April 2012

Stranger Factory Presents: The Missing Elements – New Works by RAGNAR & Scott Tolleson

Grab your argyle sweaters and swanky cigarette holders because this Friday we’re taking a trip, a retro flip, to the technicolor times of Brandon ‘Ragnar’ Johnson and Scott Tolleson. These two have queued up all sorts of interesting for this month’s affair: a combination of old timey and oddity with ladies, creatures, warriors and skulls. And ladies.

Help yourself the sampler plate of pictures below but pace yourself as this is only the first course! The Missing Elements opens May 4th and runs through the 27th. Cocktail party with Ragnar this Friday starting at 6pm!

A Preview of Travis Louie’s ‘Secret Pet Society’

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Grips & Otis, 2012, acrylic on board, 12 x 9″

Travis Louie’s new solo show, ‘The Secret Pet Society’, opens this Wednesday at William Baczek Fine Arts and we’ve managed to get our hot little hands on a few sneak peeks in anticipation of the event. Tendrils and tentacles, sods and swamp things … they’re all here and compliments of the  fantastically fashionable and hyper-realistic realm that is Travis Louie’s imaginarium. Enjoy!

The Secret Pet Society opens May 2nd through June 2nd. A reception with the artist will be held May 5th from 5pm to 7pm. A print release of ‘Julia and her Swamp Friend’ (below), will coincide with the event.

Julia & Her Swamp Friend, 2012, acrylic on board, 20 x 16″

Julia discovered him while she was collecting red-spotted salamanders in the swamp behind her parent’s farm house. She mistook the crown of branch-shaped tendrils on its head as a thicket of dead birch trees. The creature turned out to be quite harmless.  She named him Phil and took him home as a pet. Feeding Phil became a problem as he continued to grow. When she first brought him home, he was quite large at 8 feet in length. As the years passed, he grew to an unmanageable size of 35 feet and consumed about 100 lbs of trout and salmon each day. Just to take care of him, she started her own fish hatchery. He eventually outlived Julia and she included him in her last will and testament. Her grandchildren inherited both the fish hatchery and Phil.

Billy & the Mystery Sod, 2012, acrylic on board, 7 x 5″

It Grew From the Brambles, 2012, acrylic on board, 14 x 11″ 

Miss Lucy & Her “Hat Monkey”, 2012, acrylic on board, 14 x 11″

The Reluctant Bee Keeper, 2012, acrylic on board, 10 x 8″


Coming Soon to Tomenosuke: Brandt Peters x FERG Trouble Boy No.7 [Drifter]

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In anticipation of the forthcoming release of the next Trouble Boy Squadt, FERG has revealed a slick new teaser of the only Squadt whose origins lie in the land of the rising sun: the Yakuza-inspired No. 7 [Drifter]. It’s also been confirmed that this installment of the barnburner collab between FERG and Brandt Peters is an exclusive to Tomenosuke-syoten.

Release info will be announced as soon as FERG nails down a date with Shinji … keep it locked!

Travis Lampe Teases ‘Topplers’ for New Blood @ Thinkspace Gallery 4.28

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Opening this weekend at Thinkspace Gallery is a rather brilliant exhibition called New Blood, a group show curated by filmmaker and avid art collector Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days). Now, the premise behind it is quite ingenious: wrangle a dozen of the art scene’s most celebrated and established artists and pair them with an emerging artist (of their choosing) who carries on in their tradition in some aspect. How does this tie into CP land? Our own Travis Lampe was hand-plucked by the great femme of the fantastical, Camille Rose Garcia.

“In our case the pairing has much to do with noodly arms and booze, I think,” Travis writes. “Regardless, I’m super pleased and honored to be picked for this by Camille. I’ve always idolized her for her crazy, crazy art, of course, but I finally got to meet her last year and guess what? She’s also super nice and fun to hang out with. She agrees that animals look best in hats, and that goes a long way with me.”

Posted above is a detail shot of Travis’ painting, ‘Topplers’, a 16 x 20″ acrylic on wood panel. Noodle limbs FTW!

Other pairings in the show include: The Date Farmers & Albert Reyes, Dzine & Jesus Bubu Negron, Elizabeth McGrath & Morgan Slade, Gary Baseman & Jesse Dickenson, Gary Taxali & Adrian Forrow, Jonathan Yeo & Charlie Gouldsborough, Mark Jenkins & Sandra Fernandez, Nicola Verlato & Marco Mazzoni, Ron English & Kid Zoom, Saber & ZES, Shepard Fairey & Nicholas Bowers and Tim Biskup & Patrick Hruby.

New Blood opens Saturday, April 28th through May 19th. An opening reception with many of the artists will be held Saturday from 5pm to 8pm.

Travis Louie & Glenn Barr for Lyric 2 @ 323East Gallery

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Glenn Barr’s second spin of his popular LP-inspired art show, Lyric, opened last weekend at 323East Gallery in Royal Oak, Michigan. Much like last year’s exhibition, participating artists were appointed the task of creating a 12×12″ piece of art (i.e. the size of a record cover) inspired by a song of their choice.

For Travis Louie, it was all about Sheb Wooley’s 1958 classic, ‘Purple People Eater’. His interpretation of said beastlie is captured above in graphite. (It’s also still available — grab it here!)

