is what appealed to the MoMA, always try to keep Zolo interactive and not 18 19 20 21 New York, where Zolo was first sold exclusively necessarily iconic, which a lot of the vinyl tends Zolo 1 Zolo Rocker Ozlo and Scoot from the Zolotopia through its trade sales division. Actually, it rejects to be. Maybe someday that will feel appropriate Byron Glaser and Byron Glaser and Zippy Zolo Series Byron Glaser and Sandra a rigid genre distinction. No one knew where for Zolo, I would love for that to happen. Sandra Higashi, 1986 Sandra Higashi, 2001 Byron Glaser and Higashi, 2006 21 Photo by Don Chiappinelli Photo by Don Chiappinelli Sandra Higashi, 2001 Photo by Don Chiappinelli Zolo should belong on the shelf. Was it for © Zolo Inc. © Zolo Inc. Photo by Don Chiappinelli © Zolo Inc. boys or girls? Should it go in ‘construction’ or www.zolo.com © Zolo Inc.

76 the new geppettos 5/14 77 the new geppettos 6/14 Paul Budnitz is an entrepreneur. He is the founder of Kidrobot, creative director and creator of MUNNY, as featured on the varoom cover, a tabula rasa toy which is contributed to by various artists and designers.

Steve Heller: What is the most important trait in selecting an artist to create a toy? Paul Budnitz: The design itself. Kidrobot is not about working with well-known or famous artists (although we do). We are about the very best design. So if someone sends us an amazing design we’ll make it. Personally, I look for designs that are flat, feel new and are unique. I have a sign over my office that says ‘nostalgia is death’ and this is basically our creative philosophy. We choose to look forward, not backwards. How much of Kidrobot’s toy design is art versus commerce? Do the two co-exist easily? It is all art and it is all commerce. As far as I’m concerned there is no conflict whatsoever, and this is not a distinction that I tend to make. Shakespeare wrote his plays for money; if he didn’t perform, he didn’t eat. Any fine artist who tells you he doesn’t care about money is probably lying to you. There is a famous story about Picasso and Brecht: Brecht wanted to make a lot of money so he could pass it down to his children, so he collected Picasso. Picasso wanted a lot of money so he could pass it down to his children, and he also collected Picasso. As more and more artists’ toys hit the market what makes your biggest ‘invention’ MUNNY so unique? 22 MUNNY is just really great design. The body shape, the accessories, and I think the spirit of 26 this toy is what makes it special. I don’t think this is something that can be copied or imitated. Now that these toys, and Kidrobot in particular, have found a hungry market, what’s to stop them from becoming the next Mattel? You mean what stops Kidrobot from becoming a giant conglomerate that makes essentially lifeless, joyless toys that crush children’s creative spirit? I stop that from happening because I can’t imagine why I’d be interested in doing it. Our customers and fans also stop us from doing it, because if we did they’d abandon us, 23 and I’d be out there encouraging them. 27 www.kidrobot.com

22 23 Gorillaz – Basic Set Smorkin Mongers Series1 Jamie Hewlett and Damon Frank Kozik, 2006 Albarn, 2006 Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. Produced by Kidrobot, Inc.

24 25 Kidrobot 10 – The Good, The Photos taken from The Paint Bad and The Ugly Ball: A Larger-Than-Life Huck Gee, 2006 Custom Toy Show to benefit Limited edition of 800 Save The Children Federation Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. that was held at Kidrobot Pirate Store in New York, 2006 © Kidrobot, Inc.

26 MUNNY includes 4 secret mystery Paul Budnitz and accessories, a hello-my- Tristan Eaton, 2005 name-is card, and one of 7" tall vinyl figures in black several surprise MUNNY and white. Kidrobot’s first do- coloring books. it-yourself-toy, each set Produced by Kidrobot, Inc.

