New York based pop-artist The Sucklord is coming to Singapore, and he is bringing an army of his crudely funny yet awfully bona fide work in tow. His inaugural solo show in Singapore, Bootleg Toy Supervillain will launch with a party at urban art space Kult Gallery on 5 Oct 2018.
The exhibition will run until 10 Nov 2018. Kult Gallery will house over 40 toys for sale from The Sucklord’s expansive mind that offer ruthless commentary on different themes, including food, pornography, politics and celebrities. Some of these art toys have been specially created for the show, while others are vintage works from the artist’s vaults.
Through the retrospective showcase, the exhibition aims to represent the totality of the artist’s medium of the bootleg. Visitors can expect, but may not necessarily be ready for, unwholesome parodies of contemporary subjects such as meme culture, online dating and even Lady Gaga through bootleg toys.
Joining the line-up of recent The Sucklord productions from 2018 is a bank of greatest hits from earlier years (including crowd pleaser “Gay Empire” – a neon pink Stormtrooper affectionately known as the Homotrooper Bootleg), and very exclusive new one-off collaborative pieces with pop culture artists from Kult’s regional network of creatives.
Southeast Asia-based Daniel Yu (SG), Kabuki Master (TH), Mojoko (SG) and Quiccs (PH) were invited by Kult to collaborate with The Sucklord, giving him a big, bad welcome to the region.
The four artists were all sent grab bags of resin toy parts from The Sucklord’s studio in Chinatown, Manhattan, and using those as a foundation, have created original packaging and action figures that will be for sale during the exhibition.
to get cosy with the originator of the bootleg art toy movement himself while gaining insight into his “supervillain universe”. Over Pizza & Beer: The Sucklord Speaks is a dialogue session with The Sucklord, focusing on bootleg art and its rules and non-rules, while Portfolio Night with The Sucklord connects up-and-coming local toymakers for an intimate one-on-one cum mini masterclass with the artist.
Visitors can also pick up The Sucklord branded merchandise, including tees, stickers and pins. There will be a DIY mask station where visitors, inspired by The Sucklord persona and works, can customise and walk around the gallery in their new villain identity. An arcade machine loaded with bootleg games by new media artist Igor Hoogerwoord (NL), inspired by the way The Sucklord destroys originals and turns them into bootleg, will be in the gallery for visitors to immerse themselves further into the experience.
The Sucklord, unabashedly self-christened as “one of America’s leading artists”, is no doubt the reigning king of bootleg. He has inspired a secondary art toy movement amongst toy creators, and his work has spilled into the likes of finer art circles, making their way into auctions at Christie’s, Freeman’s and Philips.
The rugged gallery is a solid match for the art of The Sucklord – his unapologetic, in-your face approach to social conversations takes centre stage in a space lauded for its warmth for all things off colour.
