The Legend of SUM
With a bestiary of creature creations stemming back thirteen years, it is notable that Conge has written backstories for many of his own sculpted and produced designs. “My backstories often loosely take the form of a fable with a moral woven into it that is based on my personal values”, the artist admits, an aspect most likely inspired by his fond memories of reading Aesop’s Fables as a child. But the true intent of these tales is “to share the context in which the creatures exist”, according to Conge, to “help the viewer understand what makes these creatures look and act the way they do”. And, he ponders aloud, “in a way the story helps them become more real”. For the fictional story of SUM‘s birth, Conge created a short tale involving a redneck named Roy who intentionally hits a snapping turtle while driving home from a bar, the injured beast’s body being tossed into a rancid body of water that Roy has dumped his own garbage for years.
The Creation of SUM
“The look of my SUM figure was inspired by my backstory [for it]”, Conge states. “After living with the backstory fleshed out in my mind for a week or so”, he continues, “I approached the sculpt of the SUM creature by making quick sketches of what he might look like”, followed by “rough sketches of how I might begin building a basic armature to sculpt over”. Noting himself to be an artist who has “always let each concept suggest to me how best to convey it”, Conge elaborates that each “new figure requires a unique combination of materials and building techniques that I often figure out as I go along”.
“While the papier-mâché was drying”, Conge divulges, “I built the wrench handed arm using a small broken crescent wrench fitted into a vinyl parts arm from my old parts box”. But when it came to the fine detail sculpting of the exterior, “it was clear to me that the figure must look like it was cobbled together in a kind of Frankenstein’s monster fashion”, the artist recounts, “but also appear like a moving heap”. To complete the piece’s aesthetic, “I sculpted the finished body”, Conge informs, “using a two-part epoxy clay and added the trash pieces into the clay”. Carefully chosen elements like doll hands and a truck tire “represent the typical kinds of garbage that Roy would have thrown into the pool”, the artist explains, “with the exception of the T2 head [that] I added as an homage to The Terminator film series”.
The Emergence of SUM
Collectors present at 2007’s San Diego Comic-Con caught the first glimpse of Conge’s SUM creation, the monstrous 8-inch by 8-inch beast displayed within Toy Tokyo‘s booth space. Later that year, hand-painted renditions cast in polyurethane resin were issued by the artist as well as a descendant work titled Son of SUM. Now, more than a decade later, SUM is prepared to emerge afresh, this time cast in vinyl as part of a new era in Conge’s career. “Previously, the majority of my figures were created to be produced in extremely limited editions of hand-cast resin”, Conge explains, continuing on to cite a preference for “resin because of its ability to capture surface detail” as well as offering “the economy of small production runs made here in the States”. But, as the artist notes, “I am a few months from my eightieth year on this planet and I am no longer interested in all the day-to-day tasks required to produce and market my figures”. Wanting “to continue to do the part I love, to conceive and sculpt new figures”, Conge says he sought out “someone who is in love with the production and marketing do the rest”.
While the “timing of the releases will be determined by Planet-X”, according to Conge, their vinyl cast rendition of SUM debuted at the first Indy Sofubi Rally, an event hosted by Mandarake on May 5th at the Sun Plaza in Japan. The first availability in the United States of this new SUM casting will be at the Five Points Festival on June 2nd and 3rd in Brooklyn, New York, where a few one-of-a-kind, hand-painted versions by Conge will be made available, including at least two that future factory-produced renditions will based upon. With an anticipated general release following in July of 2018, these limited edition issuings will include the switched internal color-changing LED unit (with replaceable batteries) and inset glass eyes that have become signature elements in Conge’s handmade creations. “My work is my only voice in this wilderness of noise”, Conge states about his art, though it seems with Planet-X that he’s found a second voice harmonious with his own.
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