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UPDATE: LEFTOVER PIECES are available available right now at Galerie Maurer
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Kaiju, 怪獣 in Japanese, means strange beast or, as it is commonly translated, monster. Monsters, known worldwide as Godzilla or King Kong, are directly related to the concept of Kaiju, and their movies belong to the Kaiju-eiga genre (monster movies). From the Japanese point of view, the concept of Kaiju includes almost any monster, including western monsters like vampires or mummies, whereas western cultures reduce the concept to only monsters of Japanese origin, those who appear in Japanese movies and series or folklore. From the very moment in which the first Godzilla (Gojira) movie appeared in 1954, the character has turned into one of the symbols of Japanese culture.
Tokusatsu, 特撮 in Japanese, means 'special filming'. Outside Japan, the term is used mainly to refer to movies or television dramas that feature superheroes and make use of special effects. In the late 60s, Ultraman was created, giving birth to probably the most popular series in this genre. Although Tokusatsu tends to include only live-action dramas with use of special effects, there are many animated series that include features from the Kaiju and Tokusatsu genre, e.g. Mazinger Z, There is no doubt that the cultural effect of both genres, Kaiju and Tokusatsu, was enormous, and entire generations of children and young people dreamed of becoming superheroes and defeating giant monsters. These children, crazy about these monsters, started collecting vinyl toys that represented their favorite characters and helped the phenomenon of Kaiju and Tokusatsu to gain its own place in Japanese culture. These days, there is a worldwide increase of interest in the Kaiju and Tokusatsu phenomenon, especially coming from artists who grew up watching those series and playing the superheroes, and it is obvious that nostalgia plays an important role in this revival of the genre through arts.
SAVE&DESTROY was born to bring Kaiju and toy culture to Spain, a country where art toys are not well known. The first three exhibitions were located at Comic Conventions, where many people gather to enjoy different kinds of art. Now, it is time to bring SAVE&DESTROY to the world outside Spain, starting with Zurich in Switzerland. Together with Beatrice Seifert from Galerie Maurer and Martijn De Zwart from www.kaijumonster.com,we decided to host the fourth show at Galerie Maurer in Zurich. The situation in Switzerland regarding art toys seems to be similar to that of Spain. Very few people are aware of the existence of this peculiar kind of art, and the dearth of locations displaying or selling these products makes Zurich an ideal location to have the fourth edition of the SAVE&DESTROY show.
SAVE&DESTROY IV will feature works from international artists who are well known in the Kaiju scene, such as Mark Nagata, GUUMON, Mechavirus, Paul Kaiju from the USA, Stan Grograou from France, Daniel Goffin from Germany, Javier Jimenez from Spain and also works from Japanese artists NinjAlien, Blobpus, Uky Daydreamer, Instinctoy, Goccodo and Monster Factory.
The Zurich show, however, is about not only Kaiju and Tokusatsu, but urban art and designer toys in general. We have artists Plaseebo, Brent Nolasco, Spanky Stokes, Buildbots Will long, Horriblesweet, Flawtoys, Dougy74 Design, Hip Hop Robot, DrilOne, Dolly Oblong, Motorbot, Miles Nielsen, Pakoto, Andy Disler, Cristina Pineda, Tanoshiboy, Topheroy, Jay222, Trust Pigs and Viseone representing this side of the toy culture.
SAVE&DESTROY IV is especially interested to include Swiss artists, so we asked Cho Linska, Noël Fischer, Hgb Fideljus, Pepe Hiller, Mamma Grüsli, Nina Pieper, Marco Scheidegger, Süffi and Waotoyz to contribute to the show.
SAVE&DESTROY IV will be a one-day show on Saturday, April 20th 2013 at Galerie Maurer Zürich from 11am to 6pm. All unsold artworks will be up for sale at (www.galeriemaurer.ch) the day after the show. For inquiries please, email info@galeriemaurer.ch.
Please retweet:
New Post: SAVE&DESTROY 4, kaiju and tokusatsu-themed art, Galerie Maurer, Zurich Switserland, April 20th 2013 @ bit.ly/16dDTJr
— KAIJUMONSTER (@KAIJUMONSTERCOM) 8 maart 2013
Preview shots for the show after the jump!
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| guumon X gohstglitch |
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| Guumon X Topheroy |
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| WIP Todd Robertson X Max Toy Mecha Eyezon |
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| Plaseebo X Todd Robertson Moledrilla |
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| Plaseebo's Mummy Night Gamer / Tomb edition |
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| Plaseebo's Mummy Night Gamer / Tomb edition |
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| Plaseebo's Mummy Night Gamer / Tomb edition |
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| Mark Nagata Kaiju Zanga custom |
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| Mark Nagata Kaiju Zanga custom |
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| Plaseebo's "Transporting Skulloctopus From Outer Space" |
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Plaseebo's "Transporting Skulloctopus From Outer Space"
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Plaseebo's "Transporting Skulloctopus From Outer Space"
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| Wip Stan Grograou |
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| Goccodo Mutant Bearos |
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| Monster Factory King Johnny |
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| Monster Factory King Johnny |
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| Todd Robertson Cronic Custom |
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| Todd Robertson Cronic Custom |
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| Paul Kaiju Pollen Kaiser |
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| GOCCODO - "Boomyman" |
