ART: Dr. Lakra

Chicago is hot right now. The heat today was dry and there was wind.

I want to talk about this artist named Dr. Lakra. While I was in Mexico, I went to Museo Amparo, which has art exhibits by contemporary artists. Dr. Lakra is a Mexican artist and tattooist. I fell in love with his work immediately. I am a huge fan of graffiti artists like Banksy, Miss Van, Shepard Ferry, etc., and Dr. Lakra's creativity felt fresh to me and in a similar spirit.

I should explain. I don't know how to explain. I wonder if listing off my favorite contemporary artists would be more clear than attempting to explain my take on art right now. I took a "Philosophy of Aesthetics" class while I was in college and we talked a lot about how to quantify beauty. We learned about Orlan, a french artist who has undergone numerous plastic surgeries to transform herself into what is perceived as "the most beautiful woman". (Just a note! Lady Gaga has definitely just become obsessed with Orlan, I think, because she is mimicing her signature look, though Lady Gaga's, I assume, are prosthetic)

Talking about art is not comfortable for me and I cannot do it well enough without drawing on a million examples and then it becomes less fun. The art I like is fun.

Dr. Lakra uses his background in tattooing in the work that he displays. He embellishes found objects, like old magazine clippings, dolls, and portraits of famous people with intricate tattoo designs or spooky, shadowing figures.

 

I am always surprised when I see how influential Japanese culture is throughout the world. Tattoos, in Japan, are mostly associated with the Yakuza (Japanese mob), and are extremely stigmatized. Yakuza men will have their entire body covered in tattoos and I couldn't help but see a comparison when looking at these dolls. Even the doll itself reminds me of a Kewpie doll, which are not Japanese, but are everywhere in Japan and are meant to be seen as the epitome of kawaii (means: CUTE! OMG!!). He's covered the figure in tattoos, adding scars and kanji to its face. He continues with a Japanese sumo wrestler, and then I wanted to add an image of his work on an old photo of a Lucha Libre wrestler for comparison.

 

While studying in Mexico, my teacher had me watch an old film called Los Tres Garcia, from 1947. One of the actors, Pedro Infante, is incredibly famous and renowned. He is a Mexican hearthrob and croons beautiful women in all of his films. Dr. Lakra did designs on a famous image of Pedro Infante, too.

When visiting new countries, finding new artists and musicians to become obsessed with is the easiest way for me to become more comfortable with the culture. I went to this exhibit on my second day in Puebla, and from that moment I knew Mexico had a lot to offer me. The culture is intense and fresh. Dr. Lakra was my introduction for what was to come during the rest of my stay.

Hot Dogs on Broadway

Flub a Dub Chub is the Chicago style hot dog place down the street from me.

I didn't know this until I went in, but Chicago style hot dogs are a big deal. A classic Chicago style dog consists of the following ingrediants: a Vienna beef hot dog, tomato slices, 2 pickle spears, onions, hot peppers, celery salt, relish, and mustard. NO KETCHUP! I had no idea! I ordered the "Flubby," but without onions or relish. I am trying to teach myself to like tomatoes, so I left them on. It was really good. The "Chubby" is a Flubby with cheese. They also serve burgers, veggie dogs, and chili cheese dogs. The fries were crispy and yummy, too.

The Flubby

Josh got "The Ultimate Mr. Big," which is a giant chili and cheese dog.

The Ultimate Mr. Big

Halloween was Here

I didn't make any posts in October. I needed to take that month to get into Chicago and midwest living. I started working a lot more and hanging out with more people.And! Halloween happened!

Halloween starts in the costume shop.

scary costumes!

sexy costumes!

japanese harajuku girl costume?

Halloween is next taken to the streets!

Since my birthday is on Halloween, we went to Phoebe's Cupcakes for birthday cupcakes.

buried alive cupcake = chocolate chocolate chocolate

i forget the name of this one, but it was a carmel apple flavor with a sugary candy razorblade.

 

eyeball cupcakes. we had to get two. these were classic funfetti flavored.

While we were at Phoebe's, children were piling in to go trick or treating at all of the stores around the neighborhood.

I went to a really fun show on the fourth floor of a giant loft space. Everyone was dressed up to perfection. I had about an hour to put a costume together since I was gone the whole day visiting with family, so I just went as a zombie. It was easy and fun. I could have done better, but whatever.

Michelle Muck

Oh! And of course! Pumpkins!

Apple Season

It's apple season in Indiana. I went apple picking. Granny Smith apple's, my favorite type of apple, were not in season and made apple picking really difficult. I don't really eat a lot of apples, so I had to find one's, in season, that I liked. The strange thing about picking apples is that I was in nature and could just eat them whenever I wanted. I could try them and if i didn't like an apple I could throw it on the ground, because it is totally natural and there were hundreds of apples left on the ground. I had fun. I was really happy to do this because picking fruit is unheard of in Japan. Fruit is ridiculously expensive in Japan. I will try to find fruit photos from Nippon.

