Naomi Knaff is a Canadian artist, sculptor and toy designer making hauntingly beautiful designer toys. Naomi’s works are full of her unique talent and personality – bright colours, intricate sculpts and a vibe that is equal parts violent aggression and timid woodland-creature.

Originally Naomi’s toys were all hand made out of resin, but recently she debuted her first factory made soft-vinyl toy – the Lamorrttt – to international acclaim. With the Lamorrtt being made in China through noted company ‘Planet X’.

(Photo below of one of Namo’s recently released Lamorrtt soft vinyl figures)

Commenting on what inspired her to become an artist, Naomi lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of her artist parents, and noted surreal American director David Lynch:

“I had a great childhood and my parents really encouraged our imagination to develop…

When I was 14 a friend showed me Twin Peaks and I was blown away.

It was the first time a saw a story being told that way and it opened a whole new way of developing ideas.“

Aside from her own internationally loved work, Naomi is also a member of the recently created ‘ToyRonto’ art-crew, a group of like-minded artists, all living in the Toronto region of Canada, who work in the medium of designer toys. We will be interviewing other members of the crew over the next few months – so stay tuned for those!

But, at this very moment, get to know one of the members of the ‘ToyRonto’ crew – the ever talented Naomi Knaff – by reading her Art Talk Interview below…

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We at Art Whore have loved the designer toys of American artist Gabriel Rivas aka ‘Nerviswrek’ for over half a decade  now – and even had the pleasure of interviewing the man himself for an Art Talk back in 2014. Well, recently Gabriel revealed to the world a new Platform Toy he designed, the ‘Drone Blank’ figure.

What’s a Platform Toy I hear you ask dear readers? Well simply put it’s an unpainted toy, with a basic design that is sold for the purpose of being customed by it’s new owner. Kind of like a blank canvas in toy form. Classic examples are the Dunny and Munny figures from ‘Kid Robot’, the Qee from ‘Toy 2 R’ and now the Drone Blank from ‘Nerviswrek’ – which cost $US 25 shipped within America.

Describing the Drone Blank, ‘Nerviswrek’ states how he,

“Just thought that this would be a different type of platform, one that doesn’t give you a limited platform. Most other platforms are kind of outlined for you, like coloring books. But this one I think leaves it open to a lot of different designs.

Plus I’ve been using this base for a long time in  a lot of my original work, like over 5 years.“

On top of the huge news of a new, made in America resin Platform Toy – and one that is being sold for a very reasonable US $25 – is the fact that Nerviswrek has also decided to play host and curator for an upcoming group show to be held at DesignerCon / Dcon in November this year! For the show, a slew of well known and highly respected artists will get the chance to publicly display their own customed Drone Blanks, which will also be for sale throughout the show – Exactly the kind of scene building event Nerviswrek is known for.

(Photo below of the flyer for the upcoming Drone Blank multi artist custom show – Coming to DCON in November)

Well we thought it would be a good idea to find out more about Gabriel’s ‘Drone Blank’, and the associated multi-artist custom show, so as usual we asked him a few questions… Read all about it, below…

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Ben Adams is an Australian artist, designer, screen printer and sculptor going by the name ‘Freak Street’. Ben creates unique work that  is imbued with a vibrant, frenetic DIY-punk-fury. It’s a style reminiscent of the 1960’s outre-comic scene, combined with the results of growing up in the 1990s – weird lines, hypercolour, drugged out dudes, surfing, monsters, pop culture references and lots of weirdos.

Ben freely admits that his style comes from a youth spent skateboarding, that one time he did hallucinogenic drugs, toys and the underground comics scene, stating:

“As a youngster, all of the World Industries and Blind skateboard graphics were hugely influential, I used to draw them all day in my books at school.

In later years, discovering counter-culture artists like Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton was very eye opening, they set my drawings on a forward trajectory.“

(Some art by Freak Street below)

Recently, Ben has been firing on all cylinders art wise: he set up his own screen printing studio and is taking orders; has been working on his masks and sculpts; and in epic news – has did the art for the new ‘Regurgitator‘ LP Head Roxx, and also provided the band some masks to wear onstage!

So get to know Ben and his art, by reading the Art Talk Interview, below…

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AKA – Discrimination at ‘Homecooked’ 2018 or How Local Creators were Banned from a Local Event Funded by a Local Council

On 2 March 2018 we received an email from Marian Blythe, the new director of the ‘Homecooked Comics Festival’ informing us that we were rejected from their event.

We wrote back expressing disappointment and let her know that we have been creating comics for over 25 years and are active members of the comics community. Of particular frustration was the fact that we had helped the ‘Homecooked Festival’ with their funding efforts yet we were blocked from this very event. We requested a reconsideration.

Marian Blythe was not interested in assisting and refused to reconsider.

(Screen shot below of Antoinette’s Facebook post concerning their rejection email from Marian Blythe)

On 18 March 2018 the ‘Australian Comics Journal’ published a news article promoting ‘Homecooked’ and focused on the director Marian Blythe.

