The Angry Beast is the nomme de guerre of a Canadian artist and toy maker who works anonymously to keep their identity hidden from stalkers, haters, copyright lawyers, US Drones and the potential wrath of their conservative employer. Over the last few years The Angry Beast has gained a reputation internationally for his unique resin creations – which are made through a combination of kit-bashing, hand sculpting and the occasional use of fabrics.

The Angry Beast creates whole worlds, character biographies and narratives for his resin creations; setting him apart from the majority of the resin scene who mainly concentrate on pop-culture mash-ups. Additionally, his creations are expertly crafted, unique and just plain fun!

Describing his own troys, and creative process The Angry Beast states,

“It’s a combination of many skills actually, packaging design, mold making, resin work, illustration, writing, sculpting, photography, doll clothes tailoring, and a little bit of marketing.“

(Photo below of a gang of clear resin figures from The Angry Beast)

Aside from their own internationally loved work, The Angry Beast is also a member of the recently created ‘ToyRonto’ art-crew, a group of like-minded artists, all living in Canada, who work in the medium of designer toys.

We have already interviewed some members of the ToyRonto crew, Lab Monkey Number 9, and Naomi Knaff; and 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 another of the members of the ‘ToyRonto’ crew – the ever talented, and surprisingly not at all aggressive artist, The Angry Beast – by reading their Art Talk Interview below…

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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…

Keep reading →