I've always enjoyed the work by this roaming artist who creates a cross between psychedelic anthropomorphic and claymation. And recently we had the chance to connect with NY-based Kyle Kirwan to talk about his current work, NYCC, The Mudcat Chronicles and a teaser for what's coming soon.
Q: Hey Kyle. Thanks for taking some time out ‘tween things to talk. I know you are in Brooklyn these days but can you tell us where you grew up and how (if) it influenced your creativity?
A: My pleasure! Thanks for being interested! Well actually, I’m currently traveling in an RV around North America. Brooklyn is still home base, but my fiancé and I have been on the road for over a year now. I grew up all over Southern California. Mostly in the foothills of northern San Diego county. I think probably the sense of scale more than anything has been the most lasting influence. Big wide open spaces ripe for exploring. I think my favorite work that Ive done has reflected that.
Q: Oh very cool, I'm off to Temecula soon, I've never been to that area. Speaking of the spaces that your work occupies, they seem ripe for either animation or cosplay. Do either influence you or it in any way?
A: Yeah of course. Animation is a huge influence. I grew up watching cartoons, movies, anime. I still watch as much as I can. One of my favorite of all time is 'Adventure Time'. I'm sure you can see that in my work if you look for it! The end goal of all this is an animated 'Mudcat' series, in some form or another. I don’t know, man. If someone cosplayed one of my characters I would probably lose my mind. That would be awesome. That’s got to be one of the best feelings in the world! To be at a con and have someone come up to you dressed up as a character that’s lived in your head for ten years? That would be surreal and amazing.
Q: For sure! So, you’ve worked in various mixed media. What feels like the most go-to process for you and how do the materials effect the end result on a particular project?
A: For sculptural I make everything, so everything I usually work with is familiar. It’s all materials I’ve used before so I pretty much know what I’m getting out of it at the start. I initially envision a character and spend a lot of time figuring out how it will work as a finished piece before I even start sketching it. After that I sketch it out and problem-solve any areas that might not have solidified in my head. What pose works best, what silhouette looks good, etc. Sometimes the sketches are just tiny little thumbnails of poses and I’ll just jump right into sculpting it loosely in clay, making a maquette. This is where I have the most fun and where everything is still up in the air. I can change things on a whim. I work with that until it feels right. Then I’ll move on to the prototype piece which is much more finished and clean, and that’s the piece that actually gets molded. Sometimes, depending on the design, the clay prototype isn’t suitable for a master copy so I have to make a new one out of resin. Then it’s just a matter of casting, pulling, cleaning, painting. Ha. That makes it sound so quick. But its not. Not at all. My life is mostly just sanding things smooth.
For design stuff (promos, enamel pins, etc) it still starts with a sketch, but it gets taken to the computer pretty quick. Then its just a matter of cleaning up the design and fiddling with it 'til it's right. I'm not super comfortable with digital stuff. I suppose I never properly learned because I have no patience, so i just get by doing the few things I know how to do. Pantone color-matching is fun though as long as you have the right light! Its pretty bizarre sending designs off to the printer or the factory and having a finished product sent back. I'm so used to doing everything by hand that its hard to let go of any part of the process.
Q: Some artists thrive on being responsible only for the concept and have no issue with that at all. I so respect the down and dirty hand-work, it matters, and shows in your case. So, on another subject, you have a Patreon account we want our readers to check out. It brings alive a certain era of patronage, of support and is a wave of the future for creatives in general. Can you tell people a little about that and why it’s important to invest in the arts more broadly?
A: Patreon is a subscription based service to help support creatives, in all that they do. I think physical creators are still trying to figure out how to make Patreon work for them. A lot of Pateron users create videos or write - things that can be delivered digitally, which the whole system is probably geared towards. People like me, Squink, Lanna Crooks, and Doc-A, are still trying to figure out how to best use it. That being said, if you subscribe to my Patreon you’ll get a lot of behind the scenes progress shots I don’t post anywhere else, early access to super limited pieces and super funny jokes! The thing with Patreon is you don’t need to do a lot to make a difference. If all of my Instagram followers donated a dollar a month I'd be able to make 'The Mudcat Chronicles' in like a year and probably put it out in the world for free or really inexpensively.
As for investment in the arts, there’s studies that show that people exposed to music and arts at an early age do better in life than those who aren’t. There are pages and pages of studies that show that art makes the world a better place. We’re living in a really interesting time where we’re exposed to so much. The Internet has made the art world a much more accessible place and seeing what someone thousands of miles away is working on is no longer a luxury afforded only to the super wealthy.
Up until relatively recently artists survived by their patrons. Some of the most recognized works in history were funded by single individuals, families or the church. Artists were paid to create as they wanted to create. Nowadays an artist is expected to not only make art but also photograph it, promote it, code a website about it, manage an online store, create fliers, book shows, and more. All sorts of things that distract from the creative process. (A-MEN, that's spot-on and rather ridiculous for the creative process overall!)
Independent creators need support much more than many others, but if you love something support it. We live in a fickle low attention span society. A couple of bad episodes of a show and it’ll be cancelled - a few lean months at a gallery and they won’t be around anymore. Supporting the arts and particularly this scene come in many forms, but even something as simple as sharing a blog post can help someone earn ad revenue or make a sale. Man, you got me going with this question. Throw a few bucks at your favorite creators (blogs, magazines, galleries, artists).
