Kaiju Invade San Francisco at Double Punch !!!

oh man … my group art toy show is next week and can you believe I have done almost nothing for it ? yikes… needless to say this weekend I will be spraying like a madman .. anyhow, here’s the official ( ha-ha) press release for it .. if your in the Bay Area I hope you can stop by and help support this event .. both Yajima-san and Ichimiya-san have come from Japan to meet US collectors and fans …should be a wild and fun night, these guys and Matt, too are at the top of their Kaiju game and I know their customs and artwork will rock ! See you all soon !

Kaiju Invade San Francisco – Beikokuten – at Double Punch gallery
Dec 12th – Dec 30th, 2009

Pin Stripe Demo by Matt Walker at 6pm
7pm show opens

Making their very first State side appearances, direct from Japan, Yajima-san of Dream Rocket, and Ichimiya-san of SunGuts. Also appearing from Massachusetts, Matt Walker of Dead Presidents Design, and local boy, Mark Nagata of Max Toy Company !

The excitment kicks off at 6pm as Matt shows his super mad skills with a Pin Stripe demo and give away!!! Followed by the shows opening at 7pm !
Can’t make it that night don’t worry you can catch our guests from Japan the next day ( sunday ) as Yajima-san and Ichimiya-san will both return to Double Punch… time to be announced.

This promises to be a very exciting line up, with many cool customs, and art work to be had, just in time for the Holidays !

Visit the Double Punch web site to order art, toys and more from this show.

artists web sites:

http://www.dream-rocket.com
http://www.sunguts.com
http://www.maxtoyco.com
http://www.deadpresidentsdesigns.com

artists Bios:

Dream Rocket
Junichi Yajima was born and raised in Japan. Like many children of his generation,Yajima-san grew up with Godzilla, Ultraman and many other types of Superhero and Kaiju shows. After developing a strong background in several different careers, Yajima-san established his own toy company, called “DREAM ROCKET”. He has been producing fabulous Kaiju figures and has a very loyal following in Japan and around the world. Yajima-sans work has appeared and sold in numerous Phillips De Pury auctions in New York and London. Yajima-san said ” I am having fun making Kaiju toys but I truly love Kaiju more than making figures out of them”.

Sunguts
Tadayoshi Ichimiya was born in Hyogo-Ken, January 1969. He entered college in 1987 and made various self-directed movies while he was attending. In 1991, he got hired by the company that makes ads in Tokyo. While there he worked as a director. and made many TV commercials, VPs and designed characters for it. In 2000, he started producing his own soft vinyl figures. In 2003, he became a freelance director and has been spending more time on the production of figures and projects.In 2007, he made a figure for the TV show called “KAETTEKITA-JIKOKEISATSU (TV ASAHI/MMJ)”. In 2008, he had his first personal exhibition ‘SUNGUTS MUCHA-FESTA’ at Design Festa Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.

Dead Presidents Designs
Matt Walker owner of Dead Presidetns Designs is a custom pinstriper and painter of toys of many kinds. Kaiju, Space, Ray Gun, Robot, etc are just a small list of
what he paints. Matt has more than fifteen years experience in the automotive and
motorcycle coatings industries. This has enabled him to perfect his craft and become one of the most sought after painters of toys. Dead Presidetns Designs specializes in Hand Pinstriping, Metal Flake Applications, Color Change Effects and Real Fire Treatments. His obsessive pride for quality shows through on everything he touches. Currently, Matt is working with several toy manufactures on both production and custom runs. His work has been featured in Hot Bike, Atomic Kulture, Street Chopper magazines. His work has also been featuered online at Toy Karma, Vinyl Pulse, Toybot Studios and Plastic and Plush web sites.

Max Toy Company
Ask anyone who knows Mark to describe him and the two things that will come up are toys and art. After attending the Academy of Art College in San Francisco during the late 80’s and picking up a New York artist’s rep, Mark embarked on a 10-year plus
journey as a freelance commercial illustrator. The highlight of this time included over 40 cover paintings for RL Stine’s Goosebumps series, Give Yourself Goosebumps.
“I’d been collecting Japanese toys all along, especially Ultraman toys, and suddenly realized it would be cool to create a magazine about Japanese toys. This magazine was called Super7. In 2004, Mark created his own toy company called Max Toy Company, named after his son Max. With a nod to the Golden Age of Japanese toys, Max Toy Co. continues the tradition of offering classic Japanese character toys as well as original creations. Mark has created and curated the Toy Karma art toy show, Kaiju Comrades art toy show in Tokyo, Japan and was one of seven California artists in the ground breaking “Beyond Ultraman” Museum show and book. Both toys and artwork appear in the Killer Kaiju book from Collins Designs, Full Vinyl book, Dot Dot Dash book, Hi Fructose Magazine, and the Eiji Tsuburaya biography book from Chronicle books. “Max Toy Co. will allow me to produce original artwork, sculpt new toys, and work directly with a lot of my talented artist friends.”Nagata says. Max Toy Co is a synthesis of toys and art … both life long passions.

