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Robbie Busch has been finessing his art formula since many Kidrobot devotees were drinking formula (particularly true for kids born in the late 70s when formula briefly reigned over milk). His colorful career spans comics (more Sandman than superher0), film, animation, music, photography and writing. Robbie, aka McBoing Boing, has clocked decades as part of the urban art scene, so who better to wax poetic on cultural changes as we teeter on the precipice of a new year? ToyCyte chatted up the New Yorker about life, art and his first original resin toy. You can check out paintings and pieces from Robbie’s recent show at Rotofugi here, including prototypes of his El Diablo figure. The first wave of El Diablos available for purchase hit the Argonauts Resin store at 12PM PST/3PM EST today.
Give us a little evolution of Robbie from the Pratt period on.
I apprenticed with Mark Badger when I was in high school. He helped me start working as a color artist for DC and Marvel Comics. I went to Pratt Institute and studied drawing, photography & filmmaking and was also a DJ at the radio station. Before school ended, I helped get together a group of like-minded professional comic book artists; we felt like outcasts in the mainstream “superhero” world of comics and wanted to make humor comics for adults. That eventually lead to the series Instant Piano from Dark Horse Comics (with Kyle Baker, Mark Badger, Stephen Destefano and Evan Dorkin). After college, I moved out to LA to try to break into the movie biz, while adamantly staying out of the animation world. I started contributing comic strips to some zines, which led to writing about and shooting bands.
A few years later I moved back to NYC. The first job I got was in, of course, animation. I was doing storyboards and making independent comics during the day and shooting photos in dance clubs, DJing and making short films at night.
I burned out on drawing and painting for commercial purposes. I wasn’t having fun anymore, and thought I would leave comics altogether when I was approached to start writing comic books for DC’s line of Cartoon Network books. I decided to survive on that and DJing while I went into production on my first micro-budget feature film. Five years later, we had a rough-cut finished and I felt an overwhelming desire to start painting again. I stayed up for a week straight finishing my first series of pieces. I finally felt like I was just painting for myself. My influences–from UPA cartoons and Golden Books to Modern art and Street art–were starting to gel.
Robbie Busch art show at Kidrobot, 2006
You’ve worked as a writer and an artist and a DJ. Which “hat” fits you best?
I’ve bounced between a variety of creative jobs and got a lot of flak for it. It took me a long time to be comfortable with the idea that the hat that fits me the best is me. I think the through line between all of my creative endeavors is my love of characters and storytelling.
In your eyes, how has urban culture changed in the last 2-3 decades?
Should I put my dentures in to answer this one? I’m not even sure what urban culture is anymore except for another marketing tool. All of the big urban areas I’ve visited over the last few years have turned into Disneyland mega-malls. With the A.D.D.ification of the world, subcultures don’t get to be sub for very long. We all want the next thing before the new thing is even born, let alone had a chance to grow and mature into something worth tossing aside or rebelling against.
I think the biggest change is the ease with which things can be found. I remember hearing a song on a college radio show in high school and having to drive for hours just to find the one shop that got the record in. The sense of discovery was a lot stronger and I felt a deeper connection to the music. It was like buying stock in a band or artist. You wanted to find all of their other work and support their growth.
I’m not saying where we’re at is good or bad, I’ve definitely found out about a lot of new artists on the internet, but the rate of consumption is much faster.
I think one of the issues the toy scene is always going to face is balancing the art with the commerce–the scene lives and feeds off of both worlds so completely. I don’t know if there is a company out there that can keep growing at the rate that Kidrobot has and satisfy an ever-expanding fan base while still making its original fans happy. I guess that’s where the new blood comes in. Hopefully we’ll be able to carry the torch and come up with fresh ideas and designs to keep the scene thriving, maybe, hopefully take it to some new places…
As far as new stuff goes, Itokin Park is topping my list, he’s doing killer work, very simple and clean- gorgeous stuff. I love what Koji Harmon, Bwana Spoons and Martin Ontiveros have been doing for the last few years. I’ve got to give a shout out to some fellow NYers- Erick Scarecrow, Jared Deal and KaNO! They are definitely keeping the East Coast interesting with impressive releases–both in quality and consistency.