Glenn Barr’s choice was a bit more current — an acrylic on wood piece inspired by Velvet Underground’s ‘Lisa Says’. The piece is sold.

Other artists participating in the show include Luke Chueh, Camilla d’Errico, Revok, Brett Amory, Eimi, Matt Eaton, Beau Stanton, Ron Zakrin, Tom Thewes, Tristan Eaton, Chikuwaemil, Shojonotomo, Mark Heggie, BASK, Ray Domzalski, Jeff Soto, Rick Morris, Chet Zar, Mark Dancy, Joey Seeman, THH70, Bryan Cunningham, William Wray, Davin Brainard, Daniel Peacock, David Diavu Vecchiato, Robert Nixon, Matt Gordon, Casey Weldon, Erik Otto, Martha Rich, John Dunivant, Derek Hess, Chris Dean, Dan Armand, April Segedi, Made514, Chris Reccardi and more!

Show’s on until May 21st; stop by if your travels take you through the fine state of Michigan!

FERG x Grody Shogun Young Gohst Subscription Opens April 30th!

FERG has finally announced details on the release of the FERG x Grody Shogun ‘YOUNG GOHST’ sofubi project! The series is comprised of thirteen 3″ figures that will be offered via a six-month subscription service. Two little dudes will blast your mailbox every month and the last shipment will contain three figures. Each release will have a different coloured body and brain. To add a little excitement, the brain sculpt will be selected at random! (Yes!! Even the brains vary! Mine is asploding right now!!)

The release is set for April 30th at noon central time and will be open for a week. Store link to come! Full subscriptions are $285 USD (works out to be about $22 a figure), domestic shipping included. International orders add $70 for shipping. For those who aren’t looking to commit to the full subscription, a 2-pack containing the first two releases will also be offered for $58 shipped.

A quick refresher for those who missed the initial news: Young Gohst is FERG’s new sofubi (Japanese soft vinyl) project in conjunction with Grody Shogun (Luke Rook of Lulubell). Sculpted by master of anatomical artistry Scott Wilkowski, the 3-inch soft vinyl figures feature a removable brain/spinal column with a tongue that sticks out of Young Gohst’s mouth. In other words, it’s a tiny miracle of utterly kick-ass toy engineering. See below for the aforementioned brain piece as well as a color chart of all the releases (the 13th is a mystery!). Stoked!

Mud Puddle Snybora from CMR x Rotofugi x Squibbles Ink Releasing Friday!

Watch your step when heading to Rotofugi this Friday because a new wave of Chris Ryniak’s Snybora will be hitting the streets for some splish splashin’! The Mud Puddle Snybora is a warm caramelized vinyl that features a burnt sienna rub and deep brown accents. His glossy black eyes glisten like the puddles he’s belly-gliding in! Hand painted by Kirby Kerr of Rotofugi and Joe Somers of Squibbles Ink, no two of the 3.5″ critters are exactly alike!

Snag one in store or online Friday, April 27th at 11am Central for about $35.

 

Travis Louie Brings his Secret Pet Society to William Baczek 5.2

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Here’s hoping William Baczek is pet friendly, as Travis Louie is unleashing all of his most unworldly dream creatures for The Secret Pet Society, opening May 2nd through June 2nd. The solo exhibition will showcase new 2D works and from the looks of it, continues where last November’s Curious Pet Show left off.

The exhibition also marks the release of Travis’ new print, Julia and her Swamp Friend, which will be available at the opening reception Sat. May 5th, from 5 to 7pm. They’re an edition of 75 + 10 A/Ps (A/Ps not for sale). The print alone has me contemplating an impromptu flight to Massachusetts … who wouldn’t want a swamp friend?. Have a peek below for our first taster from the show: Wendy and the Ghost of Tim, 10″ x 8″, acrylic on board.

Experience the Magic of Monsters & Misfits II … in 3D!!

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It’s time to bust out your cereal box 3D glasses, kids, as this next video is in 3D! Shot by BP Utfil (remember him from last year?), this clip takes us through the Kusakabe Folk Museum and Monsters & Misfits exhibition in an impressive 3D format. It’s about as close as we’re going to get to attending this juggernaut … and it’s freaking awesome!

 Monsters & Misfits II is on display until April 26th in lovely Takayama, Japan.

Circus Posterus x Tomenosuke: The Sofubi Figures Revealed

Cue the victory fanfare for our weary artist travelers have returned home from the magical land that is Japan! There was sight seeing, and spa soaking, fan signings and bad karaoke (still awaiting evidence), and of course, the opening of Monsters & Misfits II.

Apart from all this, the quartet also managed to squeeze in a couple of projects: namely the planning of Monsters & Misfits III, slated for Summer/Fall 2013, and also the new Circus Posterus x Tomenosuke sofubi vinyl project. Yes, ladies and gents, we’re going to smelling some fresh CP vinyl very soon — one of the first pulls of BP’s Stingy Jack is pictured above, alongside KO’s Calliope Jackalope prototype, which has just been OK’d and should be hitting production soon. Chris Ryniak also put the finishing touches on his Stinky Ginger prototype, which we first saw a few weeks back. Hand-painted resin versions will be released as well this year. In other words: we have plenty to look forward to! Release details are still emerging, so keep checking back!