FreshBump

Brian McCarty is known for his unique and innovative still-life photography.
His work fuses reality and hyper-reality through the personification of toy
characters, playfully integrated into actual settings through the use of
forced perspective. The pantomime of the toys is presented as authentic
moments captured from the lives of the characters. The resulting photographs
are of real, although completely imagined moments in time.

Brian’s postmodern integration of concept and character has earned his
photography a prominent position in the growing Urban Vinyl / Art-Toy
movement. Brian is featured in several books chronicling the artistic
movement such as Vinyl Will Kill, Dot Dot Dash, and Toys: New Designs from the Art-Toy Revolution. A large collection of Brian’s work is being published by Baby Tattoo Books for release in late 2009.

Sunrise on Punk

(Characters by Merc London)

Around the time I shot this I had been spending endless days in research for
an upcoming series, reading books on sociology and cultural anthropology.
With a head full of Victor Turner and Dick Hebdige, it was fascinating to
take a step back and view pop subcultures in the context of rituals and
communitas.

From this viewpoint, it seemed fitting to photograph British Punks in
Memphis as they visited the birthplace of their movement. Sun Studio is
where the first rock and roll single was recorded in 1951. It can
subsequently be credited as the grandfather of most music-based subcultures.
Without Sun, there would be no Punk, Goth, Gangsta, Hippie, Mod, and
countless other pop perspectives and ideologies.

Gary Grenade

(Character by Michelle Valigura)

The mustached Gary Grenade is styled after an iconic ‘pineapple’ hand
grenade from World War II. He’s from a series of plush concealed weapons,
designed by Los Angeles artist Michelle Valigura.

A beach with Normandy-esque cliffs seemed the perfect setting for Gary. As a
seemingly desperate soldier hurls him towards camera, questions arise about
the situation and his intention. Are we the bad guys?

Koibito

(Character by Yoskay Yamamoto)

Koibito, produced by Munky King, was the first toy by Los Angeles artist
Yoskay Yamamoto. The character is essentially a self-portrait, meant
primarily to express a sense of alienation. Koibito reflects the artist’s
feelings of being a fish out of water, caught between his native culture of
Japan and adopted home of California.

I decided to take Koibito underwater. My intention was to explore Yoskay’s
concepts of alienation and connotations of the character’s name. Koibito
translates from Japanese as ‘sweetheart’ or ‘boyfriend / girlfriend.’ And,
aside from being a homophone for a type of carp, the word ‘koi’ means ‘to be
in love.’

Wish Come True

(Characters by FriendsWithYou)

Years ago, I had the pleasure of shooting some of the first art-toys from
the visionary duo of Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, otherwise known as
FriendsWithYou. In the time since, they have been responsible for spreading
epic amounts of magic, luck, and friendship throughout the art community and
the world at large.

When asked to shoot their Wish Come True series of toys, I considered a
variety of shot concepts. The characters had to be captured in a moment of
pure play, connected to reality while reflecting the colorful magic of
FriendsWithYou¹s vision. To achieve the shot, I traveled to a dry lakebed
with the toy characters and 144 bouncy balls. My assistant and I spent a
long time waiting for the light and an even longer time picking up balls
in-between takes. At the moment just before the shutter was released we both
hurled balls into the scene from different angles. It took eight exposures
to get everything where I wanted it. The characters were suspended by metal
rods hammered into the ground and later removed in the computer.

YHWH

(Character by Mark Ryden)
Commissioned by Long Gone John

YHWH is inspired by a god-like character from artist Mark Ryden’s Bunnies
and Bees series. When brainstorming the shot with Mark, it seemed a natural
choice to play with elements from the original painting­ similar location,
girl, lighting, and basic composition. The weather in Los Angeles had been
less than cooperative with heavy rains and wind, but I was fortunate enough
to have a day with beautiful, broken clouds. They acted like a giant softbox
while providing great texture for the sky. The only additional lighting came
from a handheld flash with a snoot.

Walrus Rider

(Character by Alex Pardee)

The work of artist and illustrator Alex Pardee has been called a ‘vibrant
undead circus sideshow.’ His vision is unconventional, rooted in influences
ranging from Garbage Pail Kids and 80′s horror movies to open struggles with
depression and alienation. The characters he creates are a mixture of
self-medication and absurdity.

The Walrus Rider is no different. His surreal origin is steeped in tragedy
and revenge. According to Pardee’s origin tale, ‘here he slept and dreamed
of blondes, but when he woke his legs were gone.’

When asked to shoot him, I decided to focus on the Rider waking from his
dream state, imagined to be the real world cracking at his feet. He turns
his back on his blonde muse and charges once again into the surreal universe
of Pardee’s work.

More Info: www.mccartyphotoworks.com