I'm sorry I don't see said "tiers of entrant", I only see different styles used to accomplish the goal of making an entry... EB, your work looks exactly like your inkings, but if a person doesn't appreciate the style of your inkings, and the art you create on paper, they most likely wouldn't "get it" hence your figures not being voted to the head of the class (your stuff is aces in my book BTW)... The reason I've come to hate these kinds of things going on in the art world, is that personal taste defines what gets chosen. Since there isn't any way to define art in reality, your left to decide what you like on a personal level... This in turn leaves an unfair playing field, because everyone has different taste in what's good. My hometown does a 150,000 dollar artprize every year, the winners are chosen through public voting... The town is largely conservative and there are literally some areas that have a church on every street corner (4 churches at a 4 way stop). Artists are allowed to join from all over the world... This will be the third year, and what get's chosen? The first year, a photo realistic painting of a wave, the second year, a photo realistic drawing of a troop of Boy scouts... Art shouldn't be a contest, because in reality it's the viewing public that are the real winners. We get to view new ideas, and learn new things about ourselves, it's hard to put a bow on that.
What isn't being thought of here is the reason why people make resin toys. My thoughts are it's an affordable great way to produce toys on a small scale. Just about anyone can do it(if they read up on casting, sculpting, etc, etc.). That's what makes it appealing to me. A resin piece is also much closer to showing the artists hand in the production of the work, which in many cases vinyl loses too much of. I'm bummed I missed the opening for this show, it looked great with lots of diversity in the work.
I wish! Unfortunately "not for sale" at the moment. Paul did however let me carry them around and drool all over them.
At the end of the day, if you enter your work into a public show like this, I guess you open yourself up to anyone and everyone's criticism. Anyone can have a blog, and, obviously, everyone is entitled to their opinion. My only concern is that the spirit of the show was so supportive of new and up and coming talent, that negative press like this might be discouraging to entrants who are just beginning making toys. It would really be a shame if the result of this was that someone who would have given us some really cool shit some day was suddenly turned off from the whole thing.
First off I want to give a big shout out to our own Aaron (Uh-Oh) and Sean (Monster Hero) who worked tirelessly, and quietly in the background at TAG, in order to bring us wonderful shows like this. I missed the fact that neither one of them had representation of their own work in the show due to a conflict of interest. Perhaps if this is repeated again next year they can drop the "jury" aspect and have their own work included. Anyone on here that knows anything about me knows I have a great fondness for the many sides of resin making and have been a committed champion of it's cause since I first joined SB. That's why it pains me to see the mean-spirited trashing of certain aspects of this show, especially coming from the "judges" and associates of the "jury." One of the "judges" at the show (it was unknown to me at the time that they were "judging") went so far as to befriend me, feigning interest in my opinion, only to throw my words back in my face by misquoting me and taking what I said totally out of context. What is even more amazing is that this so called "judge" passed this information on to an associate of theirs who then wrote their sleazy tabloid review. The "article" I am referring to would be the one by Mr. Matthew Hisey (ToyPinionated) that has been quoted elsewhere in the thread. For the life of me I can't see one redeeming or informative aspect of his "article." He does state in the very last paragraph "I don't do this professionally, I do this for giggles) which should have served as a warning if it hadn't come at the end. He then goes on to pride himself in the fact that he doesn't deal with those "annoying" things like facts. He could care less who made something, or their background. His advise to his readers that if they want facts they can check them out on their own. Which is what I took the time to do. Let's put a real face on one of the pieces he choose to trash the most. This is Keenan Cassidy... He made this for the resin show... pic from TAG pics from Keenan's website http://keenancassidy.blogspot.com/ I have never met Keenan but I found his piece to be quite charming and I, unlike others, feel he put a lot of thought into it. He is not some fly by night "little Billy" that threw this together as some school arts and crafts project. He is a committed and from what I can tell passionate young man that takes his art making very serious. Here are some other works from his website that he has been involved in... So if you are on here Kennan or ever show up here just remember you have at least one staunch supporter. What do those uptown "judges" know about true art anyway. Good thing I wasn't a "judge" I would have locked all the "professionals" outside and had a real party.
