The esteemed, or shall I say eSTEAMED Doktor A is without question one of the finest toy modifiers out there. I love his work so much that it’s nearly impossible to choose examples to post.
I do have a special love for this little fellow:
Isn’t this the most stunning custom toy collection?
I highly recommend browsing all sections of Spookypop to see his creations.
(The above is dedicated to my father, who has an unnaturally virulent hatred for the Pillsbury Dough Boy).
Barry X Ball has a way with melting and menacing faces.
I could comment further, but instead I direct you to the Salon 94 site. It’s rare that I insult anyone’s writing, but these descriptions have a severe verbosity problem. It’s like a thesaurus exploded all over the page. Seriously, see for yourself. For a moment I thought the commentary was a satirical part of the exhibit.
When the words get tiring (almost instantaneously), I do recommend clicking through the pictures.
What a great project concept. Invent a creature, give it a name, gather a group of talented folks to bring it to life.
“The International Fauna Dossier describes a schaffas (Marcum-Schaffidius) as a gentle and un-aspiring creature of great mystery…SCREAMDANCE have hand-picked art-friends from all over the world to customize their own breed of schaffas. They were each sent a similar blank shape and given free reign to add, subtract, paint or destroy these objects.”
Here is the template:
And a couple of examples of what people have done with it:
You can see the whole collection here, and it’s quite entertaining.
I love the emerging trend of DIY toys. Mildly anthropomorphic shapes have become a new canvas, and it’s lovely to see the variety of what people project upon them.
I felt very much at home on Sushipot’s Etsy site. She is a mixed media artist, whose work is very similar to some of mine.
This would fit nicely above my toy shelf.
She also makes jewelery out of vintage medical diagrams, like I do!
And lovely greeting cards with obscure ephemera.
Yep, Sushipot and I are cut from the same cloth. I wonder what we’d come up with if we each brought a bunch of supplies and sat down to collaborate!
I know I did a glassworks post recently, but I’m beginning to realize that a number of exceptional artists use this medium. Take Wesley Fleming, for example.
The detailed realism is exquisite.
From the artist statement: With some of my glass beetles for example, I try to capture and mimic an actual species with intricate detail on the tiny limbs and thorax. While in other pieces, I attempt to bring into being a creature from an inner reality or a dream. In some cases I merge the fantastical with the real through choice of color palette or by referencing familiar images in a mythical work.
Some of his subject matter is unconventional.
The colors and patterns here are amazing (of course I had to include the cephalopod…I really want this little guy!).
The whole gallery is wonderful.
This is not your typical shoebox diorama.
Amy Leonard assembles lovely, bizarre little worlds of nature and kitsch under glass.
If you let yourself get drawn in, the details seem to harbor stories; a chaotic yet beautiful atmosphere and flow.
Her subtle lighting effects are brilliant.
Click to enlarge this spectacle of “childhood imagination:”
How they look from afar:
I wish she had a personal website!
Along the lines of my previous Delicately Deadly post are Joe Blow’s Glassworks. I’m a big fan of the “Raygunz.”
If I could order his entire glass raygun collection in miniatures, I’d hang them on my Christmas tree. I think they’d make delightful ornaments.
Sandrine Pelletier is a multimedia delight.
Her clay sculptures evoke the same disquieting feelings that I love in Scott Radke’s marionettes.
Her Angorophobia installation made me chuckle out loud (extra points for the clever word play!).
The Dark Crystal uses lace and beads to replicate a crystal formation. I think it turned out beautifully.
Pelletier also has a number of incredible creations made of latex and lace, such as Nage Macabre:
Click to view in detail…the way she incorporates the lace design is phemonemal:
Cosimo Cavallaro’s Chocolate Jesus came up in conversation recently, prompting me to re-explore Cavallaro’s work.
Here is the illustrious Chocolate Jesus (made safe for work, though a simple google image search calls up many original pictures)
(Incidentally, if anyone ever told me I’d be editing chocolate Jesus private parts…I wouldn’t have believed it)
Cavallaro also has a series of Sweet Saints.
And some rather unnerving installations involving cheese.
(Click the link above for better cheese detail)
His Candy Chair is very well done too.
Cavallaro’s sculptures and photos are well worth a look, starting here.
Oh…my…
I MUST have Emilio Garcia’s Jumping Brain!
I love this thing so much, it’s ridiculous. One day…it will be mine. Oh yes.
There are many more photos in the lapolab Flickr site.
SheWalksSoftly 