How did you get into customizing/making toys?
I was into Mego figures and Star Wars toys when I was a kid, but the toys that always seemed to draw my attention the most were the ones based on Hanna Barbara cartoons. So when I started doing oddball humor comics, I always thought it would be cool to make 3D figures for my characters.
I remember seeing Kaws pieces in the bus stops around town and being really drawn to them. When I saw his first figure, it was a leap of mediums that seemed so right. Then the Kidrobot NY store opened up a few blocks away from my apartment, and I was hooked. After I saw the first big custom Dunny show, I thought I would try my hand at customizing. I did a few pieces that were just characters, they weren’t connected to anything or any stories. Then I decided to do up a character that I’d been using for some stickering–that was El Diablo. He had always been sort of an impish alter-ego for me and when I started to do 3D pieces, his character really took shape: I started coming up with a whole world of characters. Now I’m working with my friend R. Sikoryak on bringing the Diablos to life. Hopefully you’ll see some of their stories in the not too distant future…
Describe the process of working with Eric on El Diablo.
Eric and I worked together at an animation studio in the late 90’s. A few years ago, we ran into each other at the NY Comic Con–he was trying to get a toy company going. Later, when I saw what he was doing with Jared Deal, I dug his card out and got back in touch with him. After talking to Eric for a few minutes I knew that we were on the same page. I’d been really interested in the whole idea of super limited resin figures for a while. I was especially digging pieces from Le Merde, WKY, Amanda Visell and Julie B. Resin seemed to be a great extension for my art. I always like the D.I.Y. handmade aesthetic, and Eric is all about the artists touching their own pieces. It’s a lot more personal than a factory in China.
I had already drawn up some designs for an El Diablo vinyl toy. Eric helped me make tweaks that would suit the specs of a resin piece. We went back and forth on a few details, making sure that Diablo had the right attitude in his stance. The biggest decision was to make the Skull King a separate piece. It took a few passes to get him right. I wanted to capture the wonky, unsymmetrical way I drew him. I think Eric knocked it out of the park on the figure, he really captured the devilish qualities of my drawings.
When are the El Diablo toys going to be available and where/how can fans get them?
The 1st wave of El Diablo toys will be dropping on NYE day (about the time you’re reading this…) and will be available in the Argonaut Resins store. The 2nd wave is almost done now too and will be released shortly after the New Year. The maximum number of El Diablo figures will be 25 from this mold, with each one being slightly different–some will be hand painted. Others will be clear tints and we have a few surprises for later down the line…but once they’re gone, they’re gone and it’s on to the next project.
Since we’re going to run this interview on New Year’s Eve, how about a couple “existential” questions…
A few words or sentences to sum up 2008?
I think it was a real roller coaster ride between the inspired election of Barack Obama to President and the near collapse of our economic structure. I hope this country can pull together in a way that we haven’t in a very long time to make what we are as Americans mean what we always say it means.
On the personal side, I’ll put this year in the plus column! I feel that I’ve grown creatively and produced some strong work.
Favorite toy acquisition/art show of 2008?
It’s a tie for favorite toy of the year between Ojo Rojo from Martin Ontiveros and the Pink Elephant from Amanda Visell (I know it technically came out at the very end of last year…but my eye keeps wandering towards on my shelf). Favorite art show: at the MOMA’s mezzanine they had an amazing group of Philip Guston’s cartoon figure paintings. They are still so fresh and relevant–it’s very invigorating to see them tower over you.
Eagerly anticipated toy/event of 2009?
The Dragon Scout from Amanda Visell and whatever’s next from Argonaut Resins…
What else are you looking forward to in 2009?
Sleeping–but that probably won’t happen as much as I’d like.
A couple parting words for George W. Bush?
George who? Oh, that guy. Don’t call us, we’ll call you…
Happy New Year!
Jeremy Brautman - who has written 1965 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.
Jeremy Brautman joined ToyCyte in 2008 and has been writing about toy culture ever since. You can currently find him contributing to a variety of blogs, artkiving doodles at Doodlesplatter.com and cataloging artistic ephemera at ARTkivers.com.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:31 am
this is an awesome post