27 28 MUNNY coloring books Metal D 8-Inch Dunny included in each MUNNY set. Mad Barbarians, 2006 28 Limited edition of 1000 Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. 24 25

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Tim Biskup is a cartoonist, lettering Could you imagine that the market would be as artist, sculptor and creator of large as it has become with Kidrobot and other Gama-Go clothing and gift items. alternative toy stores? He is founder of the Bispop Gallery, Not at all. I’m stunned that it has gone as crazy in Old Town Pasadena, , as it has. where he exhibits and sells original What is the most significant theme of your toys? paintings, hand-painted objects, It’s tough to find a single theme because I feel clothing, toys, books, cards and like I have two distinctly different themes that exclusive items. exist in various combinations in my toys. The first is modular design. I want the toys to be inviting Steven Heller: Why did you start doing toys? and interactive. The other theme is an attempt Tim Biskup: I’ve been into toys my whole life. All to find balance. I try to combine ugliness and of my work is inspired by toys. About eight years beauty, cuteness and malevolence, happiness ago I started to collect Japanese monster toys. and sadness. The colours, shapes and general feeling of them Are they for kids or adults or what? made a huge impact on me, and really changed Ideally they’re for both kids and adults. Most my art. I dreamed about making my own, but it of the art that I like – from Loony Tunes to Jean never seemed possible. The learning curve, the Tinguely – appeals to both groups. There is set-up expense, marketing – all of that just seemed a big divide in most people’s minds about too much to deal with. Then I was approached enjoying something in a very playful, childlike 32 by Sony Creative to design a set of PVC figures. I way, and enjoying it in an observant, intellectual was totally blown away that I was actually going to way. I do whatever I can to remind myself of get something made. After that it was a snowball what I liked as a kid and try to incorporate that effect. I got offers from five or six other companies into my work. There is something very satisfying that wanted to make my toys before the Sony toys about diving into one of those big pools of ever got made. I just went nuts. plastic balls. They should have those for adults... Who were your other influences? Hey, I should make one of those for adults! As a kid I loved building toys, like Lego, Lincoln Have you limited yourself to a certain niche of Logs and Tinker Toys. I’m interested in making characters or are you branching out? toys that bridge the gap between the collectable I hope I never limit myself like that. I try really objects that sit on your desk, and toys that hard to keep myself fresh and not rely on a inspire people to pick them up and play with character to carry an idea. I do use a few them. Kaiju toys were really the big thing for me characters over and over, but only when I feel around the time that I started making my own, that it works in the context of the piece. I also but there are tons of earlier influences that I’ve try to make a point of letting characters change started to tap into. over time and from one piece to another. I don’t Did you really think you’d find a market? want to be too much of a storyteller. I’m always By the time I started making toys there was branching out. There are so many characters in already enough of a market that I knew I could my art that I feel like I can keep going forever. sell through some small editions. I am always a The little freaky bug in the corner of some little freaked out when I do something that doesn’t painting could easily be a little figure next week. fit into the market that I know. I’m working on Who is your favorite toy maker? some projects that are a big step away from the A Japanese company called M-Ichigo (or M-1). format and price range that most toy collectors are used to. I’m a little nervous about it. www.timbiskup.com 33 34

29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Helper-Dragon Helper: Power #3 Helper: Power #1 Alphabeast: Calli Alphabeast: Calli Controller Clump Helper Stack Pack Tim Biskup, 2005 Tim Biskup, 2004 Tim Biskup, 2005 Tim Biskup, 2004 Tim Biskup, 2006 Tim Biskup, 2005 Tim Biskup, 2004 Tim Biskup, 2003 Gel vinyl acrylic on wooden Acrylic on wooden panel. Acrylic on wooden panel. 9" tall soft vinyl figure. 9" tall soft vinyl figure. Acrylic on wooden panel. 8" tall soft vinyl finger puppet PVC capsule toy set panel. Barcelona exclusive edition of Silver and white edition Produced by Critterbox. Produced by Sony Creative. 200. Produced by Flopdoodle Produced by Flopdoodle Figure Company. Figure Company. 36