Link: http://australiancomicsjournal.com/wp/home-cooked-comics-festival-meet-the-organisers/

I responded to that article and pointed out various inaccuracies, double standards and discrimination but Comments were closed off for fear my comments would spark “a flamewar on ACJ”. Instead, ‘ACJ’ promised that if I wrote an article about Homecooked they would publish it.

The ‘Homecooked Comics Festival’ was on Sunday 15 April 2018. It was held at the Northcote Town Hall and was funded by the City of Darebin. I wrote the article two days later on 17 April 2018. Although waiting patiently, the ‘ACJ’ has not published my article and the site now appears to have gone into semi-hiatus.

Although months have passed, the issues are not resolved and are likely to recur next year at the 2019 ‘Homecooked’. Discrimination in all its guises needs to be called out, so I’d like to thank Josh Griffiths at ‘Art Whore’ for publishing my article… Read it all, below:

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‘OEO Toys’ (Previously ‘Slave X One’) – Ancient Aliens Mash Up Series – Fun Gus – Soft Vinyl – Initial Release One Off

• Produced By = ‘OEO Toys’ (Previously ‘Slave X One’) – from the USA
• Figure Name = Ancient Aliens: Fun Gus
• Release Details = One Off
• Material = Mexican Soft Vinyl
• Country of Production = Mexico
• Height = 21.5 cm (heads to feet)
• Depth =  5.57 cm (belly to back)
• Width =  13.5 cm (foot to foot)
• No of Parts = 6 (body / torso + neck + two arms + two heads)
• Released = February 2018
• Sculpt Debut = 7th October 2017 (in wax form)
• Release Price = $US 100 + shipping
• Genre = Soft Vinyl Art Toy

Read the full review and pics after the jump…

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Will King is an Australian creative, who, under his ‘3310er’ moniker releases wild-lined semi-autobiographical comics, many of which deal with his early life as a teenage vandal.

As an adult, Will has also turned his adult talents to illustration, digital art and set design – with a major focus on the aforementioned comics and cartooning.

Growing up in the regional town of Goulburn in NSW, Will moved to Sydney proper as a young adult and has recently relocated once more – this time to a small-town in Northern NSW (location undisclosed).

When asked to explain his interest in all things art – Will thanks his mother, stating:

“My mum would be my biggest influence – She was a graphic designer before I was born and when I was a small child she was making and painting clothes before she got sick…

One things that definitely influenced me with comics was the birthday present I got just before going into year 7. Mum had asked what I wanted for my birthday, I had no fucking clue so I said “I dunno…comic books”. She got me this box of late 90s comics that were all these dark as shit experimental story arcs that just blew my mind.

She’d always buy me art supplies as presents, when I’d stay at her house i’d do tags in my room or in the laundry like a normal fuckwit kid and she never really tried to stop me bless her.“

(Some art below by Will depicting him and his mother hooning around on her mobility chair)

With Will constantly pushing his art, and an appearance in Australian indie comic anthology ‘Hash Brown Comix’ in the works, now is the perfect time to get to know both the man and his art, by reading the Art Talk Interview, below…

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Christian ‘Bees’ McGowan is a major young American artistic talent who can go from sculpting a perfectly detailed dragon, to painting beautiful watercolours of animals, to drawing hilarious cartoons featuring vomit in a single day. She is a veritable Renaissance-woman!

We discovered Bees’ and her work through Mr. Chance Priest of ‘Victory Comics’ – as Bees has collaborated extensively with Chance on his art toys, painting figures, character art, display backgrounds and more.

Aside from her work with Chance, Bees has an interest in animation, runs her own comic brand – ‘Pigeon Comics’ – and works in almost every artistic medium known to man.

Whilst capable of being aesthetically varied as mentioned, all of Bees’ vast and varied catalogue of works are soft yet strong, feminine yet tenacious, full of movement and detail; and oh so damn funny. We fell in love immediately and know you will too!

Explaining what led her to become an artist, Bees states:

“When I was around 4 years old, I saw a behind the scenes clip of Disney’s “The Lion King” where a group of artists were sitting in front of a wall of tiny drawn out thumbnails and I was entranced.

 How could thousands of these small drawings become one big movie?? I had to know!

I’ve been drawing ever since.“

(Some Overwatch inspired art by Bees below)

Wanting to know more about her work, we asked Bees some questions about working with Chance, growing up, love, sex, gaining a foothold in the art scene; and much much more! Read all about it, via the Art Talk Interview, below…

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James M. Wisniewski aka Jim Wiz is a self described life-long working artist hailing from America who has been active in the industry for over 40 years now – beginning in the early 1970’s. In that time Jim has worked in advertising, cartooning, story-board art and greeting cards – all whilst also being involved in the comic book industry. There he has also worked for years as a character model for his friend and fellow artist Mr. Alex Ross, worked on his own works and also notably on the ‘Ghostbusters’ comic series.

