Art of Bruce Whistlecraft

The launch party for the new UK based mini platform toy “Jinny” by BitBots was a few nights ago in a pop-up store/gallery in Soho London.
I had a custom piece in the show along with a host of other UK artists.

As far as I am aware the piece is still available to purchase.
So if you like the look of it drop the BitBots fellows an email or toddle along to the gallery. All the info is on their website.
The gallery will be open for the next month.

Dragon Con runs for four days in a row. And it doesn’t stop. Most conventions shut down for the evening around 7pm. True the dealers halls and talks stop then but the musical acts start up around midnight and the collosal party goes all night. There are something like 50,000 people at Dragon Con, That’s a hell of a big party…

One of the really big things at Dragon Con are the costumes. People really make a lot of effort and everything is represented from full on fetish gear to the geekiest and most obscurely nerdiest characters imaginable.

There are a lot of costumes based on films and TV series but also video games, role playing games and books. There are also original creations and the wonderful “Mash-ups”. Costumes made up of two diferent characters mashed together. There are also a lot of “Steampunk” styled characters ranging from Star Wars to the X Men and everything inbetween.

Here are just a few I spotted and managed to grab on my wanderings around the hotels.

There were some really odd choices too. Buckminster Fuller maybe?

And some that were just down right creepy.

A lot of the time I didnt know who people were supposed to be. But the effort everyone made was amazing.

Chris Ryniak and Amanda Spayd who I spent a lot of time randomly wandering around with wanted to get in on the fun too. Chris threw together a mask using part of one of his Cuspid Skelve toys.

But he didnt manage to hang onto it for long before Mandi swiped it and started throwing poses for the crowds of photographers.

Maybe I should try and get something together if I go again next year.
Hmmmmmmmm?

I am home from the epic fun/work that is Dragon Con. Just about got my head back in my own time zone.
I think I will need to blog this in a few different posts as its so epic.

I flew into Atlanta Thursday afternoon directly from Manchester UK. An 8 hour flight which isnt bad really. At least I dont have to change.

I was staying at ground zero at the Hyatt where the Comics and pop art room was located. The Hyatt was put up in the late sixties I believe and has some crazy sculptural elements to the foyer. Including something that looks like the Giant Hadron Collider…

Actually thats a huge wire closed umbrella sculpture in the main lobby. But looking up from its base, along the shaft which pierces two lower floors it could pass as a particle smasher..

The glass elevators (thats Lifts to proper speaking English types) go up through the roof to a sort of giant UFO parked on top of the building. I have no idea whats up there, some sort of secret party room one would suspect. I could only see said UFO at night reflected in the building opposite.

Also at each corner of the lobby there are odd square structures on each floor. No idea what purpous they serve. But if you stand on the top floor where I had a room and look down through them it’s quite impressive, or vertigo inducing whichever you prefer.

The Comics and Pop Art Ally was two floors down from the foyer in a huge exhibition room the size of an aircraft hanger. This was one of about nine such halls across the four main hotels hosting the Con, six of which were dealers rooms of some sort. Thats a lot of shopping!
I set up Thursday afternoon after having picked up my badge.
I fully intended getting a snap of each of the artist’s booths with said artist in residence for my records. But in the end only managed a pitiful few. So here is what I have.

This was my booth. If I do come back next year I really must get some sort of banner to put behind me so people can see what booth it is over the heads of the crowd. Though probably not as complex a structure as the incredibly cool and hip (Daddyo)  Derek Yaniger.

Next to Derek was zombie artist extrordinare Dave Cook.

Opposite Dave was the truely splendid fellow that is Greg “Crayola” Simkins. He was painting a canvas all weekend and the final piece was raffled off on the last day. Lovely and amazingly talanted chap. Fine artist, Tattooist and Graffiti artist. I was lucky enough to get a little original pencil drawing from him which I will be framing for my studio at some point. And if you see his new book “Drawing from the Well” I suggest you pick it up.

Between Greg and myself was the jam packed Rivet Gallery Stall. I didnt manage to get a good shot of the whole stall as it was constantly stuffed with people when I tried and then other times the photos just didnt come out (I had to ditch more than half my Con pics this year due to blurry people or general overcluttered backgrounds that didnt seem an issue at the time of taking.) But part of the Rivet booth was taken over by Amanda Spayd who was selling her wonderful little toothy, floppy critters. They are Adhorrible..

Also in this alley was Shag, Baby Tattoo Books, Camilla D’erico, The Baroness and the Beast Brothers and Glenn Barr. I didnt manage to steal their photons successfully.

At the end of the line next to me was the huge Circus Posterus booth. Towered over by a collosal Red Queen sculpture by Colin Christian. He and his wife Sas were around on and off all weekend along with CP founders Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.

They had toys, Cutoms, original art, prints, books and ever jewellery on sale with art from their band of artists which also includes the wonderfull Travis Louis and Chris Ryniak.

The only other artist I got a snap of was the truly splendid Eric Morin as he plucked about with his vintage banjo.

(I will see if I can borrow some photos from another Con goer later to flesh this out a bit).
I will add another post or two in the next few days.
For now here is me and Travis.

Ok I am off to Dragon Con now.

Orders from the store and emails will be dealt with when I get back next week.

Toodle pip.