Dunny Azteca II artist, Jesse Hernandez is back in action with the new episode of Vinyl Addiction. In this fresh installment of what’s what in the art and toy world, Jesse gives you the scoop on Greg Simkin’s solo show at UPPER PLAYGROUND as well covers the Vinyl Addiction Launch Party. Jesse also chops it up with Kathie Olivas and Bryan Flynn of Super7. So sit back and take a load off as Jesse takes you on a trip of what’s hot in the world of art and toys.
via vinylpulse
Yesterday was the worldwide launch of Dunny Azteca II and all Kidrobot stores celebrated with trading parties and artist signings. Thanks to all who attended. It wouldn’t have been so much fun without you!
Everyone was in a festive mood last night at Kidrobot London, where the Dunny fans went loco for the new Azteca series. Despite there not being any Azteca designers in the UK, there was certainly no lack of artistic talent with the wonderful Sneaky Raccoon and the talented Cris Rose were in attendance.
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Our SoHo location celebrated last night as minigod creator, Marka27 and Carlos East of The Beast Brothers signed and sketched for Azteca fans. Carlos was seen showing off the prototype of an upcoming custom 8-inch Calendario Azteca Dunny. Marka27 was also giving a preview of his soon to be released minigod speakers with DKE Toys. The infamous SUCKLORD and 2Tone artist, Chuckboy came through and hung out with the whole crew.
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Kidrobot Miami was alive last night with the launch of Dunny Azteca II with Ernesto East of The Beast Brothers. Dunny fans waited patiently to score the new series and get their trade on. There was great energy in the house as Ernesto sketched and signed throughout the evening.
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Jesse Hernandez was ruling it over at Kidrobot San Francisco. Eager fans patiently waited for the release of Azteca II. Jesse even brought a very limited amount of his new Mictlan Jungle Edition by Kuso Vinyl. The party ran late as Jesse signed and sketched for all his fans.
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Kidrobot Los Angeles was feeling very festive last night as they celebrated the second coming of Dunny Azteca. Artist, Miguel De La Barracuda was on hand for the night as he signed, sketched and discussed his inspiration behind the his Azteca design. Everyone enjoyed the traditional refreshments provided by Frida’s Tacos, King Taco Bakery and Jarritos soft drinks.
Yesterday, Jesse Hernandez sat down in his home studio and chatted LIVE with fans and friends on our Dunny Azteca II website. We got to know a good deal about what makes this caffeine fueled art hustler tick. Jesse let us in on what type of paints he uses for customs, who he has in heavy rotation on his iTunes, how he goes about his normal day, shout-outs to homies and whole lot more. Take some time and enjoy yesterday’s recording of Jesse being Jesse.
Tune in today as we join Carlos East of The Beast Brothers for a LIVE webcast at 5pm EST (2pm PST). Log into UStream.tv and join the conversation. See you there!
The worldwide launch of Dunny Azteca II kicks off tomorrow and Kidrobot is celebrating this monumental occasion with numerous signing events, trading parties and a 2-day LIVE webcast with Azteca II artists, Jesse Hernandez (Thursday, January 20 at 5pm EST) and Carlos East of The Beast Brothers (Friday, January 21 at 5pm EST).
The global fiesta starts online with a FREE exclusive giveaway Dunny by Marka27 for the first 100 case purchases on Kidrobot.com (11am EST) and the first 25 case purchases on Kidrobot.eu (4pm GMT). Kidrobot will be hosting signing events with Azteca II artists, refreshments and exclusive poster giveaways at 4 of the 5 Kidrobot stores (New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco), as well as a trading party in London. Many of the Dunny designers will be attending the huge celebration at Headquarter in Mexico City. ¡Viva Azteca!
Join Marka27 and Carlos East of The Beast Brothers at Kidrobot New York from 6-8 pm. The first 100 customers will receive one of either M27’s (above) or Beast Bro’s (below) exclusive Azteca posters.
