Channel Frederator Blog

Group Shows! Group Shows! I can’t get enough of them. Luke Temby, the creator of a toy-centric universe called CUPCO, creates one-of-a-kind hand-stitched dolls. He’s part of the “Cutting Edge Plush” contingent in collectible toyland. He’s made soldiers, Jesus, The Dalai Lama, Gandhi, L.Ron Hubbard, Kali, and (most controversial) a female suicide bomber.

His latest project is “The United Nations of Cupco”, an upcoming exhibit at the Damien Minton Gallery in Redfern (Sydney), Australia. The show runs December 10-22. 100 international artists received felt templates of CUPCO dolls. The artists painted or otherwise decorated the templates and returned them to be stuffed and stitched. You can see all the dolls and a list of artists here. There’s an interview with Luke here.

“What are the 5 main ingredients to world peace?”
“Sewing. Stuffing. Sexing. Eating. Drawing. In that order”

This one is by Diego Medina:

After the jump, a group show with over 1000 pieces of arwork! [Read more…]

Today is the last day to catch Brad Benedict’s Side Show exhibit at Wal Art (1639 South La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles). Includes animation peeps like Chris Reccardi, Dave Wasson, Ric Heitzman, and Everett Peck. La La Landers have about an hour to run over. Otherwise, see the artwork online. (Artwork above by Wasson.)

“Game Over” (Art of the Gamer Generation) is a group show that runs through October 29th at Giant Robot in San Francisco (622 Shrader Street). (Artwork above by Justin “Scrappers” Morrison.)

And…the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City just announced two upcoming Kim Deitch events:

Cartoon Movie Night (October 30, 7 pm)
Kim Deitch will host a Cartoon Movie Night featuring rarely seen animated cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s hand-picked for the occasion from Deitch’s own personal collection. MoCCA will also display for one night only selected specimens from Deitch and spouse Pam Butler’s extensive collection of antique toy cats.

Deitch Q & A (November 13, 7 pm)
Q & A session with Deitch and exhibit curator Bill Kartalopoulos. Deitch will present examples of recent work and will also preview images from his current works in progress.

Also at MOCCA, a one-day only preview of Heritage Auction Galleries’ November 2008 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, to be more specific…

MAD Contemporary Art Treasures: The Most Classic Original Art from MAD Magazine (October 29, 10-5)

More info after the jump… [Read more…]

This latest issue of Giant Robot Magazine (#55) has an article about Monkmus, who has drawn and animated music videos for the likes of Badly Drawn Boy (hug-fest “Year of the Rat” is seen above), Kid Koala, Death Cab for Cutie, and Los Campesinos. (The interview is not available online–you have to buy the magazine, and you should!)

His real name is Ken Wong. He lives in NYC and is represented by Hornet. You can peruse his Hornet bio page here. Wong went to RISD, animated for The PJs, in-betweened for Prince of Egypt and collaborated with J. Otto Seibold on a webtoon.

Watch his videos on his YouTube page. Then see the tofu balls he had for lunch when he dined with Giant Robot editor Eric Nakamura.

After the jump, his quietly touching bunny-themed video for “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. [Read more…]

Variety is the spice of life… at least that’s what I’ve been told. We certainly have variety on our hands today as our host, Justin Johnson, doles out the awards for Best Music Video, Best Foreign Film, the Sick, Sick, Sick Award and the Joe Robot Award. That’s a lot of great content, so make sure you check the episode out. For now, here’s some info about the films and the filmmakers behind them!
Alexander Gellner is the creative man behind “Anfang Anzufangen”. This film takes home two wins - one for Best Foreign Film and another for Best Music Video. Working out of Berlin, Alex created this video for stonedeafproductions‘ song “Anfang Anzufangen”. The film is a combination of traditional animation, paper collage and stop motion. We got the chance to meet Alex when he was in town and he is one [Read more…]

This past Wednesday I attended a panel discussion entitled, Cross Cultural Traffic: Toying with Brands, Borders and Bootlegs.

It was hosted by The Korea Society and was a lively talk on and about Korean Toys, their origins, how they interrelate with Japanese, American, and their own Korean Pop Cultures.

The panel consisted of Eric Nakamura (publisher of Giant Robot Magazine), Joshua Bernard (editor of CollectionDX.com), and The Korea Society’s Seho Kim (creative director).

I think Eric summed it up best on his GR blog:

“The robots and such brought out a generation of creatives. Imagine a filmmaker like Joon Ho Bong, who made the Host. Did he watch monster films as a kid? Did he play with toys? Of course he must have. The geeks who collected toys are now in power at creative places, and look at what they’ve brought forward? A new world of creative minds.”

Of course, I eagerly took down notes and snapped a few pics. Enjoy!

[Read more…]