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Gary Baseman is an artist, TV and You must have been seeped in Japanese movie producer, toy designer aesthetics, right? and prolific cartoonist. He is Yes, the Japanese sensibility plays a role too, the creator of Teacher’s Pet, the especially the Kaiju toys produced in the critically acclaimed animated 50s and 60s. I am also inspired by Takashi television series and feature-length Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, who know how animated film. to blur the lines between fine art and toy culture very well. Steven Heller: Why did you start designing toys? How did you imagine selling your toys in the Gary Baseman: I have always had an interest beginning? since I [began collecting] vintage toys, along I did not imagine anything. Then again, I with anything that I felt were little works of art. I imagine everything. I have always wanted to truly see these toys as limited edition sculptures take over the universe by creating special things. 44 45 40 for the masses. Are they for kids or adults or yourself? You show in retail stores and galleries, isn’t there For myself! I don’t delineate who they are for. I a conflict? guess you would say adults. My art is for adults. My goal really is to blur the lines between fine But kids can take a simpler theme away with art and toy culture. I am honoured that the them because my work mixes Laguna Art Museum [in California) is exhibiting and surrealism and looks like cartoons. The the toys and paintings together in a two-man Fire Water Bunnies are the only exception, show, Perversion: The Art of Gary Baseman and because they were created for children. They Tim Biskup, (that ran throughout the summer of were originally created for a Taiwanese folklore 2006). I love how someone can enjoy the art in water festival. Dumb Luck, the rabbit was based the museum, then step over to the store and buy on a gallery show at the Mendenhall Gallery in their own little work of art. in 1999. Toby, my plush [soft] toy How did you actually come to make toys, was it a was created for my For the Love of Toby gallery fluke? show (at Billy Shire Fine Arts) that included 80 I was travelling in Japan for a collaborative works of art. Toby was created to be your best three-man show with Mark Ryden and Tim friend, your mirror, your shadow, somebody Biskup. In Tokyo, I was invited by Sony Creative who knows all your dirty little secrets, but loves to produce a set of five vinyl figures which turned you unconditionally. I wanted him ‘plush’ so you 41 into my original Dunce series. I originally used a would take him to bed. dunce icon in my paintings as metaphor of man Have you limited yourself to a certain niche of being a fool for love. I turned the series into characters? Obedient School Dropouts, with characters like Limit? What does that mean? The goal is always Re-Tardy, whose offence is that he is always late. to fuck around and take risks and grow. Try new 46 47 48 Where there any previous influences, say David material. New characters. Anything to try to Kirk or some of the earlier wood toy makers? discover little human truths. Anything to keep my 37 38 39 40 41 42 I loved David Kirk’s original wood toys. They mind off of my miserable life. M.O.D. Dunny in red L.A. Series Dunny L.A. Series Dunny Dumb Luck – Original Pink Gefilte and Pupik for the Dunces Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Neo-Kaiju project Gary Baseman Who is your favourite toy maker? are beautiful and I own a few. But a true work Edition of 3000 Gold edition Silver edition Edition of 500 Gary Baseman Originally produced for of art that inspired me in vinyl was ’ My favourite has been working with Conor Libby Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. Produced by Kidrobot, Inc. Produced by Critterbox. Produced by Strange Co. Sony Creative, Japan original black companion. It is a skull head on at Critterbox because of his attention to detail. and Super 7. a Mickey Mouse body that I first saw in SoHo in But I will be working with a lot of other cool toy the New Museum window. I also love the feel of makers, too. Medicom has produced amazing composition. How they look and how they feel. work. I have done Hump QEE with Raymond 43 44 45 46 47 48 One of my goals is to find a way to recreate the at Toy2R, which I love – the new Gold Egg is Hotchachacha Turnaround! Dipping Halos Hotchachacha Hotchachacha Hotchachacha Box Hotchachacha Ad Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman Gary Baseman process for my own sculptures. I have many old amazing. Development drawing. Development drawing. Painting created for the Edition of 500 produced by Critterbox. mannequin heads and hands, along with old Garden of Unearthly Delights produced by Critterbox. wood-jointed toys such as Felix the Cat and www.garybaseman.com exhibition at Jonathan Levine 42 Pete the Pup. Gallery, New York. Acrylic on canvas.

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Geoff McFetridge is a graphic designer, animator, filmmaker and “all-around visual auteur.” McFetridge created the opening 54 title sequences for the movies 56 Adaptation and The Virgin Suicides. He is founder of Champion Graphics.

