Archive for November, 2008This video just made me sad, to be honest. I can only conjecture as to what’s going on here but, for one reason or another, George W. Bush is the only guy at the G20 meeting who is not shaking hands while everyone else is. As to whether he’s snubbing them or they’re snubbing him, your guess is as good as mine. Any which way, it’s a poignant depection of the closing days of an awful presidency and a perfect symbol of the chasm between us and everyone else. I have a feeling that the scene will be very different come January 21. For the second time this week, our dirty little secret, the McCain Action Figure, made a guest appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Yes, he called them “dolls” again and he dissed their lack of resemblance to the actual John McCain again** but that was not the main theme of last night’s sketch. The sketch was about the fact that audience members from Conan’s Tuesday night show were now selling their Bag o’ McCains on eBay. I learned today, from a kind commenter on this blog, that following the show, the sale price for the bag of McCain Action figures reached $99,999,999.00 and eBay was forced to pull the auction!! I went searching the web and it turns out the stories are true. Jailbreak did in fact break the bank at eBay. And now I can check that off of my “to do before I die” list. **By the way, let me set the record straight here… There is no way to sculpt an asymmetrical face on such a small scale and have it not seem extremely insulting so, in an effort to be nice to our Republican friends, I decided to model the figure less on the real McCain and more on the stereotypical GI Joe-type, square-jawed General.
Conan O’Brien did a hilarious skit on Jailbreak Toys‘ 6,000 McCain “dolls,” as he called them, that we had left over after the election. These McCain action figures, as we call them, were developed by Jailbreak Toys due to a special request from a specific retailer. Though there was some internal resistance to creating this figure by Jailbreak Toys founder Jason Feinberg aka J*Rock, he figured every good superhero character has an arch enemy. So McCain Action Figure was born. And he just died 6,000 deaths on Conan, check it out… FYI: We just saw that a “bag of john mccain dolls from conan obrien show” was listed on eBay with a starting price of $36. Funny.
I wish I could take credit for creating this but I am just a humble dollmaker and all I can do is tip my hat to the creators of Super Obama World. It’s a full-on, real, working version of Super Mario Brothers, except, as you’ve probably guessed by now, it’s Obama you’re controlling instead. What you may not have guessed is that the bad guys are pigs in lipstick! OK. Stop reading and go play. Thank me later! After the Art + Action Show, I was introduced to a local photographer, named Marc Goldberg, whose specialty is shooting small things in big spaces. He originally was just going to shoot pictures of the customs from the show. (The last picture below is actually his shot of the custom I did for the show. It was called “Government Vehicle”) But Marc got some bigger ideas and started travelling all across the country to shoot the Obama Action Figure in different locations, culminating in a ten hour drive to Columbus, Ohio for Obama’s last rally. Below are just some of his images. The entire Obama Project can be viewed here. The rest of Marc’s work can be seen here.
I came across this photo set today. Really, the pictures speak for themselves… a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of history. These photos show the Obamas and the Bidens backstage, as they watched the election results come in.
Thank you America. Yes We Did.  Street View: Photo by Erick Gonzales The ART + ACTION = OBAMA 08 exhibition went down as a night to remember at Toy Tokyo’s gallery space, The Showroom NYC. After all the harried preparations by the ART + ACTION artists, Jailbreak Toys, agitprop media, Toy Tokyo, and sponsors Singha and Halcyon, everything finally came together in an absolutely stellar event.  