Me & Prints

[Above print from Godmachine: "Time Not Important, Life Only Important"]
I just simply have to admit it, most of it to myself - with my entire reading community here on TOYSREVIL as witness - that I have a new weakness, a new "addiction", if you will: "PRINTS".

And the painful truth is, I sometimes buy what I blog about … one way to curb my spending, is to actually stop blogging about prints, I sh*t you not! But it would also mean I should stop blogging about art toys, and stop putting myself thru the constant misery of unrequited toy-desires, innit? *man-sigh*

Now, I have never been a huge collector of prints, primarily because I simply do not have any wall space to frame and hang prints and posters! And while in thy more youthful pursuits, I had been a real fiend with movie posters and posters in general (hey, I didn't just make films, I hoarded them lol) but they were never really the "limited edition" type of items, you know? I was not out for "exclusivity", not that I hunger for them now, frankly speaking...

Fast forward a couple of decades, and I find myself quick to the trigger to procure limited edition artists' prints - veering predominantly toward pop culture and/or film related imagery, but depicted in a new way, or more graphic approach. Discovering what Hero Complex Gallery, Bottleneck Gallery (THIS started me off the frenzy) and it's ilk had to offer (earlier in the year), had opened the floodgates to bludgeoning but humble collection, versus my diminishing bank-account!


[One of my current collecting constant: Imagery from Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner"]
The notion of a limited run of prints, coupled most importantly with a number and signed by the artist? Is actually pretty exhilarating! And as much as I adore toys being signed by their original designers (which I receive extremely few), this notion is brought to the forefront with "prints", and I am excited with embracing my geekery once again! My abject lack of funds be my only hinderance to my online purchasing rampage LOL


[Above new prints from Hero Complex Gallery's "Righteous Rides...And the Dudes Who Drive Them!" which came in today! Another tube to add to the constantly falling ones placed around the TOYSREVIL-HQ lol]
Funnily, I had come across this A1-sized printout, of a couple of characters I had created and drew, with the intention to self-publish and release a sequential comicbook of, back in 1993/94! The comicbook never came to pass, but I remembered printing a whole bunch of these black-and-white posters, and actually numbered them (with an adjustable number chop-n-ink! 40pcs I think) and even signed my name in gold-ink! Not that I had thought I was awesome (well, in some ways, yes i did MUAHAHAHAHA), but I had liked the notion of S&N (thanks to the influence of comicbooks).

I gave them away at my then weekly table at the Sunday Flea Market at The Substation Garden, for FREE! But nobody took them - except for this one person (whom I remember ever too well, "he" was my "idol" then too!) … I was so devastated! FREE also people did not want? My art must REALLY HAVE SUCKED, innit? "Dreams" in the trasher, as far as I was concerned LOL


Years later (just yesterday actually), I managed to dig out this one and only image left, mounted on a black board, a faded memory of my past dreams and aspirations … funny how things in the past, impacts us and affects us til today … such is the notion with me collecting prints and imagery based on movies, likened to my days in the industry, perhaps? Luckily collecting "postcards" has not come back to "haunt" me ... yet ...

Cheers,
Andy