take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!
aaah but with these new CircusPunks Planet of the Apes figure-set, you can paw them to your hearts' content! designed by Jason Kochis and standing 15"-ers tall, the POTA-CPs come in 2 Sets with only 35-sets produced in total and can be ordered HERE for US$150-per set (of 3)
TOYSREVIL: what was your earliest (or most vivid) memory of Planet Of The Apes? what does POTA mean to you? and what made you decide on using POTA as a design inspiration?
JASON KOCHIS: My earliest memory would have to be watching the tv show when I was really young. Cornelius was the most recognizable to me.
What can I say, Planet Of The Apes is just really cool. It inspired me to do some gig posters with apes a few years back. That eventually led to my RockSoldier t-shirt project.
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TOYSREVIL: and what was the genesis of the CircusPunk-POTA?JASON KOCHIS: A while back I was in a custom toy show and I decided to try customizing a CircusPunk for it. I received the blank in the mail and stared at it for days. Sometimes I just sit and look at the toy and wait for it to speak to me. It this case the Punk had tan hair which was throwing me off, but then I thought it could be like Dr. Zaius from POTA. After doing a few sketches, I created 3 different Apes. Each based on the trichotomy of the Ape society: the Rulers/Orangutan, the Scientists/Chimpanzee, and the Soldiers/Gorilla.
I approached CircusPunks with my ideas and they were stoked. They decided to produce them all in a special limited edition set of 35.
TOYSREVIL: cheers for your time, Jason, in closing, please share with us, Who is Jason Kochis?
My name is JASON KOCHIS and I graduated from Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fl with a B.F.A. in Illustration.
I currently work as a freelance artist and designer. I create a bit of everything like t-shirt designs, cd covers, gigposters, fonts, websites, custom toys, and paintings on wood. My artistic style is constantly being influenced by low-brow, retro, urban, and tattoo art.
I have exhibited my artwork at The Smithsonian Museum of Design in Atlanta, CBGB's 313 Gallery in New York City, The Paradise Lounge Gallery in Boston, The Showroom NYC in New York, MonkeyHouse Toys in Los Angeles, Fakture Gallery in Denver, Colorado, Zeitgeist Gallery and Missing Link Toys in Portland, Crybaby Gallery and Asbury Lanes in New Jersey, The Arts Factory in Las Vegas, Kitchen's Ink Custom Tattoo in Denver, Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey, and The Alcove Gallery in Atlanta.
I have been published in The Art of Modern Rock book, The Graphic Designer and Illustrators Market, Tres Logos, Clutter Magazine, the SideShow Magazine, Eye Want Your Skull, Vinyl Requiem, and Roctober Magazine.
Most recently, one of my designs was selected to be a part of the Coca-Cola /Play Imaginative "A Better Tomorrow" Trexi project.
You can see more of my artwork at: www.jasonkochis.com
(cheers for the headsup, Jason!)
