I don't collect his stuff (yet) but admire it because it's hand crafted, unique to the artist's fantasy world, very Japanese, twisted but funny, contemporary and multi-faceted. It's so DIY. The collabs with David Horvath have worked so well. Rad beans mang.
Just saw the movie Splice There were KR toys sitting around including a giant mummy but more interestingly, there was pretty much every Dehara vinyl release except for the satoshis
I agree with Dean's comments. Dehara's work has a fine crudeness to it that creates the impression that it was created without much effort. In reality, I suspect that the case is quite the opposite. There are plenty of resin or other homebrew toys that strive for this look, but just end up appearing unfinished. I admire Dehara's work immensely, although I don't collect it.
Dehara’s hand-painted clay depictions of debauched salarymen, brutalized gangsters, happy monsters, and other unique figures stand about 5-inches tall. Although the pieces are detailed and glossy, the subtle and intentional flaws of the Japanese artist’s self-described “crummy” style project more humanity than horror, and are oddly sympathetic. His sculpture, photography, and paintings have garnered a cult of collectors around the world, and are celebrated in books, figurines, and other merchandise, as well as by more daring art galleries around the world. For this show, Dehara's inspiration will be Jizo, the Buddhist divinity who protects the departed souls of deceased children, babies, and unborn fetuses, whose likeness can be found in cemeteries and on roadsides in Japan. In Dehara's words, these statues are "Japanese stone angels.” RTFPR (Read the f**king press release) JK Mothman, Dehara methinks is an acquired taste. He's just got that "it", hard to describe but you know it when you see it. EDIT: This guy fucking rules
i also agree with dean's sentiments, especially the "very japanese" part dehara is just an original artist in the truest sense, you can tell he loves what he makes and i love it too! this show looks amazing and i really really want one of those jizo figures
This is kind of how I see it. It's easy for people to constantly update and bootleg existing toys but the dehara universe is almost incredibly unique..sure there are riffs on existing things but he puts out these toys and sculpts that have these vivid back stories and has basically created a clay world. Check out his website and look at some of the pictures. These toys are just incredibly unique and really well handcrafted.
you know also there's one thing that I didnt mention. Dehara was a pioneer in the DIY toy movement, as much as Lau was but just in his own way. 10 years after "designer toys" first got noticed, maybe his work seems like its "just ok" or something, but he was an Original in the DIY toy movement and he gets props for that as well. I feel that Bounty Hunter is mad generic but there are ppl who would also gut me for saying so.
adrian brody and his lady in the film are like hipster nerdy. they have a bunch of toys on shelves in their apt and lab.
not really into his new stuff but the older vinyl stuff was cool like the Yakuza guy and the killer tomato guy too. It had that roughness that kind of contrasts all the ultra smooth kaiju stuff.
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but has anyone seen Dehara's little photo books? I'm not sure if he's still doing it, but in the past he published books of photos of his toys that told stories about their lives. I saw them at Giant Robot and if they're still being published, assume that GR is still carrying them. (Haven't been by the SF store in awhile.) Just one more thing that fleshes out his universe and makes him such a Do It Yourself sort of artist. Hasn't he also made some short movies about the characters? I seem to remember one at his site a few years ago. Much is said about the Punk aspect of kaiju but here's a guy whose art is as Punk as it gets.
What is also cool is that he creates photo postcards and posters of his figures interacting with each other before they get mounted in the clear boxes. Limited runs of usually ten or so...
that menta painted like a girl with a seashell bikini , lol awesome great minis! love that they are all essentially little original handpaints
Hey Dean, GR2 had a bunch of Dehara's, lives of his toys publications including cool little children's books. Still wanna go back for the Yakuza book.
Yeah, couldn't pass that lil' cutey up. There were tons more I wanted, but my wallet was light enough already.
The books that came with the killer cabbage and tomato are really fun and have some of his sculpts as well as illustrations and kind of a database for the whole family.
