As part of it’s milestone 20th Anniversary, ToyQube curated and produced Go As Astro Boy, the first ever official Astro Boy art project in collaboration with Tezuka Productions. The expansive exhibition opened on July 17th, 2024 and runs through November 19th 2024 at the K11 Art Space in Guangzhou, China. Go As Astro Boy marks the evolution of ToyQube’s collaboration with Osamu Tezuka’s iconic manga character which started with an exciting line of Astro Boy art toys released over the past several years and now includes large physical installations and thought-provoking art exhibitions. As the shows nears its close in China, here’s an up-close look at the featured original sculptures and archival work.
The first-of-its-kind Astro Boy art exhibition features eleven large-format original sculptures from Alan Chan, Kebeyo Chen, Chris Brown, Feng Zhixuan, KEITHING (ToyQube), Li Hanwei, Yoyo Lee, Micah Johnson, Shang Liang, Eric So and Xu Zhen. The talented mix of artists, designers and superstars from varied backgrounds have created their own visions of Astro Boy in captivating three-dimensional form. The original sculptures span a wide range of styles and emotions. Here we highlight some pieces and their underlying themes and inspirations.
A theme of exploration and adventure flows through many of the pieces including Xu Zhen’s Experience-Astro Boy featuring his signature outline aesthetic, the Astro Boy x Auracles ‘Nami’ edition by the Auracles duo of singer Chris Brown and John Dean inspired by topographic maps, designer toy pioneer Eric So’s Extend, Expand and Unexpected sculpture featuring an eye-catching extruded take on the robot hero and Micah Johnson’s Astro Boy x Aku recasting the mighty atom as a space explorer wearing Aku’s overside astronaut helmet. Beyond the hero aspect, some pieces highlight the character’s playful, whimsical nature including Yoyo Lee’s Rich Astro Boy and Kebeyo Chan’s Growing Uran 4131. Finally, several of the pieces are drawn from Chinese culture including Alan Chan’s The Four Happiness Astroboys which is a kinetic black + chrome piece inspired by the classic Chinese artwork, the Four Happiness Boys,featuring two intertwined boys giving the illusion of four happy children. Likewise, KEITHING’s Astro Boy Myth Warrior Edition is inspired by the world-renown Terracotta Warriors unearthed in Xi’an.
Beyond the original sculptures, Go As Astro Boy offers a rare journey into the Tezuka Productions vault to explore an archive of vintage Astro Boy drawings and paintings which have rarely been seen by the public. This room within the exhibition celebrates the character’s early beginnings and development into a pop culture icon.
ToyQube has plans to create smaller, collectible versions of the Go As Astroboy pieces. The first such release is the 1000% Astro Boy Myth Warrior vinyl art toy from KEITHING (28.5″, $850). Next up is the Astro Boy x Auracles ‘Nami’ polystone figure (12″, $325) which will be released at ToyQube’s DesignerCon 2024 booth (#903).
Go As Astro Boy Art Project
ToyQube x Astro Boy
K11 Art Space
Guangzhou, China
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