DKE Toys at DCON 2017 Batch #3: Carlos Ramirez, Kjelshus Collins, Kosmo Toys, Nick C. Kirk, 2bithack, DLL Customs, and D$B!
Designer Con is this weekend. Come through and see DKE Toys along with 400 other vendors slinging all the best in Designer Toys, art, books, apparel and more. It’s sure to be a swell time and a superb place to get your holiday shopping done.
DKE Toys will be set up at Designer Con at the Pasadena Convention Center Nov 11-12. Booth #812
There are always more photos on our Flickr. The DCON 2017 album link is https://www.flickr.com/photos/dketoys/albums/72157665650666709
Or find all of our albums here https://www.flickr.com/photos/dketoys/albums
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El Trooper by Carlos Ramirez
El Trooper is the follow up to the sold out SDCC release of Santo Vader by Carlos Ramirez. Each resin figure is hand painted by Carlos and the plywood backer card is also hand done. No two are the same. Signed and numbered edition of 20. $100 tax included
Carlos Ramirez is formerly a member of the Date Farmer collaborative. Carlos hand made a wooden figure which was cast in resin. He hand painted and decorated each one individually and carded them on a hand painted card back which is cut from plywood. Each one is unique. Signed and numbered out of 30 on the back.
Each figure is about 4 inches tall. At $100 this is one of the best deals of the show. You can’t get a piece of his art for less and when the Date Farmers were still partners paintings ranged in the $5-25k range.
Carlos has worked with many galleries including;
Ace Gallery, Los Angeles/Beverly Hills
New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles
Jonathan Levine, New York
The Luggage Store, San Francisco
Upper Playground, San Francisco
His work has been featured in numerous publications including;
Juxtapoz
Modern Painter
Time
Instagram @C.ramirez2323
Facebook carlos ramirez
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Le Lutteur by Kjelshus Collins
Artist Kjelshus Collins has created Le Lutteur which is based on a Mexican wrestler figure. He hand cast and painted these 4″ tall figures and carded them on a backing card with one of his paintings. Signed and numbered edition of 25
Kjelshus “KJ” Collins is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator based out of Oklahoma City. He studied ceramics, casting, and art history at Oklahoma State University earning a BFA and BA in 2006. Much of his childhood was spent traveling in a truck around the United States attending large arts festivals with his family displaying and selling paintings. Kjelshus was first introduced to traditional printmaking at OSU and continued to study this craft after undergrad through other institutions such as the Oklahoma Arts Institute. Aside from printmaking and ceramics, Kjelshus has used the “toy” as an artistic vessel to further explore the relationship with adulthood and the childhood remnant, as well as blurring the line between handmade two dimensional works on paper and hand cast three dimensional sculpture. Though he has seen the world, he still resides, teaches, and works in his studio in Oklahoma.
Instagram @killajayzeus
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Shogun Vader by Kosmo Toys
Kosmo Toys made these stunning figures in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hand cast and painted. Comes in a box with art on 5 sides. Signed and numbered edition of 20
Instagram @kosmotoys
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VIP Citizen Trump – Diamonds and Gold by Nick C. Kirk.
“The VIP Citizen Trump series started as wheat paste propaganda graffiti on the streets on New York. Wanting to accurately describe Trump to the people in something other than the presidential suit, Nick came up with the riot gear concept, a representation of fighting the people.” Nick hand cast and painted this 5″ resin figure on a 6×9 cardback. The riot gear is painted 24k gold and the VIP shield is dusted with diamonds. Signed and numbered edition of 13. $95 each
Nick works in an array of traditional and contemporary methods of drawing, sculpting, printmaking, painting, installation and interactive works which push the boundaries into contemporary mediums. Visually, Nick’s work is anything but traditional, as he juxtaposes imagery from mass-production, the world of advertisement, and pop-culture. Sometimes he draws his visual language from the commercials preserved in childhood nostalgia or ripped from the 24-hour news cycle. He uses scale and contradiction as a means to highlight opinions that often go unquestioned. Nick seeks to deliver an experience that engages his audience with a dose of cynicism sprinkled with irony and taken with a spoonful of humor. In the end Nick asks the audience to question the status quo of society – to confront the compliance of culture and current affairs, and he uses the vibrant mass-media visual aesthetic to do so.
The VIP Citizen Trump series all started as wheat paste propaganda graffiti on the streets on New York. Nick worked with his crew – WWG – World Wide Guerillas, pasting anti Trump work around the 5 boroughs. “I’m surprised there isn’t more anti Trump work being made and posted up in the city. It’s like people are getting complacent with this guy, it’s awful”. Wanting to accurately describe Trump to the people in something other than the presidential suit, Nick came up with the riot gear concept, a representation of fighting the people. He then changed the front of the shield to say “VIP”. “The VIP shield sums up what Trump thinks about America. Americans are better than everyone and not everyone can get in. It’s just like the concept of getting into a bar or nightclub. If you’re cool enough, important enough or pretty enough, you get to enter.. otherwise, take a hike. I mean we’re about to build the great wall of America because of this guy. It’s going to be in the history books and something Americans are known for.. dividing the world and keeping your neighbor out of your yard”. The VIP Citizen Trump is an ongoing series that will continue in the form of street art, 2 and 3 dimensional art as well as some performance art that is soon to come to the streets of New York.
Instagram @nickckirk
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FN-2187 Starkillerbase Sanitation Worker by 2BITHACK
$55 tax inc Each 3.75″ figure is hand cast and painted on card. Signed and numbered edition of 20
Instagram @2bithack
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DLL Customs Art Show
We did a little something different this year. Derrick Lauglaug, or more simply “LOG-LOG”, from DLL Customs put together a little art show for us with some of his very complex resin pieces.
““The Eternal Struggle Between Good And Evil” – Edition of 3 custom resin playset collections measuring 12″×9.25″×8″. Each set consists of 3 individual pieces. $250
“The Legend of Kitty Hawk” (Playset Version) – Edition of 2 unique resin playset collections measuring 11″×9″×6.5″. Each set consists of 4 individual pieces. $220
“The Heavens And The Angels” – Edition of 3 unique resin pieces measuring 7.5″×6.5″×6.5″. Glow-in-the-dark; green figure and blue base. $80
“WOODSTOCK” – An artist proof and 1 from an edition of 3 unique resin pieces measuring 10.5″×7″×4.5″. Solid cast weighs over 3 pounds. $200
“Evolution Kid” by Less Than Jake (Guitar Version) – Edition of 10 hand poured clear resin pieces measuring 6″×2.75″×2.5″. Comes bagged with header card. $45
“STARMAN” – Special DCON edition of 5 pieces. Custom 3.75″ scale resin figure blister packed on backer board. Glow-in-the-dark abilities. Produced by the Galactic Jerkbags. $80
Bio: DLL Customs has been pushing the boundaries of the resin designer toy art world since starting up monthly releases in late 2013. Using innovative ideas and concepts, combined with a wide variety of themes, DLL continues to think outside the box and deliver unique products to resin toy art connoisseurs around the globe.
Instagram @dllcustoms
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And here’s one for the road. What even is this?! I’m sure Dollar $lice Bootlegs will be hanging out at DCON to explain himself.
