Bwana Spoons Interview (Part.2)

Following the interview with Bwana Spoons in a prelude to his exhibition at Artoyz Paris which will take place from Thursday, September 25 (until November 2). What is your oldest toy memory when you were a child? Towards the end of my early childhood, when I was already supposed to be too old to play with toys. My friends and I were buried our figurines in the sand, the masters of the universe, the Star Wars, the Micronauts. I had a large knife and we stabbed the ground to see if we found treasures. What interests you in Toys And the figurines right now? I like the vintage Soft-Vinyl, animation characters and advertisements, everything that catches my eye. I collect some old things like ultraman puzzles and things like that. And I always come back to my first collections that I continue, like micronauts and Lego. I don't buy a lot of News, I always end up exchanging Toys With other makers and they also offer me sometimes. What makes a good toy Or a good character? Well, it's an aesthetics you have to talk to yourself. Then the quality control is important, if you touch an arm and it farts it is difficult to swallow. After that is really a personal appreciation thing. Now that you are clearly working on paintings and Toys, how do you imagine your characters, flat or in volume? Most of my characters appear to me in 2D. I always try to visualize them moving and speaking in my comics or in my paintings, and then only I project the way it could work in volume. Do you sculpt yourself or with the help of a sculptor or a model maker? I love to sculpt myself, but I am not very good in it. I really like working with Gargamel. Kiyoka, who makes the sculptures, is able to watch a drawing and give her life. He is the undisputed master. It seems that kaiju or toys inspired by this culture are taking the American market, how do you explain this phenomenon? We cannot test the quality of Japanese toys in Sofubi (soft vinyl). The colors are so vibrant and re -evaluates, you can choose the hardness you want. It's super aesthetic and the story is great. The Japanese have made thousands and thousands of 3 -dimensional characters for a very long period. I think the Japanese, the Americans, the Europeans have done the ping-pong of ideas for some time. The Japanese always raise the level of a notch, explode the ideas and put everything again. In the end, Kaiju or not Kaiju ... the good Toys will always stand out and pass the test. What is your "classic" toy and your favorite "modern" toy? Lego and Microman. The whole Takara inheritance is absolutely wonderful. Hasbro brought Gi.joe to Takara and they transformed him Henshin Cyborg. Then it became a microman (which came out in the USA under the name of micronauts). And Microman has become a diarode which turned into transformers and the cycle continues. No one other than Microman and Lego have done better in interchangeability and playability. What is your opinion about the current market of "art-toy " to USA ? Everyone wants to make a toy, and it's understandable. The cream will always be above, and we will see what we will do with the rest later. As a collector of toy, what room would you kill? I stopped having this feeling a long time ago. I am always excited on a daily basis by everything that comes out and I continue to watch for pieces that are difficult to find. But I no longer dream of the absolute play. Imagine that you have an unlimited budget to create a figurine, what would you make and in which materials? I would like to find a way to make wooden and bamboo figurines, with a little bit of softvinyl. If the materials are removed, it is possible that Strangeco realize my dreams. I dream of a particular thing and they agree with that. Because of the financial limitations it is just a little longer and there will be fewer removable parts. What is your favorite material and why? Soft vinyl for what you can do with and Abs because it does not stink of the ass. It doesn't break and it's beautiful to look at. So less likely to finish in a discharge. Do you especially paint animals and monsters, do you paint or draw human beings sometimes? Are you able to paint realistically? I was hired thanks to the way I draw humans. I did a lot of illustration work and I had to draw realistic situations all the time. I don't know if I could do it again like that now. I would need training. Knowing how to draw real things, it makes it easier for stupid and abstract things to draw. You seem to be very busy these days, how do you manage to finish the projects and continue to keep fishing on a project when there are 10 others behind? I rarely bother with what I'm doing right now. But finding time to do everything is a delicate problem. I am never caught up in time. There are always a dozen projects or magma of stuff I need permanently in a corner of my brain. Who are your favorite artists? Rather active people currently. I have my favorites in a lot of universes ... Nara and Marcel. For Toymakers Itokin Park, U.S. Toys, Toygraph, Characterics, and my favorites Gargamel. My "Alltime Favs" are Richard Scarry and Ed Emberley. My heroes are Shigeru Mizuki and Taiyo Matsumoto. My friends APAK, Martin ONTIVEROS, Scrappers, LE MERDE, TIM BISKUP, SEONNA Hong, James Jean, Kiyoshi Nakazawa .... and I could continue for hours. If you could collaborate with any dead or alive artist who would it be? Cader, Shigeru, Nara, Scarry. This is your first exhibition in Europe, what are your expectations? I don't expect much, but I can't help it. I hope to bring new people to my art, have a good experience. I try to do everything to be an artist from the world, not just a lambda American. The USA are so "fucked-up", I am not embarrassed from who I am or what I represent, but being an American artist currently is the absolute. It doesn't matter whether 6 people or 666 come to attend my exhibition. I will kill myself on the task until the last minute. I can't help it. Do you think that from the fact that people buy fewer cultural products these days (CDS, DVDs) do they tend to buy more works of art? Art is always a good stock-option. It's not something intangible, you can always take it in your hands. What is your favorite food ? The Bubble Tea (even if it hurts my stomach), bananas, cookies, sushi, takoyaki. What do you do when you don't work? I spend time with my family, I look at the insects, from time to time I will skate or hike, and play with my dogs. What are your favorite records of all time and what are you listening to at the moment? My favorite remains Spiderland by Slint and the Red Argent Album by Neurosis. Right now O.U.T.H.U.D., TV on the radio, Talkings Heads, Yeasayer, Feist. Which comics would you recommend? Black and White and No. 5 by Taiyo Matsumoto. What object or toy or work of art are you never tired of looking at? My little cowboy dolphin. How do you manage your time between your commercial work and your art? I'm lucky to be able to do right now that things I love. You worked recently with Dekline and Monsieur T., how do you approach textiles? Could I wear it, and how could I push the limits once again? What could make your country a better world? No convenience. Elir Obama would help a little. Can we really elect a type called Obama? I really hope so. Do you still have time to do fanzines? When time allows. What skills could a better artist make of you? Meditation, levitation, time travel, invisibility, superhuman force, laser vision like that I could sculpt wood with ms eyes, dremmel pieces and brushes instead of my fingers it would help a lot ... oh And then the ability to stop time. What are your goals and goals as an artist? Continue to push, evolve, improve me. I would like to make children's play areas and functional public art. What are your future projects? More exhibitions, work a lot with Amanda de Switcheroo, the Forest Islands with Strangeco, but also the projects with Gargamel and Dekline. One last word ? "Nevergiveupness" (never abandon) Discover the Bwana expo in progress in Paris in Paris On his Flickr Expo Bwana Spoons “Hunt and Gather” at Artoyz Paris from September 25 to November 2, 2008.