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It was the end of the 1980s and everything was going to change for me. We used to meet in the lobby of the building, the smooth floor was perfect for teenage boys (and some adventurous girls) to glide and moonwalk. They were also slipping and tripping, a boombox was jamming out hip hop music before we decide to go ‘look for a wall’. At this time, everything was new to me (music, fashion, dance, graffiti) but it was hard to find these novelties. Living in France, things were a little different than in the US: if you wanted a pair of Jordans, you could hardly find them here but we had a plan: the father of a boy from school was a pilot (Paris/New York/Paris flights) and once a week he brought back a pair or two of Jordans to his son. Which shoes were immediately sold to one…⇒ READ MORE

The first time I mentioned Mist on this blog was almost 2 years ago in the post: Yes, I’m a vinyl fetishist… vinyl toys actually. I was introducing those of you who didn’t know yet about vinyl toys, to the artists I appreciate the most. I later dedicated a post to Fafi and her Fafinettes (Irina’s still missing, by the way…), Mars-1 + Seen + Delta Inc., TimTsui + Alice Chan, Skwak’s Maniac and Koogai and to the Original Fake Kaws Cat Teeth Bank. Last summer I mentioned Mist’s Goldorus figure in: My Moleskine, Cary Grant, some Asti Spumante and a Goldorus, so today’s post is all about French graff artist Mist “The Infamous”and his amazing vinyl creations. As you may already know, I am not into the collector thing, buying everything an artist creates. But I must admit some artists have the power to make me buy their work,…⇒ READ MORE

A quick post about my new toys. I just received (better late than never…) 2 new vinyl Fafinettes, Jeanette and Claude. They are nearly 8 inches tall (19 cm approximately) and the figures are exact creations from graffiti artist Fafi‘s sketches. The toys have been produced by adFunture Workshop, in a limited edition of 2000 pieces. I already have the Sony capsule toys, Jeanette and Claude but Irina, the 11 inches tall rotocast vinyl figure (the Tan Colette version, limited to 200 pieces) produced last year by Necessaries Toy Foundation, is still missing in my collection (sadly sold out). As you already know if you have been reading my blog for a while, I really like Fafi’s paintings, drawings and sketches. Fafinettes are sweet, funny, sexy, explosive, liberated… They can be seen adorning street walls, on canvas and furniture, or even styling clothing. I also have the ‘Fafinettes Adidas pink…⇒ READ MORE

I was first impressed by graffiti, then by sgraffiti. A pun that sums up my first approach with decorative Art. Graffiti Art is now worldwide known but it’s in the mid-1980s I had my first graffiti experience. I remember French artists like Lokiss or Bando, it was a great era even if graffiti were then only regarded like vandalism; at the same time, graffiti artist Futura 2000 was asked to work on a commercial for RATP (Paris Metro/Bus company). It was then a little inconsistent, not to say two-faced. Still today, it’s like graffiti are more welcomed in galleries than in the streets… I will not tell you the history of graffiti, many people already wrote about it but graffiti has existed since ancient times and has even been found in Pompeii. It has always been employed to communicate social or political messages. Recently, graffiti artist Seen, one of the…⇒ READ MORE

Urban vinyl toys, vinyl figures, designer toys; all these terms are used to describe toys and other collectibles (plastic or vinyl) you might have already seen somewhere. When I published my first Sama drawings on the Internet, back in 1999, I was working on a 3D model of the Sama Water Tank, made with clay. The result was approximate but my Sama went to life in real 3D. I had a Mazinger Z figure on my desk, an Astro Boy on a shelf aside this Sama kind-of-thing; that was before I heard of Michael Lau. The Gardeners, his first original action figures created in the late nineties, were the start of a whole new industry, the designer toys industry was born. It would be too long to talk about every artist, designer and figure but I can tell you is that I really like vinyl toys. I’m not making a…⇒ READ MORE