ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

“Sherman the Rhinolabbitocerous Metallicus and Swazi the Oxpeckerdunny” is the name of Southerndrawl’s submission to LIFT’s Multiple Personalities show in May, and hot damn, is the duo impressive. I’m surprised that I haven’t written much more about Southerndrawl’s customs in the past, because this he’s definitely got a distinctive style, recognizability, and a real mastery of the form.

His ability to completely reinterpret any toy form into a bigger, better form is evidenced clearly here : the Rhino was once a 10” Labbit, and the bird is a heavily modified mini Dunny head. The intensely detailed armor, worn rivets and all, took Southerndrawl a year to complete (with many of his other great toys happening along the way, as shown in his photo-rich blog), but this rhino is definitely the masterpiece of his recurring rhinoceros theme. Like Captain America and Bucky Barnes, or The Tick and Arthur, or the mighty squid and his inherent loneliness, they’re clearly a powerful and deadly pair.

Look for this impressive guy alongside toys from 39 other artists (myself included) on May 9th in Royal Oak, Michigan.