Some artists paint on canvas. Some chisel stone.
These artists use panda bears.
Relax, PETA. No real panda bears were used in the making of this art.
Instead, these are 3-inch-tall vinyl toys made by Hong Kong toy company adFunture.
"We call it DYI - do it yourself - toys," says Sarah Jo Marks, co-curator of the Custom Yoka Show exhibit opening today at Howl Gallery. "He (the Yoka panda-bear toy) has a fun shape.
"It's amazing what the artists have been able to do with it. They come up with all these crazy, fun things."
More than 200 artists from about 20 countries each started with the same blank, white bear - smooth and without eyes, mouth or any other markings.
From there, some artists painted traditional panda features, while others went wild and added a cyclops eye, pink pajamas, fangs and even a gangster's tuxedo (with matching brass knuckles).
Other artists altered the bears even more, adding sombreros, tentacles and bat wings - or completely reconstructing the toy so it no longer resembles a bear at all. Take, for example, artist Lou Pimentel's "Taking Back the City" - where he broke apart the bear and reconfigured its parts as a snail.
Howl Gallery's own Andy Howl painted his bear in Day of the Dead style: Bright colors, flower-rimmed eyes and a death's head grin. Then he added hockey jersey-like details on the chest and back: The word "HOWL" and the number 76 (Howl's birth year).
Howl says he's been amazed by how different artists have interpreted the unique canvas.
"It's an awesome show," he says. "There's some amazing stuff there."
The Custom Yoka Show started as an outgrowth of Marks' Los Angeles company, DKE Toys, which distributes designer toys all over the world.
"Blank toys have been kind of a cool thing," Marks says. "Most art is flat. This way, you can have fun with a three-dimensional image."
The blank bears sell for $7.50 each, but Marks admits you don't have to buy one to make art.
That's the beauty of DYI art. Any toy can be turned into a masterpiece.
"If you wanted to, you could customize a Mr. Potato Head," Marks says. "You can do whatever you want."
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY NEWS-PRESS APRIL 30th 2010
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100507/ENT/5070334/Artists-put-their-slant-on-toy-bears
