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Ever Wonder Where All The Cute Toys Go?

After making all types of found object art stuck to wooden boxes of all sizes that I’ve built myself, the ones that stuck- literally, were tons and tons of brightly colored plastic toys that I glue and affix each one to tell their stories.

I live in San Francisco in a huge warehouse and ponder daily the weight of the world. Ah yes, toys… the struggle begins. Kids get them as gives by the hundreds, play with them, love them, throw them, outgrow them minute by minute. These tiny consumers driven by their cravings for the next colorful plastic fix to wrap their tiny minds and little hands around.

Enter, bernadette (Bernadette Bohan) with my shopping cart wheels ablaze, I too crave those colorful little plastic characters with their eyballs batting those googly eyes and long lashes at me. I grab them, all of them, large toys, tiny toys, all plastic and fill my cart to the brim even stuffing the toys underneath the basket, jamming the toys on the rack below.

I get home, bust out two types of industrial glue and my masking tape and hit the wood so to speak. I spend hours huffing glue and gazing upon plastic, stqcking, moving, making stories, some dark, some sexy, some cute. It’s all fun and games with me. All the time. This is now my declared life. Toy artist, hunterer, gatherer, sorter, fiend. Freak. Toy fanatic. I have problems. Well, problems of the very best kind IMO. I have piles of toys in my studio stacked, closets and bins filled, crates, it’s crasy town in here.

But there’s a method to the madness. A reason for trapping myself into the proverbial ‘toy corner.’ See, I am altruistic. I want to change the world. I want to make people happy, shock and thrill them, upset them, make them think. I want to make bold statements and have fun. I want to be in the MoMa- don’t you?

I show my art in galleries and don’t sell the pieces individually because to me, the pieces only make sense when they are all together. I’ve created many of these starting with 4’x4′, 4’x5′, now working on chairs and more sculptural pieces. I make installations with each art show for each opening to make more statements and challenge our thinking. I’m obsessed with rubber ducks, kids refrigerator letter magnets and writing snarky things with them. I’m bold, I’m brazen aww yeah. I’m changing the world remember AND going to the MoMa.

Coolest show so far? Showing my art in Golden Gate Park. What am I doing now? Working on a children’s book, making more art, making bigger art, putting myself out there, taking risks and taking names- like yours. Thanks for receiving this rant. End transmission.

More info: bernadette.us