not the Kaiju toy but the great artist, Carlos Enriquez. If you don't know who he is, you will soon. Me and Greg from Mishka decided to hook up with Carlos while he was in town from Venezuela.
We got to meet his lovely wife and talk about his work and of course, toys. You may have seen some of his stuff at the rotofugi, Wonderfest and Kaiju Invades NYC show. One of the American Idols that is truly inspiring. We got to ask him about his Vagina monsters and what kind of toys he collects. Where do I even begin?

Holy crap! I had no idea those were so huge! Absolutely beautiful stuff, would love to own that carousel mushroom type figure that's being held upside down. Or the ear demon, or the other mushroom (displaying the vagina monster probably wouldn't go over too well with the wife).
Thanks, Joel!

The vagina monster is actually seen in a different light when you hear him talk about it. He sees the vagina as more of a portal or a doorway. He's big into kinetics, parrallel universes, other dimensions influencing his work.

great pics. his stuff absolutely blew my mind at the Toy Karma show.

Really wondrous toys but unfortunately way out of my price range. I would be interested in what kind of toys he collects?

yeah, mine too As far as toys, he's hardcore old school kaiju. He loves Barom1 and has some collection of originals and remade Rainbow figures. He's not too much into the newer stuff although he did buy a clear Blobpus at ToyTokyo.

I can tell you one kind of toy he collects becasue he bought them both from me on ebay: The rainbow Mole Cricket Monster and Octopus Geruge. Hehe!

You also really need to see his large Belzor figures - they are amazing. He had a show last December during Art Basel at Praxis Gallery in Miami with lots of the giant Belzors (like 4' tall), giant Astro Boys, and the boob/vagina/ear/mushroom monsters in the photos above. I got to spend some time talking to him at the show and he's a super-cool guy.

My dream "toy" is to own one of those giant candy colored Belzors.

What he said ...

I got to meet Carlos at Basel in 'o6 and '07, and he is truly great. (I wish my Spanish were better!) The Astros are so creative, and the colors, wow. I meant to ask if he uses HOK, but I forgot. He also does 'wall-mount' Astro versions with the feet replaced by jets - I can't believe I didn't get any pics of those.

Jim, if you have any more pics from the Praxis show, let's see 'em!

Here's some more Enriquez pics, the first four are from Basel '07 and the others ... I don't remember where. I have one of the wood form for his 20-foot-tall Darkron ( ) that's coming soonsoon here somewhere, but can't put my hands on it right now. (The Basel pics below link to 800x600 versions, but if anyone wants larger or even giant original-size images, just PM me.)

I may just surrender to temptation with that carousel - He's painting ten of them, each one different.

Edit/PS - I also now remember thinking when I was talking to Carlos - It's pretty unusual that a kid from Venezuela would collect kaiju. But Peru, on the other hand, has a long history of Japanese immigration (remember Fujimori?) ... so I bet they imported the TV shows ... so I bet they imported the kaiju! I wonder if the yard sales of Lima are perhaps an undiscovered vintage-kaiju heaven? Maybe there's a whole genre of 'Peru' colorways for that market, like the Hawaii ones, but thus far wholly unknown. Who's the vinyl counterpart of Indiana Jones? (And hmmmm ... who might I know in Peru?)

Carlos is just amazing, and such a nice guy; I can't wait for further updates on the huge Darkron!

Thanks for sharing the pics, Joel and Clay!

When he returns to Venezuela, he will be painting the fiberglass Darkron, 14'. He said it will take him a month to paint but it will be painted in the same fashion as the small pieces I'll ask him if it's ok to post the non painted pics.

Wacky phone double posting

Love boobra.

Also the paint jobs are amazing!

Check your email dude - a whole slug of photos coming your way (I'd post 'em myself but I'm having technical difficulties).

You have to see these paint jobs in person to really appreciate them. Even though it's 500 clams, I have to have one of the Carlos' Eyezons.

What were the prices on these???? We know the special Eyezone was 500 clams.

Great pics and sharing LS, miami!

Ike

I love those paint jobs. I hope he does something bizarre and glorious in a more collectible price range because I would be eating it up.

The blue/red astroboy is now grail... how much does one of those stauaries cost btw?

Thats cool you got to hang with him. His work in awesome!

Carlos is super nice. totally down to earth.

he's trying to figure out a way to do his figures in vinyl vs fiberglass to keep the costs down. the figures above are $1800 on the low, low end.

Wow thats shockingly affordable! $1800 is not bad at all for what youre getting.

that's for the smallest figures - the ones that are about 12" tall. The 4' Belzors are, like, $6k each and I'm guessing that the Astro Boys are in the $3-4k range.

Wow still worth it for how great they are... I cant afford it of course but it gives me hope for the future

I recall having my mind blown by the mushroom/carousel some time ago. These sculpts are ridiculously good(and worth every penny)!
Imagine being able to say: "Meh, I only collect Carlos."

ps: I would love one of those astro boys in my house......