The Hand-made Delirium of Figuras Pubicas

This is the best item to hit my inbox all week, so if you’re planning on sending me something tomorrow, hold out for Monday: You cannot top this. Chilean architect Felipe de Ferrari and designer Francisco Jordán are the co-founders of a toy store and art project called Figuras Púbicas. While I don’t speak Spanish, I’m pretty sure that translates to “pubic figures”. (Suck it, Rosetta Stone!)

Figuras Púbicas makes “hand-made delirium” out of recycled toys. As you watch the videos embedded here, you will come to understand that a truer description was never written. This is hand-made delirium. Oh, I stand corrected. On their website, they refer to their toys as “perfect gifts for very precise situations.” [I dream of such genius taglines!] While this phrase can be said of many designer toys, it would be the epitome of a “very precise situation” that merits a swastika-wearing black babydoll wearing bunny ears and simultaneously sodomizing Winnie the Pooh. Someone out there knows the perfect person for this piece, and if it’s you, grab €100.00 and pull the trigger here. But wait! There’s more!

Using such forgotten objects as old Sesame Street and Disney toys, De Ferrari and Jordán parody politics, trends, TV and current events. Some pieces are provocative, like “Daddy Junkie” which portrays Mickey Mouse as a pill-pushing pimp. Others, like “Dolce and Banana” are just playful puns. Then there are those that are a combination of tongue-in-cheek and NSFW. The majority of the toys fall into this last category, and that’s why they’re called Figuras Púbicas.

This is proof that you can, in fact, make silly, ugly art which some people find offensive, others find hilarious, and yet there is a point to it all. [Unlike this, as a comparison, which is just tasteless and pointless.] If you enjoy the films of John Waters, I suspect you are getting a kick out of these toys. I know I am. It scrambled all my algorithms and reset my brainwaves. I’m ready for another day. Figuras Púbicas currently split their time between Paris and Sao Paulo, both amazing cities for art and ideas. I hope they keep in touch.