"The Engineer", March 2021
Brainstorm session on a long unrealized space box creation for a larger 5.5 inch figure I painted during quarantine, named "David" after the Engineer from Prometheus.
Finally got somewhere -- Video below outlining the project.
Please don't count the number of times "Or something like that ..." is spoken, it is performance and am honing a new vocal mannerism. Long unfinished business with this one, have been wanting to create a very special housing artwork for this particular figure. All here is subject to change given how the project comes together or not. Will blog it up live as things evolve.
Our structure, cheese basket gift crate from the Late Great Uncle Michael several Christmases back. His eternal soul will be pleased I found something cool to do with it.
My standard 4 x 4 inch box forms, here arranged in what I call a Brady Bunch group shot; The boxes are meant to be displayed individually, at least for the time being. The found object arrangements are meant to tell absurd little narratives, like astronauts locking their keys in the spacecraft, the Space Turtle being infected by the Green Slime, or Porkins' Big Date with Space Barbie.
So this is a somewhat more challenging size with a larger figure painted special for someone back at the height of the pandemic. Have kept it safe until we can surrender him in appropriate display solution once this effort is complete. And we're going to cover the evolution of the work both here and on my Syracuse Art Freak blog, show how the materials used and decisions about found object elements and presentation solutions are arrived at.
This particular box posing an additional issue with that edge running along the upper side. It would be awkward to let the interior artscaping spill out over onto the sides as my approach for the smaller unfinished plain craft store boxes has taken. So some form of reason to have an edge will have to be formulated, and am already thinking of how to use that textured side wall to advantage.
The two toy pieces selected with one of my painted Crackle Paste Reef Cups to help demonstrate the composition. Figure is a copy of a 5 1/2 inch astronaut designed by MPC (Multiple Products Company) for their parent company Multiple Toymakers in 1962 in soft supple plastic with snip-off accessories. Very clever and a very successful line which outlived its toymakers.
Reference site and web store https://ToySoldierHQ.com 's visual guide to the 5 inch MPC figures. In production 1962 - 1984 when their parent conglomerate dissolved. Molds resurfaced in Mexico soon after and may even still be in use.
NO VINTAGE SPACE TOYS ARE HARMED IN THE CREATION OF MY ARTWORK
Original MPC five inchers with some of their accessories. Cast in bright colors, white and silver, their plastics still supple some 60 years later. Still numerous, easy to find and relatively affordable ($6 - 12 each, cheaper in groups). There is absolutely no reason for collectors to bother with the flat grey recasts. I got a carton of 48 for less than fifty cents each just to paint without worrying about ruining vintage space bling.
The figure in my box project was recast from the original MPC molds in Mexico c.1991 using an unfortunate stiff plastic intended for use in filing cabinets, now gone bad with 30 years of age, The figures are objects of scorn for space toy collectors and their only useful purpose is for demonstrating industrial garbage shredders.
Or as surfaces to paint and I took my time with this one to try and be representational for once. Paints included Golden Artist Colors' Quinocridone Crimson mixed with Iridescent Pearl fluid acrylics for a slightly metallic look. Then "shellacked" over with about eleven layers of a spray acrylic clear coat. Took about two months to completely dry, and am very pleased with how he turned out. Now for the rocket.
Not My Collection - Hing Fat mini space set with the same rocket and seated astronaut seen in the image of the smaller painted boxes. These sell today for about $4.99 in an airport gift shop, keep the kid occupied on the flight.
The rocket was fabricated within the past 20 years in China by Hong Kong based plastic toy powerhouse Hing Fat for their inexpensive "Space Astronaut" bucket kit sets, one of which I had as a kid in the 1970s. And they are still making them 50 years later almost exactly like they were, which is what I would qualify as a successful toy line. Check prior blog posts for more of my enthusiasm for the Hing Fat Space Bucket sets.
Trade display of Hing Fat Space Astronaut sets, 1972(?) - now. Often found for sale at grocery stores, pharmacy toy racks, news kiosks and transport hub gift shops. Anywhere but toy stores, usually.
Collectors also react with misplaced scorn towards the line as there's little or no way to distinguish contemporary bucket sets hot off the injection mold from "vintage" collections fabricated during the early run of the toy line. In fact just when the line debuted is a subject of ongoing fascination for me as I know I had a bucket set as a kid in or around 1972 (age five). Destroyed by the time I was nine, what a great birthday present.
Original idea, with the reef cup just standing in for some as yet unforseen element that would raise the rocket so it would read as somewhat in the distance. But decided there's too much empty space at the top, though granted there's no space scene painted yet.
Tried a horizontal aspect and sadly the box is about an inch too narrow to accommodate the rocket comfortably. But I like the distance between the guy's head and the ceiling better.
There we go ... He's supposed to be an engineer, so now he's working on a broken rocket, maybe in a Space Garage or repair dock setting? Only four of my boxes have depicted urban or mechanized settings so this got me excited, even if he may end up working on some other futuristic contraption. There's quite a few to go and I'd had my heart set on having the rocket be a forced perspective element to suggest distance.
I always look at them from side angles, pretty sure that's how viewers would first be encountering them in gallery/display settings. So the figure is large & distinct enough to not get lost. This image also shows another issue with the decorative rim/edge, which will oblige the work to sit at a slight angle if placed on a shelf or table etc. I like the idea of having both wall and surface display being equally favorable, so a simple method of compensating for the rim will need to be arrived at.
Interesting ... But the Reef Cup has to go.
I call this pose The Engineer for that badass wrench. The original 1960s figures would come with a work belt with tool shapes, a pickaxe, little satellite dishes and a tool bag. I have a bagful of recast accessory pieces and will choose a few for authenticity. Though these stiff plastic recast figures should not be asked to hold anything in their empty hand - Thumb will snap right off.
All sorts of cool stuff in there. But sadly the tool belt plastic is too stiff and they snap after about six weeks strapped to the figure. Maybe one can be with his pile of devices on the floor. We'll give him a theodolite on a tripod too, so he can do some space surveying after finishing with the rocket.
Large tool case is a dental floss dispenser, various bits from ziplock bag runners or ointment dispenser caps. The welding torch is a damaged Empire Plastics atomic space cannon, and in the back corner a recent Made in China rock formation from a Dollar Store Dino-Land playset.
Yeah, good session. First step is to find a motif for the backdrop painting and figure out what to do with the floor. Check back soon for further updates.
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