Lines Down The Block: Photo by Erick Gonzales There were lines down the block for a majority of the evening as New Yorkers jockeyed to get a look at more than 80 one-of-a-kind Obama Action Figures, customized by contemporary art superstars, toymakers, and graffiti legends. Folks were excited: snappin’ pics, smilin’, drinkin’, and dancin’ to the dope tunes from funk collective Truth & Soul. The first piece sold before the show opened; “Brand New Funky President” by Suckadelic, which went to one of his loyal collectors in California. The first piece to sell at the show was another complete standout, “‘O’” Bomba” by Strong Island-style graffiti legend and clothing designer to the stars, Phetus. The next was Beck(y)‘s incredible “Here’s To You Joe 6-Pack” of 6 bottle-capped Obamas marked “Rich Brown Ale.” And on and on it went, with excited Obama fans buying a unique piece of history while donating to the Obama For America campaign.  Suckadelic and Michael Ricardo Andreev: Photo by Erick Gonzales We were blessed to have contemporary artstar Ron English on hand at ART + ACTION to sign his “Abraham Obama” posters, not long after he finished his American tour with his massive 12′ x 11′ renditions of the poignant Obama/Lincoln hybrid image. Ron turned out to be mad cool, and so humble!  Ron English Signing His Abraham Obama Posters: Photo by Erick Gonzales Israel “Lev” Levarek, owner of Toy Tokyo, and Kenny Levarek, manager of The Showroom NYC, did an incredible job of making the event run smoothly. Since its debut exhibition of subway graffiti art Tag The System in 2004, The Showroom NYC has always been a mecca for underground artists. The Showroom NYC’s past exhibitions represent a who’s who in the world of contemporary art: Mars-1, Dalek, KAWS, Oliver Vernon, Jeff Soto, Shepard Fairey, and many, many more.  Break When The Shit Hits The Fan by Damion Silver: Photo by Erick Gonzales Coincidentally, Mars-1 was the first artist to light a fire under ART + ACTION. Once Mars-1 signed on to customize an Obama Action Figure, getting other notable artists and toymakers to sign onto the project was a piece of cake: Damion Silver, Michael Joo, Brin Berliner, Nemo, and Erick Scarecrow to name a few. Shepard Fairey was also a huge support to ART + ACTION. He donated 100 “Hope” posters to be given away at the exhibition and 10 signed prints to be sold at auction to benefit the Obama For America campaign. The thrilled look on people’s faces when they were handed the iconic “Hope” image at the door was absolutely priceless. Way behind the scenes of the event was agitprop media group, headed by music branding genius Ko Kawashima. The agitprop team, including PR superstar Todd Fraser, Viral Marketing maven and Curator Jenn Breckenridge, and graphic design wiz Marnin Schwartz-Lachar, worked tirelessly to make the ART + ACTION event an evening to remember. And it was. Breckenridge talked about the curating ART + ACTION, “I loved this project! Everyone involved helped to raise thousands of dollars for Obama and brought complete joy to New Yorkers in the process. I thought J*Rock’s original Obama toy was genius and now all these artists have taken his action figure to a whole other level. I would have never guessed that playing with toys could be so meaningful.”  J*Rock, Ko Kawashima, Jenn Breckenridge, Alyssa Zeller, and Barbara Steisand J*Rock's mom: Photo by Erick Gonzales Jailbreak Toys would like to thank once more all the artists, patrons, our incredible photographers Levi Stolove and Erick Gonzales, Lev and Kenny along with the super fun staff at Toy Tokyo, Truth & Soul, our incredible volunteers Lisa DeNarvaez and Heather Umlah, Singha, Sirius Radio, and of course, to the man with the superplan, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. Complete list of artists we’d like to thank with all our hearts: Ali, Alyce Gottesman, Alyssa Zeller, Angel Tan , Beck(y), Berto, Bigfoot, Brent Nolasco, Brett Klisch, Brian Butler, Brian Colin, Bridget, Brin Berliner, COPE2, Crystal Puckett, Damion Silver, Dana Woulfe, David Heale, Denise DeSpirito, Diablo Blanco, Dionysus, Doug Boehm, E Marley, Erick Scarecrow, Farhana Akhter, Frank Schaefer, frost215, Gage, Georgalas, Grand Commision, Ian Lee, J*Rock , Jason Alberto Garcia, Jeaux Janovsky, Josh Falk, Justin Volpe, kaNO, Kenny Levarek, Lahn Lenore, L’amour Supreme & Mishka, Leecifer, Madtwiinz, Marco, Mars-1, Matthew Hawkins, Metal Wing, Michael Farmer, Michael Joo, Michael Ricardo Andreev, Mike Dytri, Nai, Nelson X Ascensio, Nemo, Nick Martin, Nick Z, Brian Nash & Ricky Brandano (ObamaLOL.com), Orlando Dominguez, Paulito, Peat Wollaeger, Peter Kato, Phetus, pocketwookie, Randy McBluejeans, Rsin, Rukshana, Ruthie Holswade, Shawn Bishop-Leo, Shepard Fairey, spök-spök, Stephen Reynolds, Suckadelic, Tom Nussbaum, Ton Wayne, Veronica Landslide, Voltaire, Zale.
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