I am making another trip to the US of A next month to appear at the art toy convention Designer Con. ( Website here. )
If all goes to plan I should be launching a special edition of my G.N.O.M.E toy there.
So come along and say hello.
When:
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
10 am to 5 pm
Where :
Pasadena Convention Center
300 East Green Street
Pasadena
CA 91101
USA
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.
I will have a booth in the Comic and Pop Artist Alley in the Grand Hall East at the Hyatt Regency hotel at this years Dragon Con.
The show runs from the 3rd to the 6th of September it Downtown Atlanta.
Hyatt Regency Hotel
265 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta
GA 30303
tel : 404-577-1234
Comic and Pop Artist Alley Opening times :
Friday 1pm – 7pm
Saturday 10am – 7pm
Sunday 10am – 7pm
Monday 10am – 5pm
Panels I will be on this year :
Title: Comics & Pop Art Reception
Time: Fri 08:00 pm
Location: Regency V – Hyatt
Title: Breaking the Molds, Pushing the Boundaries of 3D Art
Time: Sat 01:00 pm
Location: Hanover F – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Enjoy an hour with the cream of the crop of today’s object art elite.
Title: Steampunk Makers’ Exhibition
Time: Sun 04:00 pm
Location: International C – Westin (Length: 1)
Description: See some of the finest steampunk makers & builders display their props in an up-close and personal format!
My two exclusive prints……….
Each printed in sepia archival inks on Sommerset velvet cotton rag with rounded corners. Each signed and numbered in pencil.
Stephan LePodd – Explorer
Edition of 15
Image size 13 x 13 cm
Paper size 16.5 x 16 cm
Trevithick’s Wandering Theatre
Edition of 20
Image size 13 x 21 cm
Paper size 16.5 x 25 cm
New Original Drawings
Many new pen and ink drawings will be at the show. Here is just a tiny taster.
Last Chance for LePodd
There will be a very small number of the Dragon Con exclusive Stephan LePodd figure available to those of you who didnt make it out to the show lst year.
Custom Toys
New and old custom toy pieces will be on display.
As well as the YoYos seen in the previous post.
So if you are there please do drop by and say hello.
And if you still need tickets click over to the Dragon Con site and see what last minute deals there may be.
Here is the first picture of my Dragon Con exclusive for this year. Its a laser etched wooden Yoyo.
This is the test burn. But the actual YoYo will be just the same. Each piece will be hand numbered and signed too and carries the Dragon Con logo on the back as well as the logo of the Steve Brown Gallery who produced this lovely object for me.
This is not part of their ongoing YoYo artist series but is made in just the same way. My release with them sold out in minutes so I decided to do this second YoYo to let other people have a chance to get hold of one.
This edition run will be only 50 pieces. Available at Dragon Con.
The unadorned yo-yos themselves are a work of art. Made in the United States and turned from a single piece of Hard Rock Maple, they are made in the traditional fashion of yo-yos from the 1920s. While most modern yo-yos are made of high-impact plastic or aircraft-grade aluminum, these wooden yo-yos are meant to evoke a simpler time in American history. The yo-yo is the second-oldest toy in the world and still one of the most popular; it’s with this heritage in mind that these wooden yo-yos were chosen.
The Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester UK is having a launch party of the 2010 Dunny toy series on Thursday the 19th Sept. Thats next Thursday. Starts 6pm.
And I hope to get along to it.
Last month we made the trip to Bristol to visit the “Art from the New World” show at the Bristol City art gallery (The same place that held the big Banksy show not long ago..)
It was well worth the trip.
Curated by the Corey Helford gallery it collects together a whole gaggle of cutting edge American (and English living in America) artists together and shows there work to the general public in a big show away from the usual “scene” type venues. This is a great entry level show for anyone who hasnt ever heard of the phrases “Low Brow” or “Pop Surrealism”.
As you can see on the flier above there is a top line-up of artists with some amazing pieces many new for this show.
You are greeted in the main hall before entering the show gallery by a huge inflateable Buff Monster Ice cream. Buff has also painted a large mural on the walls in three alcoves in the same room.
To the left of the ice cream was a huge Todd Schorr piece.
Inside, the show hall is a large open space with a lot of room to breath and weave between the many people wandering around the show. This wasnt an opening or anything special just a regular week day and it was still very busy.
ok so the place looks empty in the photos but I was waiting for people to move before snapping.
And here are a load of closeups of some of the pieces.
Not really a dud in the show and a great variety of styles too.
This was the first time I had seen actual works from a lot of these artists. Its odd to have known and followed some artists for years and yet never had the chance to actually see an original work before. One of the problems of being in the UK with practically all the shows being in the USA.
Brandi Milne
Travis Louie
Silvia Li
Stoupakis
Greg Simkins
Todd Schorr
Sas Christian
Mark Ryden
Mellisa Forman
Liz McGrath
Liz McGrath
Mia
Camilla Rose Garcia and below Joshua Petker
Outside the show gallery it’s easy to miss Colin Christian’s piece. Although it’s huge at around four feet tall, it’s hung in the room behind the one with the icecream. Take a moment to wander in there and check it out. Its a cracker.
The show runs till the 22nd of August 10am to 5pm daily.
Do go and check it out if you can.
Also it’s worth noting most of the pieces are available to be purchased, though many had sold when I visited.