Hi Connell. I am logging on here specifically to tell you that talking to you about the work at TAG was one of the 5 highlights of the show for me. (Other 4: Discussing the craft with Julie B, talking frankly with Matt H, running into Super Cooper who always makes me smile and blueberry lemonade at the nearby Grub restaurant.) I don't post here often, but people in SF who know me in person (and those who read my blog), recognize that I'm a writer who collects toys and writes about them. Which is to say: I like characters and I like stories. I like asking people what they think of things, and I like writing about what I think of them. The art aesthetic I personally enjoy is less organic and more clean, finished, polished, design-y (whatever you want to call it). I genuinely enjoyed talking to you BECAUSE you liked different pieces than me. I wanted to see if I could be made to see it your way. Later, I talked to Matt about the variety of opinions at the show. Most people attended the event to have a beer and buy stuff. I drove down from SF to talk about resin with other people who cared. That's what I did, and I drove back the next day. There was no advance criteria provided for this show, so in some ways, it DOES seem unfair to judge the pieces at all. The five of us could really only apply our diverse personal aesthetics and calculate the winners that way. FWIW, I am happy with the artists whose pieces received the combined scores that deemed them winners. I'll write my own coverage next week. I did ask the other judges if they were interested in providing individual feedback as was requested on Twitter, but none of the other four have taken me up on it at this time. This is a misunderstanding. What you're referring to is me congratulating the winners and saying I finally have the chance to do this: "#winning". "#winning" is a twitter hashtag popularized by Charlie Sheen during his very public, often humorous, possibly bi-polar meltdown. I was saying that congratulating the winners was finally a real reason to use the "#winning" hashtag. I never said that having a contest was a reason to make resin toys. However, I do stand by the idea that ENTERING a contest means that you agree that your work will be "judged" and is also a reason to submit your best effort (which, I think we can agree means different things to different people).
http://rotocasted.com/library/artist_Matt%20Hisey/ This is the work that Mathew Hisey has produced, on a custom level... I'm assuming it's the same Matt, because in the comments on his Gangster Goerge figure, Jeremy Riad is all up in his posse... I really don't see where his work would be considered any more quality than anything that he put down in his article... Of course I'm not all about KR figures painted up to look like gang banging marsupials... I do however like Leecifer's fcking America Bank, and Matt's rabbit somewhat resembles that, and Motorbot's tiny treasure resins are cool, and Matt did a Tobin figure that somewhat resembles those... All I can really say is, People that live in Glass Houses, shouldn't sleep naked. Edit. The only uncivil comment I made has been changed...
Also is it a big surprise to anyone that Arbito, and Paul Kaiju were the main winners? Please don't take any offense I love your work Paul, and Arbito is awesome, but You both have made production run toys... I would have to double check my Juxtapoz mag from last month but I think Paul's name was in bold on the billing of artist's who would be in attendence, that right there is saying, we've got a heavy hitter coming, everybody stand back. It's akin to having a photo contest, between me Nan Goldin, and Larry Clark, I may not know who will win, but I know who won't. I just think that slinging dirt is really uncalled for if your trying to be professional at anything. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean someone else won't, I happened to think N-Sync was crap, but try telling a million screeming fans that in the 90's... You may not like certain entrants, that doesn't mean their work isn't good.
bummed i missed the opening.... looked like good times & a fun show. i'm also bummed that so much joy is being sucked out of it now that it's over... guess that's the internet for you. congrats to everyone involved.... fuck the ribbons! from where i'm sitting it looks like a room full of winners. here are some of my favorites....
The Gumlien resins are great. I would have hated having to try and judge this show. So many good pieces.