Indeed Jim is living proof that you can not only make a living as a full time commercial artist but also have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Now after a lifetime of primarily working for others, Jim has recently semi-retired and is finally spending time working on his many personal projects – stating:

“I’VE N-E-V-E-R,  E-V-E-R, BEEN SO CAPABLE AND CREATIVE. THINGS I WANTED TO DO YEARS AGO, I NOW DO.

I’M WRITING, ILLUSTRATING MY OWN STORIES FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND AM BUSY WITH LESSER PAYING WORK, BUT IT’S ENOUGH BETWEEN MY WIFE’S THING AND ME.

I AM DRUNK ON CREATIVE HAPPINESS, AND PRODUCING ART.

I’M 66, AND JUST GETTING STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN. I MEAN HOW COOL IS THAT?“

Jim, it is very cool indeed sir! Inspiring even.

Now we must here admit that we discovered Jim’s art thanks to our ego… we were trawling the internet one day for mentions of well… ourselves, and stumbled upon a brilliant cartoon depiction of an ‘Art Whore’. It was vibrant, sexy, funny and unique. We fell in love immediately. From there we found Jim on Facebook, sent a friend request and promptly begged for an interview. Which he was happy enough to oblige us with!

(The very art that made us fall in love with Jim, below)

So without further ado, read all about the life of Mr Wiz in his illuminating, funny and very insightful Art Talk Interview, below…

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As many of you dear readers know, we at Art Whore love toys of all type, indeed we view them as one of the highest forms of art. And like most art, toys can be split up into genres – with the obvious ones being related to intent of creation and sale method. They are: (i) mass market toys (like your ‘GI Joe’ and ‘He Man’), (ii) your bootlegs and knockoffs (think of the off brand toys you often find in cheap discount shops), and (iii) art-toys. Whilst the first two categories are self explanatory, art toys are a bit more elusive. And to that regard we previously published – in 2016 – a primer guide to art toys titled ‘What Exactly Are Art Toys And How Can We Critique Them?‘. Take the time know to read it to get up to speed if you need!

…Well one form of toy that straddles all three of the above categories are Soft Vinyl Toys – a type of toy genre relating purely to medium, in this case toys made up of soft vinyl plastic. For an example, think of your classic duck-style-bath-toy.

Soft vinyl can, is and has been used to make mass market toys, bootlegs / knock-offs and art toys all over the globe since the 1950’s or so – when plastic replaced metal as the go-to-medium for toys. Indeed soft vinyl is a very versatile medium and can be used on a craft or industrial scale. However, it usually needs a factory of some sort and is thus less DIY than some other toy mediums like resin.

Well one thing we have noticed as a result of being part of the global toy scene for a few years now is that people are really invested in Soft Vinyl Toys. People have very strong, emotional feelings about them. This can and has led to everything from fights, to marriages, loss of friendship, anger, fractured communities, theft, dubious commercial practices, travel, bankruptcy, tattoos, conventions, bootlegging and a whole lot more!

Well, one major issue we have noticed is a lack of a central text for the Soft Vinyl Toy Scene. A document or treatise outlining how to approach Soft Vinyl Toys. Some rules. A guide. Something we can all refer to as a starting point.

Hell, Judeo-Christianity has the 10 Commandments, so why not some Soft Vinyl Toy Commandments too? People are invested in Soft Vinyl Toys as seriously as any religious fanatic – so why not treat them both the same? Namely with some line-in-the-sand / pick-a-side / binary-opposite rules. Some… ** drum roll ** Commandments!

So, for edification, humor, to generate discussion and force our subjective opinion upon the masses, we thought it best to write down once and for all the The Soft Vinyl Toy Commandments….

Consider them sent straight from God. Or in this case, Godzilla.

Read them, below:

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Edwin aka Redwine is an Australian artist, vandal and all round mensch currently living in Britain. Edwin creates beautiful and thought provoking art in all mediums – graffiti, painting, sculpture, video, mixed media, collage and illustration.

We got hipped to Edwin’s work thanks to fellow Australian artist Elliot of ‘Loser Unit‘ – and boy are we thankful. As Edwin is a damn talented lad. He has the ability to paint like a Renaissance master, draw like a Cubist, sculpt like a toy-maker and vandal like a doped up 16 year old child prodigy.

(Graff by Edwin below)

With his graffiti Edwin is fighting back against the current intricate and beautiful mural trend – stating:

“The new wave of commercially successful painters that, without knowing, are playing a willing (or naively innocent) role in the devastation of the impact of public art.

Commercial muralism is so easily confused with corporate advertising and to have people complicit in the latter does not help.“

To this end Edwin refuses to make his public works beautiful – leaving this instead to his private works. Instead his graffiti is bold, simple, in your face, huge and impactful: letters and graphics placed eloquently in their urban surroundings. Commenting on gentrification, class and the street art scene with a wit that references the acidic humour of Quentin Crisp and a style that harks back to the French Situationists. It is amazing and wholly unique.

Get to know all about Edwin and his art by reading his Art Talk Interview below, you will be glad you did…

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