The Rising Tide 2 art show Rotofugi Gallery Kaiju Eyezon custom


The Rising Tide 2 New Works by Japanese & Japanese-American Artists is curated by LiLJAPAN (Hiro Hayashi) opens at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago on December 9, 2011 thru January 8, 2012.

To be honest I don’t really think about my heritage too much 😉 .. yes you may say how can i not since I’m obsessed with Ultraman, my toy company is influenced by Japanese toy makers … but you know I’m just Me ;-P

While I thought about making something that had nothing to do with Kaiju and maybe was something more inline with the Japanese heritage theme .. well in the end I have to be true to the artist in me .. and haha .. decided to make a paper mache Kaiju Eyezon ! Yes big surprise ;-P

Since most of the time my hands were soaked with paste .. I could not really take in progress pictures .. but did manage a few … started by crunching newspaper into the basic shape i wanted .. and used masking tape to hold the forms in place.
Also used foil for the fingers …

Once the over all shape was ready, the task of layering in the paper mache begins …
two things i learned … one make it smaller next time, this one was 22 inches wide by 19 inches tall by 9 inches deep .. and two, doing this during winter takes way too long … each layer has to completely dry.. and even with a hair dryer to help .. took way too long …Finally the painting begins below .. I used acrylics and started with a simple base coat of yellow with some gesso mixed in to help with coverage.
I washed in a dark sienna mix and wiped away the excess to allwo the texture to emerge.
Using a lighter yellow paint i dry brushed over the texture to provide highlights and to soften the darker shading.
Eyes, horns and cracks hand painted and finally done ! I had fun towards the end .. but it’s was touch and go in the middle .. as I thought will these layers ever dry ??

About the Exhibit:

The next exhibit in our gallery is a wonderful group exhibit of new works by Japanese and Japanese-American artists curated by our friend LiLJAPAN (Hiro Hiyashi).

The Rising Tide 2 will open December 9, 2011 and run through January 8, 2012. The featured artists for this exhibit are LiLJAPAN, Skulltoys, Mark Nagata, Shun Nakatsuru, Chanmen, Mike Oshite, Uamou, Aya (Refreshment), Ilanena and Nao & Shin Tanaka.

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.”
This entry was posted in art show, eyezon, kaiju, mark nagata, Max Toy, rotofugi, the rising tide 2. Bookmark the permalink.

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