David Ross
These artworks revolve around “Blank” D.I.Y characters, a term coined in the designer toy field. These blank toys are 3Dimensional canvases, open for any artist to interpret and appropriate to give each a unique personality that is reflective of the artist working on it. All the blank characters I design stem from humor, love, and fears that I had as a child. As I begin my own customization of these blanks, I discover adult themes and adult character traits, ending with a community of wayward characters occupying this childlike inception.
I study my blanks through many mediums to better understand and flesh out their back stories. These include mediums typically used in the lowbrow art scene such as comics, animation, toys, 3D technologies, and graphic drawings. Working in the field of "making" nurtures skillsets in art and technology that mimic the DIY mentality of these underground art movements. Ideas of play, collaboration, and tinkering carry a childlike comfort that are reflective of these characters and my drive to create them.
