Wandering Misfits Red Kuma - Mintyfresh Exclusive

Having grown up on the West Coast most of my life and coming from a family of uber ‘antique’ collectors and artists, my eclectic upbringing was filled with a wide range of ’Pop’ ephemera. Many of those inspirations now show up in my work and stem from the backdrop of my childhood. The Subject of my paintings is a world of side-show icons, deviant Animalia, and ‘masked’ glorified cartoon alter egos. I utilize these icons and character cultures as antithetical counterparts to what we are lead to believe as being innocent and socially acceptable. Although misfits on the surface, a sense of relation is understood, secret from the public - we are all misfits; hiding behind animated personas, odd and beautifully unusual. Who is it that we relate to? The lonely little boy hiding in a bear suite, the evil lustful pool-hall wolf, the sexualized little girl who secretly wants more. The environment and its limited population are meant to conjure these questions, the viewers are confronted with fi Mintyfresh is a feeling... it's the smell that get's released after you buy something new, you come home and rip off that plastic wrap to love and cuddle your new product. This is also the thought behind Mintyfresh, we want to give each customer the feeling that the product they bought was specially made for them en make sure they treat it with as much love as we do! The idea for Mintyfresh came during a road trip to Germany in 2007 by 2 buddies Joël and Leon, but only halfway 2008 we finally did something with these idea's and Mintyfresh was founded. With all the passion and love we put into Mintyfresh we are convinced that Mintyfresh is doing it's best to deliver the highest quality of service and products like Designer Toys, Plush, Prints and Apparel. Kathie Olivas is an internationally exhibited multi-media artist from New Mexico. Through her current body of work, the Misery Children, she explores society’s insatiable desire to assign ‘cuteness’ and our discomfort with the unknown. A dark blend of early American portraiture set in post apocalyptic times, Kathie’s paintings and custom toys are a satirical look at how fear affects our sense of reality. One of the central questions raised in Kathie’s work is that of ‘what if’: what if these ‘cute’ creatures had their own agenda? Are they attune to something beyond our understanding, or are we simply too cowardly to acknowledge it? Are their misshapen limbs and plated mouths a deformation from living in a desolate wasteland,or perhaps an adaptation for protection? The Misery Children are meant to evoke a nostalgic reaction that reflects isolation, fear and an uncertainty, yet they also act as empowered alter egos. While these characters explore their new lonely worlds, they double as our narrators. They guide us through their reality as they experience it and yet, even in their company, we are granted no reassurance.