Q: That attitude warms my heart, it's so true, us artists need to stick together. Speaking of art and fun concepts that endure....Where did ‘MUDCAT’ come from?
A: I moved to to New York in 2004 to try and break into the fine art world. I was working on that, trying to do “important paintings” and working in galleries, trying to get into group shows. I was submitting slides, paying fees to try and get into juried shows. I was going to gallery openings and hobnobbing with art people. And I fuuuuuuuuuuucking hated it. >>> (Ditto)
And then walking through SoHo one day I found a Blaine Fontaine “Patches” Dunny at Kidrobot and was enamored with designer toys. Because it was art, but sort of wasn’t, but definitely was. I sort of knew about Low-Brow stuff before this, but I never really felt connected with anything in that scene until designer toys. I loved the character creation aspect coupled with the design elements. I kept collecting pieces and wanted to try and be involved.
So from then on whenever I was sketching for fun, or doodling to warm up I was drawing characters and making up stories. The things that made me love drawing to begin with. So 'The Mudcat Chronicles' started as a fun personal side project trying to design characters that would look good as designer toys. It was what I was doing in my downtime and never really intended to do anything with it. It took a bit but eventually I felt really burnt out of trying to be something I wasn't so I focused artistically on the things that made me happy and I did a whole series of character vignettes and displayed them for a show. The reception was really good and eventually I realized that the only way I can do anything good is if I love what I’m doing. I also realized, in the process of working out these characters that there was a story to be told and it needed telling.
Q: Storytellers are good folk. Some of my favorite work I’ve seen from you came from a recent exhibition at Clutter, the colorful ‘Bitey Blooms’. Just simply ferocious, reminds me of my childhood with Sid + Marty Krofft! What gave you the inspiration there and will we see more of them in the near future?
A: I customized my newest figure, the Bloom, which had already released earlier this year. The theme was Kyoot (cute), so the cutest thing I could think of was my dog. I just thought I could put her big goofy smile on a Bloom. There will be probably be more in some different colorways, the ones for the show were one offs and I'd like to keep them unique.
Q: Do you do any public art these days?
A: Not too recently. I’ve done some stuff in the past, murals, some wheat paste, but my favorite was a life-size paper-mache character that I put out on the sidewalk in Brooklyn one weekend. I didn’t put any explanation out or anything, just let people do with it what they will with this seven foot tall creature. I really expected someone to destroy it within like fifteen minutes but they didn’t. The wind knocked the piece over at some point and people kept fixing it and putting it back together. It was out for the whole weekend and people like took care of it, fixed it and tried to stand it back up when it broke. It was great.
Q: Gotta love how community comes together organically sometimes! Speaking of the outdoors, are you a woodsy guy who likes hiking in nature, etc.? I figured you must have a great love for woodland creatures of all kinds.
A: You must’ve been looking at my Instagram haha! Yea though totally! I live in an RV, we go camping all the time. I grew up collecting lizards, but I also had pet fish and cats. I had forts in the woods and went exploring everywhere. I’ve taken tons of inspiration from animals. There’s actually whole races in the Mudcat Chronicles of both dogs and birds.
Q: Actually now that you mentioned lizards I can see that in your work, attention to certain sculptural scaling, etc. Do you collect anything yourself? Favorite artists?
A: I never quite grew out of Dunnys but I had to narrow my focus to exclusively 8”. The new 5” Dunny’s threw me off because the designs are so great, but I stick with eight inch. I don’t know about favorites, I’m like a twelve year old girl: my favorites change all the time.
I don’t think I could pick a favorite artist, but I’m always impressed and inspired by Joe Whiteford, Leecifer, RSin, JRYU, JPK, Jalos, Double Palour, Wuz, Map-Map, Lou Pimentel, Joe Scarano, Martin Hsu, Chipsouper, Chauskoskis, Brent Nolasco…I don’t know. Those are just off the top of my head. I have lists of artists who I want to work with, or get a piece from, who’s work I follow.
Q: Ah, variety spices up everything. When you are in the studio what tools are essential for the task at hand most often? And what are you listening to while sculpting?
A: Tools depend on whether I’m sculpting, casting, sketching, designing, painting, etc. I’d say X-Acto knives are probably pretty clutch for each of those things. As for music….phhhhtttttttt…..I’d say my go-tos are anything punk rock, but I listen to everything. The 'Hamilton' soundtrack has been on a pretty heavy rotation recently, but so has Chance the Rapper. If it’s good, I’m listening to it. Oh man - have you heard The Impossible Kid? So good.
Q: I was just listening to Aesop Rock on Spotify earlier! Can you tell us what’s on your near horizon? I see we have a few images of 'Debruko Lack' (below) and he's the last Vampire in Dor. Fun! Those teeth are like endless mountains. Upcoming gigs or figures?
A: The next big release is New York Comic Con. I’m doing a huge release of GID Blooms through various booths in The Block (All Hail The Block!) including Clutter, MyPlasticHeart, Tenacious Toys, Big Kev’s Geek Stuff, Art Whino and more! Each Bloom is about $30 and each vendor will have a different color. Each color has a different design…it’s going to be soooo awesome. Ive also got a couple new figures in the works in the larger scale I've been working of recently. Oh and some new Bloom variations coming up! Follow my Instagram for more updates!
>>> Check out his shop too <<<
All photos courtesy Kyle Kirwan and Sarah Callard-Booz