About toykarma

Over the years Mark Nagata has collected thousands of toys and a fair amount of titles. The man behind San Francisco-based Max Toy Company is widely known as: Toy Collector. Illustrator. Magazine Founder/Publisher. Toy Designer. Artist. Author. Husband. Father. But the one description that might fit best is an unofficial one – Kaiju Toy and Art Ambassador. In the Japanese-inspired art and toy area, as well as throughout the larger toy collecting community, Mark is welcomed and recognized for his personal passion and commitment to supporting artists all around the world and the unique works they create. Beginning as a collector in his youth, Mark has had for years a keen eye for great art and a personal interest in collecting that he has spread through a variety of outlets. Trained at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, Mark honed his skills working for himself and for some of the most notable businesses in the country. As a freelance commercial illustrator, he completed works for such prominent companies as Lucasfilms, DC Comics, Hasbro Toys, IBM, Sony, and numerous advertising and design firms, both national and international. Mark’s colorful style graces over 40 cover paintings for R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps book series – Give Yourself Goosebumps. After hundreds of assignments, Mark made the decision to move in another direction, and that choice has led to whole new career as a successful businessman. For four years, the owner of one of the largest Ultraman toy collections in the world co-published Super 7 Magazine showcasing the finest in Japanese toy collecting. “I’d been collecting Japanese toys all along and suddenly realized it would be cool to have a magazine of some type devoted to them,” Nagata says. Mark’s devotion to presenting collectors with a selection of original figures inspired by classic Japanese toys from the 1960s and ‘70s as well as new versions of licensed Japanese characters is at the heart of Max Toy Company. Named for his son, Max Toys specializes in custom and limited editions of “kaiju” (Japanese monsters) toys and artwork. Many of the original toys produced are hand painted by Mark, a tradition that goes back to Japanese toy makers of the past. “Since our target is the soft vinyl Japanese toy collector, which is a very small niche, our runs of toys can be extremely small,” Mark says. “Runs range from 500 pieces of one toy to just one for a hand-painted, one-of-a-kind custom figure.” Through Max Toys, Mark has taken great pains to widen the reach of his two passions – toys and art. He played a significant part in the development of the first group kaiju show in the United States. Held at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago, Illinois in 2007, the “Toy Karma” Show featured detailed work from artists from Japan, the U.S. and South America. Participants marveled at the custom-painted toys and art on display. “Toy Karma” led to Mark being asked to be one of the artists spotlighted in the “Beyond Ultraman: Seven Artists Explore the Vinyl Frontier” exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The October 2007 show, held jointly with the Los Angeles Toy, Doll and Amusement Museum, marked the first time – in a museum setting – that the influence of Japanese toys on California artists was explored. The exhibit featured more than 30 of Mark’s original paintings, toys and a selection of his vintage toy collection. Mark continued to be at the forefront as interest in Japanese-inspired art and toys expanded in 2008. Prestigious art houses Philips De Pury and Christie’s in New York and London sold Mark’s hand-painted custom kaiju toys in its auctions, spreading this unique art and toy movement into new and uncharted areas of the art world. In 2009, Mark once again took his love of toys and art overseas this time to a receptive and welcoming audience in Tokyo, Japan. Here, Mark curated the “Kaiju Comrades” Art Show, once again bringing together artists from various aspects of the kaiju toy realm in this first-of-its-kind toy art show. The following year found Mark in Barcelona, Spain co-curating with Emilio Garcia “Kaiju Attack,” the European country’s first kaiju art show. As the growth of kaiju art and toys increases worldwide, Mark continues in his unofficial role of Kaiju Toy and Art Ambassador. He has written and had his artwork and toy designs included in several books and magazines, both domestic and international. In 2010, Mark served as guest lecturer on kaiju and the toy-making process at the Morikami Museum in Florida. The San Francisco resident and his art can also be spotted in the first volume of the “ToyPunks” DVD and the “Toys R Us” DVD, while the video for the number one song by Owl City “Fireflies” featured Mark’s popular Kaiju Eyezon character. During this same time period, Mark has spearheaded the “Toy Karma 2” and “Kaiju Comrades 2” shows and has plans for future shows both in the U.S. and overseas. “Max Toys allows me to produce original artwork, new toys and work directly with a lot of talented artists,” Mark says. “Max Toy is a synthesis of toys and art, both life-long passions.”

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