I 100% agree here. I'm a hairy guy, and I sleep with my blinds closed! However, I think it's OK to state opinions. I haven't fully said mine about the TAG show yet, but certainly the fact that I wasn't personally feeling Keenan's piece doesn't mean I hope the kid dies a fiery death. Connell's thoughts on the piece helped me see it a little differently. I just don't know what it was doing in the same show as work by, for instance, Arbito or PK. But as stated in my previous post, the criteria for the show wasn't set until after entries were submitted. I don't agree that Matt's critique of the TAG show automatically makes it open season to pick apart his work. Notably, Matt didn't enter anything into the show, a show which was advertised as a Juried Resin Show. Sure, you could argue that the act of him uploading his customs to Rotocasted makes it fair game, and you'd be right. You can judge him on his works, but it's not fair to compare them to works that were specifically entered into a contest with judges. I've critiqued him on stuff before, and he's receptive. Feedback helps artists grow. Full disclosure: You're right: I am "all up in Matt's posse". He's been a great friend, a supporter who buys a ton of toys (including one from the TAG show) and he really sticks his neck out there to share opinions, which, whether or not you agree with them, are nice to see out there in the otherwise sanitized-for-advertising toy blogger land.
My point from saying that wasn't to say that being your friend is a bad thing, it was to make the correlation between the Matt that complains about the rubbish at TAG, and the Matt that makes rubbish and posts it for his friends to laud over on a toysite. I apologize if that came out any differently. Personally as a photographer, I've limited the photos that I publish on a site like, flickr, to images that won't come back to bite me later down the road... The line between the internet and real life are drawing closer, and closer everyday. That said, if your making statements concerning the work of others, you should have the experience of your own illustrious career to back it up. If the comments came from someone like Goerge Gaspar, they wouldn't be so offensive, taking into the account the fact that he's had a full career in the toy industry as a sculptor. Matt on the other hand is a different story, I'll quote bannedinnyc for this one "Who are you to me? Nobody, that's who." That sums up my feelings for Matt. (^Quote taken completely out of context.) All this is kind of ridiculous, I feel this argument has taken the shine out of what is important, for that I'm guilty, and sorry... I just like a hundred percent of the pieces done for the show, and feel like we're crapping on parades here.
I have never been part of a juried art show before ( except for tattoo convention contests ), but knew my piece would be judged in some way as part of the show criteria. Judging, in my opinion, is always biased so take it with a grain of salt. Something positive to point out was that it brought the crowd together and added some excitement to the night. I did not totally agree with the results , but hey , someone had to be picked. ( Barking Gun is Awesome! ) Of course the best part of the evening was meeting new friends, talking technique , and damn if I wasn't driving, free beer! And if I may be crotchety for the moment, I come from a generation when there was 1st 2nd 3rd etc. It made me try harder to put my best work forward, because I wanted to win! To much of this grade school, everyones a winner , don't hurt anyones feeling mentality nowadays.
While I really want to agree with you, and DO agree that the whole argument has really taken some of the shine off this show, saying that one needs direct experience and success in a field to be an accurate judge is a common logical fallacy. Anyone who knows at least a modicum about what they're looking at can be a judge, and their opinion is just as valid. We might not like it, but it doesn't make it less true. While his delivery might be rough, Toypinionated does manage to raise some objectively true points, or at least questions worth exploring. What it comes down to for me is that it seems like the message and intent of this show really got garbled somewhere along the way, especially with it being open call AND juried. It seems like it really should have been one or the other: an open show for everyone to have a good time, or an invitation-only 'best of the best' throw-down. Something like those wormey looking things probably wouldn't have made the cut for an exclusive competition show, but when they show up for an open call, you can't fault them.
A show being open call and juried should be great. Everyone should feel comfortable to enter and get their work seen, and if your work is something special, you have a chance to "win". The problem arises when people start bashing people just for trying. The thing I love about resin pieces is that there are no levels. Some people are clearly more talented and popular than others, but that doesn't mean that the lowly resin pieces are any less legit. Unclench your butthole, this is supposed to be fun. Yes, when you enter a juried show, you are inviting criticism of your work. But criticism is "sculpting was poor", "color is sloppy", "casting had issues." NOT "this shouldn't be allowed in the show" or "i can't believe you thought that was art."
hahaha. Actually part of the issue I have with the whole thing is well, "art." The show had no parameters of toy vs art vs anything else. How do you compare spencer's fractal kachina which is a beautiful piece of art and amazing but hardly a toy, to Ben's Galaxxxor which is clearly an action figure, and was intended to be such. There is a large difference between what some people want to accomplish, "art", and others who are actually out to make a "real" toy.