Ernesto East of The Beast Brothers will be signing down in South Beach at Kidrobot Miami from 6-8pm for this epic launch. Be one of the first 50 in line and get this majestic print with their rare golden color variant ofthe Calendario Azteca Dunny.
Hang with Miguel De La Barracuda at Kidrobot LA from 6-8pm tomorrow night. Be one of the first 50 customers and score his exclusive La Patona Dunny poster. Enjoy yummy traditional refreshments provided by Jarritos.
Kidrobot SF will be accompanied by Jesse Hernandez from 6-8pm. Get there early if you want to score one his 50 exclusive launch party posters.
Hit up our Google map here and find your closest location of exclusive Azteca II launch parties. Keep in mind, not all stores are celebrating tomorrow. Times will vary from location to location. Check with your local Dunny dealer for specific times and details.
Dunny Azteca II artist, Jesse Hernandez has a new Shadow Edition of his latest designs, Mictlan & Ozomahtli. The Mictlan released exclusively in Japan through Tomenosuke and the Ozomahtli will drop sometime this month. Stay tuned to Jesse’s Facebook and Twitter for timely updates on the release of the 10-inch mono-toned monkey.
With the dawn of a new year comes a handful of teasers for the highly anticipated Dunny Azteca II Series. New designs by Marka27, Oscar Mar, Jesse Hernandez and The Beast Brothers have popped up on the Kidrobot Forums, SpankyStokes.com and VinylPulse.com over the holidays. ¡Viva Dunnys!
Join the community celebration at the Oakland Museum of California for VIVO! Days of the Dead this Saturday, October 23.
Vivo, celebrates the living and our dynamic connections to those who have gone before: our ancestors, leaders, loved ones, friends, and others.
This incredible group exhibition includes art and installations by ten Bay Area artists inspired by the interactions of the living and the dead, including Dunny Series 2010 artist, Jesse Hernandez. VIVO! is currently on display and will be up until December 5.
KR artist and host of Vinyl Addiction, Jesse Hernandez recently hung out and got the low down on pro skater \ entrepreneur, Rob Dyrdek. Rob is a very busy man with his new show Fantasy Factory, his numerous World Records and his new skater cartoon and toys, the Wild Grinders. Not to mention Rob’s ever expanding vinyl collection! Scope the video!
Last night, Kidrobot San Francisco celebrated the release of Dunny Series 2010. KR artists, Frank Kozik, Jesse Hernandez and Huck Gee were on hand signing and sketching for fans of all ages.
Kidrobot’s benevolent dictator, Paul Budnitz has a nice little conversation with Dunny Series 2010 artist, host of Vinyl Additction and all around nice guy, Jesse Hernandez.
PB: Hey, Jesse. How are things?
JH: Everything’s good – just grinding away… different projects and all.
PB: Dunny Series 2010 just dropped today and you have an amazing design in this series. Tell me about your Dunny.
JH: The Dunny is called Bat God, or Dios Murcielago. This design represents the bat as the “Messenger of the Underworld,” or “Mictlan” to the Aztecs. It’s based on a custom I made back in 2008. (Actually the design was done before the custom), but toy production takes a while, haha.
PB: Yeah, no sh*t!
JH: Hahaha.
PB: What inspired you to make Dios Mucielago?
JH: I actually saw a Mayan sculpture that prompted me to learn more of the bat’s relation and reverence in the Aztec culture. I was really excited about creating the stylized wings on that character.
PB: It feels like you’re really connected to that culture.
JH: A strong connection for sure – it’s in the blood!
PB: Yeah, they are beautiful. What other projects are you working on now?
JH: Vinyl Addiction, The Nutshack, art directing stuff for the channel, and then a large installment for the Oakland Museum in October, and some extra cool projects for Kidrobot. I have a new figure coming out with Kuso Vinyl called Mictlan too, which means “underworld” in Nahuatl. The actual character is called Mictlantecuhtli, the God of Death, but I thought that might be hard for other people to pronounce.
PB: Sounds so f*cking awesome! I like the long name.
