Andre's Voodoo bear and Movember bear
I learnt three things at the Popome exhibition at 70 Juta recently… I’m judgmental. (More on this later.) I’m emo, not hipster. And I should really just swipe my credit card when I feel like it, instead of being prudent. ‘Cos I now seriously regret not buying one of the awesome bears dotted around Bam Bam Creative Studio’s exhibition space, decorated by a bunch of really talented local artists.
Popobe are colourful little bears, made of soft vinyl and uniquely decorated. The craze started in China, as these things do (McDonald’s China even had bears for their Valentine’s Day gift!), but is also very popular Europe, particularly France and Israel, and the States. You can find Popobe keyrings at Ke Ai in Greenside, who played a central part in bringing the bears to South Africa.
Mr Alpha: Art Is Fun!
These bears are incredibly popular… Says Alex Vlachos, one of the artists and also involved in exposing us to the bears, “it’s a fanatical sub-culture fetish I think. The fact that I still have this urge to collect toys assures me that I’m still human and haven’t grown up yet and become a big boy with the rest of the mindless zombies…”
For the Popome exhibition, much bigger blank bears were brought in and given to local talent to decorate… And the results were pretty rocking!
I’ve picked my favourites and had a chat to their creators…
Andre Chasqueira
How long did it take you to decorate your bear?
It took me a week – a couple of minutes a night after work..
Did you have a specific idea when you started?
I just started with a line and went from there… On the little one I used a ‘tache from a Mexican-themed party that I didn’t end up using so I put it on the bear and thought ‘hey… Movember! It seemed fitting.
The big bear is the voodoo demon fetus-eating flaming-handed madness beast, love child of wild dreams and a world in black and white!
Pretty dark hey…
Yes…
Do you usually feel your way, with no real idea of what you might want to end up with?
Yes, and yes… But there is always some sort of balance, whether it is conceptual or literal. That is where Abraxas lies, in that cusp between one and the other.
Check out more of Andre’s work here.
Ben's Mewzilla!
Ben's Mewzilla!
Alex Vlachos aka Mr Alpha
How long did it take you?
It took me a week-and-a-half after hours to complete my bear.
Did you work with a theme?
Well I had done a piece for an exhibition the week before and it had this really heavy concept and theme, but for the bear I thought fuck that I’m just going to have some fun for a change and not really plan anything. So it was more about the enjoyment on this one, I think a lot of the other artist felt the same.
Mewzilla take 2
Describe your bear in a sentence…
Art is Fun!
Ben Rausch
How long did your bears take you to finish?
I was in the US when the artists first got their bears, so I couldn’t work on Mewzilla and Microkitten as consistently as I’d have liked. I had to really cram to get them done in time; I spent 2 full weekends at home drawing and then 7 or 8 nights doing the same after work.
What inspired your bears?
My main inspiration was Japanese monster movies, anime and TV shows. In stuff like Voltron and Power Rangers, everyone has their own robot, but when things get really heavy they need to team up and combine their machines into one mega-robot. So the idea behind Mewzilla was to create a super-monster-kitten formed out of 12 different cats.
His sidekick Microkitten is just a very small cat, but he’s still good at fighting because he has a big kittymech called Steline. Steline’s power is generated by a hamster-wheel-dynamo is his right ear. Professor Muggles runs the dynamo and if you compare the size of this little hamster to Microkitten you can tell just how tiny Mewzilla’s sidekick is.
Microkitten!
Describe your bear in a sentence:
Mewzilla is the world’s most destructive meowmoster!
People can see what Ben’s getting up to here.
MissIngy's emotions...
Inger Holstvig Færch aka MissIngy
How long did it take you to decorate your bear?
The bears took me round about a week-and-a-half to complete, and the 6 prints addition took about 3 weeks to perfect.
Did you have a general theme in mind?
The inspiration was just going with and showcasing my style of illustration. I wanted it to be feminine and soft, yet dark and somewhat cold.
What materials did you use?
For my two bears, I started off using a spray-on primer coat. From there I painted with acrylic paints, and drew in the line work with a black marker. Then to finish it off I used a clear lacquer finish spray.
The process for my prints was first sketched up, and then painted with liquid ink. I then finished off the line work with a black fine liner. Once all 6 were done I scanned them into Photoshop to clean up and get ready for print.
Describe your bear in a sentence…
Soft feminine beauty.
Check out more of MissIngy here and here.
For pics of the other bears, go here.
Tags: 70 Juta, Alex Vlachos, Andre Chasqueira, Bam Bam Creative Studio, Ben Rausch, Inger Holstvig Færch, Miss Ingy, Mr Alpha, Popobe bears, Popome exhibition