User:G. Van Houten/Joe Ledbetter

Joe Ledbetter (1977) is an American artist and art toys designer from Los Angeles.

Influenced by classic animation, graphic design, and daily life, in its approach, he often combines cute and cuddly creatures with unfortunate — albeit humorous — situations. With a lean on the subversive and absurd, these scenarios are all too familiar, questioning our tendency of taking life (and ourselves) too seriously. He is considered part of the Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow (art movement) and Art and Designer toys movement.

Career
When someone asks to Joe Ledbetter when he began to drawing he answers that "I simply never stopped since I was a child".

Ledbetter went to the Humbolt University were he graduated in sociology. During the university years, he set up a punk rock band, Super Slugfest (the name was ispired by the Bart Simpson favourite video game), performing as leading guitar, singer and songwriter.

After the graduation Ledbetter begun to work as graphic apparel artist for three years. Then he got involved in the Los Angeles underground art scene, beginning with group shows like Cannibal Flower. By the summer of 2004, he had honed his trademark visual style of emblematic line-work, vibrant colors, and endearing characters to the point of quitting his day job.

At the side of his fine artist career (he has had numerous solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome, Toronto, Taipei, Istanbul, and Amsterdam) he is one of the most important figures of the Art toys scene : his incredible cast of creatures have since been emblazoned on over 100 designer vinyl toys, as well as apparel and lifestyle brands, the world over.

Art toys
The first Joe Led figure was produced in 2005 from the Wheaty Wheat studio: Mr Bunny. Released in 3 colors (original yellow, blue and the Ledbetter own black, the Lava version) Mr. Bunny is now considered one of the icons of the vynil art toys movement. In 2008 Mr. Bunny took part with other "most wanted" designer toys to the Christie's "Pop Culture" auction.

Over 100 toys has been created by the mind of Joe Ledbetter and among them:


 * Mr Bunny (Wheaty Wheat -2005)
 * Fire Cat (Wheaty Wheat -2005)
 * Ringo Bear (Wheaty Wheat -2006)
 * Sluggonadon - part of the Kaiju for Grownups series (Wonderwall-2006)
 * Teeter (Kidrobot-2006/2007)
 * Gamerita - part of the Kaiju for Grownups series (Wonderwall-2007)
 * Finders Keepers Miniseries (Kidrobot-2007)
 * Hammerhead (Intheyellow-2008)
 * Bummer (Fully Visual-2008)
 * Smash (Toy2R-2008)
 * Unicornasaurus (Kidrobot-2009)
 * Slander Snake (Play Imaginative-2009)
 * Terror and Magnus (The Loyal Subjects-2009)
 * Octobunny (Fully Visual-2009)
 * Magnus and Friday (The Loyal Subjects-2010)
 * Pico and Wilshire (The Loyal Subjects-2010)
 * Wrecks and Dazey (Analog Playset-2010)

Works & collaborations
Joe Ledbetter collaborated on several projects with Nike, Ride Snowboard,the band The Hives, GAMA-GO, Ford Motor Company, Last Gasp Press, Dark Horse and his art has been published on the Los Angeles Times, People (magazine), Hi-fructose, Juxtapoz, DPI, Playtimes magazine and more.

Joe Ledbetter's art took part to the following museum shows, among the others, including The Andy Warhol Museum, MADRE Museum of Contemporary Art of Naples, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Riverside Art museum.

In 2010 he created the entire art for the Motion City Soundtrack new release album My Dinosaur Life.

Selected Art Shows

 * Magnus Maximus. Solo show. Corey Helford Gallery. Culver City, CA. June 4, 2010.
 * Art From the New World. Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Bristol, UK. May 15,2010.
 * Sharks and Minnows. Solo show. Milk Gallery. Istanbul, Turkey. November 5, 2009.
 * Hearts and Minds. Solo show. Mondo Pop Gallery. Rome, Italy. November 3, 2009.
 * Birds and Bees. Solo show. Artoyz Gallery. Paris, France. October 24, 2009.
 * Arm and a Leg. Solo show. Outland Gallery. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. October 17, 2009.
 * Shock and Awe. Solo show. London Miles Gallery: London, UK. October 10, 2009.
 * Death and Taxes. Solo show. Copro/Nason Gallery: Santa Monica, CA. June 6, 2009.
 * Aerophobia. Solo show. Paradise Toy Land: Taipei, Taiwan. November 14, 2008.
 * Hunters and Gatherers. Solo show. M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs, CA. October 25, 2008.
 * Unspeakable. 2-artist show with Andrew Brandou. Gallery 1988, San Francisco, CA. May 16, 2008.
 * Creature Comforts. Solo show. STITCH, Tokyo, Japan. April 4, 2008.
 * Love Songs for the Rejected. Solo Show. M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs, CA. October 6, 2007.
 * Ill Morphology. 3-artist show with Anthony Ausgang and Thomas Han. Copro/Nason Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. June 9, 2007.
 * Fever Dream. Solo Show. Gallery 1988, Los Angeles, CA. March 6, 2007.
 * The Balancing Act. Solo show. Magic Pony Gallery, Toronto, Canada. November 9, 2006.
 * Superstitious. Solo show. M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs, CA. September 30, 2006.
 * Attack of the Mutant Bunnies. Solo show. Gallery 1988, Los Angeles, CA. July 11, 2006.
 * Flight of the Navigator. 2-artist show with Greg "Craola" Simkins. Gallery 1988, Los Angeles, CA. March 14, 2006.
 * Swallowed Alive. Solo show and "Lava Bunny" toy release. Kidrobot, Santa Monica, CA. September 22, 2005.
 * Temporary Permanence. Solo show, Black Market, Long Beach, CA. March 12, 2005.
 * Paintings n, Stuff. 2-artist show with Thomas Han, Cannibal Flower, Los Angeles, CA. September 25, 2004.
 * Featured Artist. Featured Artist in a group show. Hangar 1018, Los Angeles, CA. August 6, 2004.
 * Tear Gas Wasteland. 2-artist show with Jen Boyd, Underground Art Society, Altadena, CA. March 7, 2003.

Pubblications

 * Creatures of Habit: The Art of Joe Ledbetter, Last Gasp, 2009 (ISBN: 9780867197181)
 * Joe Ledbetter's Sketchbook, Nerdcore, 2008
 * I Am Plastic: The Designer Toys Explosion, Paul Budnitz, Abrams, 2006
 * Toygiants, Daniel & Geo Fuchs, Selim Varol, 2007
 * I Am Plastic Too: The Next Generation of Designer Toys, Paul Budnitz, Abrams, 2010
 * Art-Toys: Photographs by Brian McCarty, Brian McCarty, Tattoo Books, 2010