August 2, 2006

{ Rabbbit - Ron English }

http://www.crowndozen.com/main/archives/upload/2006/08/rabbbit23345-thumb.jpg

Fans of Ron English's work will recognize this character immediately; a mutated proto-mascot of the artist's own design, variations of the Rabbbit can be found starring in several of English's paintings. The character itself seems to be a post-modern mash-up of several cartoon/comic archetypes: A double-shot of Bugs, a splash of early Mickey, a sprinkle of Daffy/Donald, all laced with a Rat Finkish psychedelic undertone. He's at once the unwitting (and nearly witless) protagonist and the omniscient transcendent observer. It's a potent design, and it's little wonder that English chose this as his first foray into the designer/collectible toy world. Rabbbit as seen here is a product of Dark Horse Comics' collaboration with English, and they've rendered the critter in 9 inches of soft vinyl, painted up to cartoonish perfection. While his gaze is a little unnerving at first, you'll be amazed at how often you find your eyes drawn to his three-pronged stare. One moment you'll swear it's the blank gape of borderline mental retardation, the next it feels as if the Rabbbit is looking right through your soul. And I'm sure that's exactly what English wanted. One of my favorite things about this piece is that it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to own. We're all tired of shelling out 50-75-100 clams for tiny bits of the brightly colored and highly coveted vinyl goodness, so it's refreshing to note that this guy can be yours for less than $20. Though the design of the piece is fairly simple, it's nontheless well-executed, and at 9" tall, Rabbbit is a real designer-vinyl bargain. He somes in window-box packaging (with a very basic exterior print-scheme designed by English), but you'll be hard pressed to resist the urge to rip him loose and pop him on your shelf. And hell, at that price, you MIB folks can affort two, one to open and display and one to pack away.

» Pick one up at ThingsFromAnotherWorld
» See Ron English's work online at Propaganda.com

By Adam in Reviews, Toys | Comments:

Comments

Fantastic! I love the colour scheme and the fact that by any means it is cheap!

Posted by: tax at August 2, 2006 11:38 PM

Just throwing another vote on top of Adam's as to the radness of this little dude - looks fresh, comes from good genes, and is mighty easy on the wallet...

Posted by: shane at August 3, 2006 1:33 AM

I just discovered they did a glow in the dark version as well: the rabbit is blue. Not sure why they did it: as it is, it's perfect and the monochrome does not do the shape justice.

Posted by: Tacita at August 14, 2006 11:18 AM