 

Rotofugi: Dalek and Steve Seeley

So, I went to Rotofugi the other day for their new store opening/ art exhibit. One of my favorite artists, James Marshall, aka DALEK, was showing some new artworks, so it was important for me to visit. Going to art openings with artists that I like is a big part of my love of cities and I am determined to be at these sorts of things in Chicago.

Dalek is known for a character he created called a Space Monkey. He draws and paints it in different styles and mediums, but it's always very recognizable and fun. To me, and to most, it looks like a contorted mouse. I love the Space Monkey because it is born out of a mix of American street graffiti and Japanese pop art.

Space Monkey Painting

Space Monkey Toy

He also does geometric abstract paintings, which he was displaying at Rotofugi the night I was there. These paintings from a far are free and bright and representative of similar pop and graffiti styles of art. Up close, they show a more meticulous form that details Dalek's care and attention. I think he goes by James Marshall now, having almost completely stopped using the Space Monkey in his current artwork.

The other artist showing his work at Rotofugi was Steve Seeley. Steve Seeley paints super heroes and D-list celebrities on paper that has images of nature printed on the surface. A theme in his works the night I visited was depicting the superhero capes and clothing as bandanas, adding an urban edge to a stereotypically nerdy genre. He depicted Batman and Superman as Tupac and Biggie. He posed Paris Hilton with morphed rottweiler legs. He put Miley Cyrus inside of a bear. He morphed deer horns into Victorian chandeliers. I really loved his works.

Batman riding a bear, then surfing a deer.

The bandanna clothes.

All of these images and others that I talked about can be seen larger, in more detail, and in context of the full exhibit at Rotofugi's website through the links that I posted. Another interesting bit is that both of these artists are connected to Chicago. Dalek studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Steve Seeley grew up here. 面白い、ね?

Designer Vinyl Toys: America

This post is the second to my previous post, and may not make sense out of context.

As with all evolutions of creativity, the form and concepts are distinct to their creator. Brightly colored conceptual monsters can trigger other forms of inspiration, and the cultural differences from Japan to America have allowed for fluid interpretations. Well known toy makers and distributors in America include Kid Robot, Super7, Double Punch in San Fransisco, and Rotofugi in Chicago.

With Bwana Spoons at Double Punch

I was really lucky during my first trip to San Fransisco, Bwana Spoons was painting a mural on the wall. He signed a photo book I bought of his Edward the Gator vinyl toy. He was kind and not at all upset by my interruption. Bwana Spoons a really good example of a vinyl toy artist in America. The whole subculture of vinyl toys is still very much immersed in Japan. Everyone knows about Kaiju. Bwana Spoons is a painter and designer and has made really good connections and choices. When I lived in Japan I was excited to see that Bwana Spoons was a staple at Gargamel, often designing toys with Gargamel's designers. I am so happy a bit of the mural is shown in the background, because that image is exactly his style. He uses bright, fun colors, and has a distinct California feel.

There are noticeable differences between Japanese and American vinyl toy aesthetic. Japanese toys tend to draw from their roots of 60s and 70s Kaiju characters. American toys are more rounded, probably inspired by graffiti and underground urban culture. People in America who design toys also design shoes and have painting exhibitions and create graphic novels. Japanese toys are considerably more grotesque and alien. American toys, inexplicably, are cuter, maybe more marketable...? I like both styles. I find it difficult to describe, but I hope I am not far off base in my generalization.

Kaws's Bounty Hunter: Rotofugi, USA

Hedora: Secret Base, Japan

Designer Vinyl Toys:Japan: A Rough Introduction

Kaiju, 怪獣、means "monster" in Japanese. Monster characters are very popular in Japanese culture, and while Godzilla and King Kong are the most well known in America, there are other, more creative versions that are well known in Japan. 

Gamera: Turtle Monster

Gigan: Godzilla Opponent

My favorite aspect of Kaiju is the subculture of designing vinyl toys after well known monsters, showcasing an evolution from action figures to underground pop art. The following two photos are from a store called Gargamel based out of Koenji, Tokyo, Japan.

Designer vinyl toys are usually created by a toy company that specializes in this sort of thing, as well as established artists who are commissioned by the toy company to design a toy. The toy company is not a big corporation like Matel or Hasbro, rather specifically niche centered and small. Secretbase, for example, is a store based out of Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan. Secretbase first created a design for a figure, then did interesting coloring on the figure, then had the capabilities to expand to new figures, collaborate with other toy stores and designers, and ultimately pair up with cool artists, which allowed for international expansion and recognition.

An Astro Brain toy from Secret Base

Can you see the evolution? Monster movies like Godzilla and Gamera inspired a lot artists and companies as a merchandise opportunity, just like Star Wars and X-Men more recently. First an action figure is created in the monsters likeness, then more creative people who do not necessarily work for big toy companies create their own designs. Some of the most interesting toys are just simple figures that have been painted with unexpected colors, like lime green and fluorescent pink. Other examples could be popping the heads off of a Snoopy toy and putting Godzilla's head on top. These sorts of creations evolve into people creating their own monsters, completely independent of a film or book or other sort of inspiration.


Next post will be about America's take on Japan's Kaiju toys.