I was saying to some people over here, Jesse is one of the busiest artists I know!
JH: Hahaha, thanks. I think I need to clone myself a couple times.
PB: Cloning you would be scary. :)
I really love The Ozomahtli toy that you gave me. Can you tell me about him - what he’s about?
JH: So Ozomahtli is the Nahautl (Aztec) word for monkey; I was tryin’ to make the “King of All Monkeys” with this piece. He’s based on a Howler monkey too, which is where the expression on his face comes from.
PB: He looks like he really cuts right through to the heart of things.
JH: Definitely. Ozomahtli represents one of the day signs in the Aztec calendar. He’s also wearing a dragon headdress representing Quetzalcoatl.
PB: It’s amazing to see you applying creating characters in your style. Your style feels very street graffiti and reminds me of what I have seen on walls where I grew up in California. At the same time, there is something traditional about your work. Do you identify yourself as Mexican, or Mexican American, or American?
JH: Chicano/Native American.
PB: Where did you grow up?
JH: The Bay Area. I went to school at SFAI, the San Francisco Art institute.
Not sure how far back you wanna go! Hahaha.
PB: That’s cool, I’m from Berkeley. It was kind of insane.
JH: Dope! Great place.
PB: A lot of really angry hippies.
Hahaha. Good food though!
JH: True.
PB: Do you feel like you’re becoming a better artist as time passes?
JH: Definitely, as an artist you must always keep learning – your eye develops over time. Things I drew when I was younger (that I thought were good) look terrible to me now.
PB: What have you learned from the first toys you’ve made to the most recent ones? Maybe you didn’t learn anything? ;)
JH: As far as designing, you have to take into account how the toys will be made and what printing applications used. Whenever a company works on one of my pieces, it’s a test for them… because I push the envelope as much as I can on my end to make something timeless. China probably hates me for that. But in the end, it gives them something to be proud of also, hahaha.
Another funny part to me is… I have a distinct color palette of my own that just happened over time. I hadn’t realized it myself – other people pointed it out to me.
PB: Yeah, well it’s important as artists that we hold the line so magic can be made. You have to push for that magic to happen, and that can often be a struggle with a factory.
JH: Very true!
Forgot to mention this earlier, I believe I have a couple other top secret projects in the works with a company called Kidrobot ;)
PB: Those punks? They’re total poseurs. F*cking capitalists.
JH: LMAO
PB: Actually I really want you to do something for Kidrobot Black… if you’re ever up for it.
JH: Me too – anytime. I don’t know if you know, but I have three full cases of all black/monotone toys.
PB: RAD.
As I mentioned, you really are one of the hardest working artists I know. You make toys, you make art, you have a TV show. What drives you?
JH: I think the key is to always work on things that are interesting to you, so it doesn’t feel like work. The only thing holding me back is time. I wish days were 48 hours long so I could get everything in! The TV show came out of working on the cartoon. I pitched the idea, because I saw that no one was doing a show like that, and had all the contacts to make it happen. We shot the pilot and everyone was into it. Then it just happened from there. We had been working on the show for a long time before anyone outside saw it. I’m glad it was well received!
PB: It’s really great.
JH: I’m also a perfectionist, which is good for a lot of things, but I’m probably the hardest critic of my own work. I drink a lot of caffeine, for real. I need an energy drink or a coffee sponsor!
PB: So, what do you do when the company or client you are working with just doesn’t get it, or gets in the way. Like um… Kidrobot. Just kidding, we’re perfect. But how do you handle it?
JH: Hahaha. When doing professional work you get used to clients changing their minds; it comes with the territory.
Not you guys, what? Pros!
PB: Thanks for everything. We’ll rearrange the interview, change what you say, and turn you into a right-wing fascist – I hope that’s OK.
JH: DOH, Communist will work.
PB: I’ll add a quote about how you really love Holly Hobby toys, and that they inspire all your work. All good?
JH: SHeeit… Dora the Explorer bro, get it right.
Check out more of Jesse’s work on his website ImmortalStudios.net.
