I'm going over to Frank Kozik's studio tomorrow to interview him about some things, among them art vs. toys vs. commerce. Burning question you've always wanted to have answered? List it here, and I'll see what I can do.

Yes. What is the interview for? Your blog/a blog? An article for some publication, be it electronic or print? For your own knowledge? Answering these questions may help us understand the purpose and better give you our hints. When will you last review this thread, so people have a deadline to post or pm you?

Good luck.

I want to follow up an interview we did with Frank when I used to edit ToyCyte. I'm now writing for Neon Monster's blog, which is new. I'd like to hear his thoughts on art vs. toys vs. commerce. In this particular community, it's interesting to me what seems to be a backlash against "art." And then in art communities, there's backlash against "commerce." And then you've got the old Warhol quote: "Good business is the best art." But there will be light bits too. Someone wants me to ask why all his toys have buttholes, for instance. Not sure how much time we'll have.

Maybe send questions through until 9AM PST? I'm around right now, but I'll take a read through with my coffee tomorrow morning. Thanks!

ask him to show you his Farmville.

Ask him if he would do a toy for the Monster Family line, if asked.
Tell him to come back to SB.

I'd be interested if you could ask him who killed Liddle Towers? Could Billy Bremner really walk on water? . . . . and if a picture paints a thousand words, why can't I paint you?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33998&start=0

plenty of questions in that thread

Not sure there were any "askable" questions in that thread, although interesting allusions to backstory and seemingly different opinions about whether people paint toys for the "wrong" reasons. Maybe I can ask him "what is hype?" Ah well. Heading over in a bit, so I guess that it's for this.

who put the bop in the bop shoo wadda wap?

(hint: the correct answer is jesus.)

If you secretly watch Glee should you ever reveal it to the world?

Detroit techno or Chicago house?

Totally one of my top questions as well. Incredible coincidence.

I do have one question for him; As someone who has derogatarilly used the "f" word (rhymes with bag) and referred to the "gay parade" as a means of defaming a group of people - what is behind Frank's Pride labbit pack, or use of Tom of Finland imagery on his Gimp Labbit - is he in fact supportive of gay culture or is it just a way to make money off a culture he has no connection with or understanding of?

Damn! . . . that was gonna be my next question!

I wish I had seen this question before I went over there because I would have asked it for you. I can say that one of the reasons Frank gave for enjoying the toy scene over the music scene was its diversity (including age and sexuality). It was good to chat with him. He's very open, and as someone mentioned on one of these threads, he's listed. Even if he is no longer a part of this particular forum, he's easy enough to get in touch with.

We stayed and talked for over an hour. I'm going to need some time to transcribe it all.

The words will never show...

"So, when did it all go wrong?"

Do tobacco companies pay him a kickback for all his cigerette smoking promotions done with toys to children?

Guys, I don't know how aware Jeremy is of the full history of Frank on this board, so cut him a little slack.

Jeremy, I don't this is the place to ask as there are good reasons Frank doesn't post here any longer.

Thanks Alex. I already did the interview, so it's a moot point anyway. I will say I think it's interesting from the PMs I received that several people seem to privately care what Frank thinks of them, while publicly enjoying the hivemind spirit of slamming him. I found Kozik to be nothing short of extremely blunt and honest, and for those of you who know me, I don't hold back in asking direct questions that I'm curious about.

I'm working on transcribing the interview, and it'll be up today or tomorrow. There will be a bit about his feelings toward this community, which he compares to the elitist, exclusionary attitudes of the music industry. I've been a toy collector since the early 2000s and I support Super7 and go to all the shows and write about them, but it definitely feels like a struggle on this board. Either I'm guilty of being "The Hype" or I'm crucified for a newbie question. If I didn't know many of you guys in person, I'd get the impression purely from this forum, that the majority of you are somewhere on the asshole spectrum for sure.

Oh, and my ears are always open, on or off-the-record, for anyone who wants to tell me the backstory on this from their POV. I seem to be alone in this here, as this board is about toys for toys sake, but I dig the stories!

Well, this is weak

My recollection is that it's all liquidsky's fault.

I would rather not get in middle or bring the ill feelings back to the surface.
With that said I like the skullbrainers that have unresolved business with him and I like Frank.

I think what i was trying to say Jeremy is I don't think there is much frank will say that anyone here hasn't already heard or knows. I think a good number of people here know Frank and reading an interview with someone they know is well a little odd. The others will just slam it. Although with that said, I will enjoying reading it as I haven't seen him since my "interview" with him at SDCC. Stoked to check it out when it's done.

Or Havingmysay, I think many would like to claim in the crown on this one

Speaking for myself, I don't have unresolved business with Frank. I also don't privately care what Frank thinks of me though I do have some interest in the header card rumor.

He and I had some great give and take and discussion in some of the great older threads.

But we disagreed on critiquing toys. Back then, I was much more verbal about what I liked and what I didn't like. Probably cause I come from an art background and was used to group critiques. Frank is/was much more PC. His attitude was appreciate everything and don't say anything negative. Two different points of view, coming from two different people with different agendas (one a consumer, one a manufacturer).

I think he finally became unhinged when I posted the image of the crying indian at the beginning of an endless RxH custom sales thread, at which point, he started stalking my posts online. And then I crossed the line when I asked about purchasing an unpainted GID RxH. The irony being that an unpainted GID figure is much more desirable than one with his sprays (some of which he had an assistant actually do).

It was just frustrating back then because Frank had sales threads all over the place. You'd see an indication of new posts in the RxH forum, only to open it up and see yet another endless sales thread with people adding names to a list. Over and over. There was no way to ignore it if you wanted to ignore it. Just constantly in your face, at least that's how I felt. Versus having it all segregated to a subforum or someplace.

If all of this makes me an elitist asshole, I guess I'm an elitist asshole even though I help alot of people behind the scenes and in PM land. In the end, its all board politics and probably exists elsewhere. I thought I heard other stories happening on some art poster boards like gigposters.

We now return you to your regular program already in progress...

Also, by the way, Frank still checks the board:

Last visited: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:21 pm