Steve Heller: What prompted you to make artist toys? David Kirk makes toys and art for Your toys were so exquisitely crafted. Do you think Geoff McFetridge: I resisted for a while, since children. He is the creator of the your stuff is passé? I was not very involved in the toy world. I was successful children’s book series For one thing, wouldn’t that sort of toy making given toys over time but never collected them. It Miss Spider’s Tea Party. In the late- have to have been big at some point in order is such an interesting culture though. I decided 1980s he sold his handmade wooden for it to become passé? Maybe I don’t get out that as an outsider, maybe I could do something toys out of a storefront in New enough, but I’ve never seen anybody at any interesting and different. York’s East Village. point making toys with a combination of art and Do you have an audience in mind, or are they 51 mechanics similar to my method. I don’t think I extensions of your expressive needs? Steven Heller: In the 80s you made and sold was part of a time, or even ahead of my time. I Most of the design is pretty autobiographical. exquisite wooden toys – faces as banks, with was just a fluke with an odd skill set. I try to have the designs be part of visual mouths that opened up to accept the money, and Why did you start making toys? discussion, so that they speak on a level that stacking toys, including a skeleton made of rings. Because of my love of the toy robots I collected the viewer understands, a little conversation. So How do you feel about the new toymakers’ vinyl since I was two. They broke a lot, and I had 57 often things are about design, and in the case of and plastic work? to take them apart to repair them, so I got Creature Off My Back, T-shirts and toys. David Kirk: The little plastic figures seem a to understand all sorts of simple mechanical How often do you develop a new toy or series of toys? slightly different area from what I used to do. systems. In high school, when I got seriously Not often. For one thing, they appear to be part of a interested in art, I was fascinated by creepy Are they for children or all of us? movement. There are lots of folks doing similar things, like pain, squalor and death, as well as My daughter liked it for about a day. They are little beasties made just for today’s collector. It’s beautiful things like flowers and pretty girls. also a choking hazard. I would have liked them a little bit like those gilt edge plates with pictures I got to be good at painting all those subjects, when I was a kid, I think. of dead movie stars that grandma hangs next to so when I made my toys, it was natural for me In your universe, fundamentally, what makes the cupboard with her best china, only this stuff to make both cute animals and ugly monsters, something a toy? is for guys in their teens and twenties. both sexy dancing girls and spooky waltzing Smallish, pointless and dimensional. They are a little too grotesque to sit next to the skeletons. china. How do you feel about the art brut or Who did you design toys for? www.championdontstop.com grotesque aesthetic? They weren’t designed for adults or kids – I did my share of deliberately ugly toys, but I they were designed for me. u u 58 usually like to concentrate more on what I think is beautiful, or just fun. The current grotesque www.rif.org/art/illustrators/kirk.mspx stuff is probably beautiful and fun for the artists who make it, and the collectors who buy it, so I’m all for it. 52 53

49 50 51 52 – 53 54 55 56 57 58 Creature Off My Back – Chuck Development drawing Creature Off My Back – Creature Off My Back – Box top drawing Octopus Pull Toy Penguin Lamp Battling Clowns in a Tank Hopping Bug Pull Toy Geoff McFetridge, 2005 Geoff McFetridge Bear, Coin and Solitary Coin and Solitary David Kirk, 1987. Handmade by David Kirk, Handmade by David Kirk, Handmade by David Kirk, Handmde by David Kirk, Little man figurine: 10cm tall Geoff McFetridge, 2005 Geoff McFetridge, 2005 1988 1984. 1983 1988 Chuck figurine inside: 5.7cm Little man figurines: 10cm tall. Little man figurines: 10cm tall. Strikes chimes with head ©Callaway & Kirk Company ©Callaway & Kirk Company © Callaway & Kirk Company tall. Produced by King of Bear: 6cm tall. Coin: 6.3cm Coin: 6.3cm tall. Produced by spinning in the opposite LLC. LLC. LLC. Mountain, Japan tall. Solitary: 7.2cm tall King of Mountain, Japan direction. ©Callaway & Kirk Produced by King of Company LLC. Mountain, Japan

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