My artist is Slinkachu, a London based photographer who specializes in the field of Miniature art and storytelling. Slinkachu is a nickname based off the artist’s curly hair. His real name is unknown to all but his close friends. Slinkachu was born and raised in London. He currently lives there. However, he has created installations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Machester, and even Stavanger. (Norway) He has a popular blog, and multiple published books.

Slinkachu’s field of toy photography is rare and has no formal history. Miniature painting however has been around for a long time. It’s considered to be a more recent development. Toy photography stems from pop art. Pop art was an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950’s in Britain. Pop art challenged tradition and allowed artists to enjoy more creative possibilities in their respective fields. A more specific possible influence of Slinkachu’s work is Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg (mentioned on blog) was well  known for combining non-traditional materials and objects with real life overtones. Robert was not a photographer, but his work was groundbreaking and is definitely and influential factor for all toy photographers, especially Slinkachu. The major relation between the two is the use of unorthodox items to convey important ideas.

 Toy photographers often focus on fantasy characters, such as star wars or superhero figures. A good example of this kind of photography is Chris McVeigh. McVeigh mostly shoots using star wars figurines or other cartoon type characters. His pictures have a very surreal feel, but are really nothing like Slinkachu’s photography. Slinkachu focuses on realistic characters set to a real world backdrop. For this reason, Slink doesn’t like to be considered a toy photographer because he merely used the toy figurines to convey real world ideas and quandaries. David Levinthal is probably the most world renowned toy photographer. His style is similar to that of Slinkachus. All of his photography incorporates realistic figures. They often portray powerful ideas and emotions. However, Levinthal does two things that are seriously different to Slinkachu. First, he mostly focuses on only one toy in all of his shots. Secondly, Levinthal strongly blurs his background to create an interesting and unique picture.

Slinkachu’s photography is renowned for using toys to convey the problems of the everyday human. Unlike most toy photographers, Slinkachu’s shots use realistic figures and have un-blurred backgrounds. Instead of creating a surreal effect, the shots have a brutally and honest gritty feel to them. Almost all of Slinkachu’s photography is set in an urban environment. The major themes are loneliness, confusion, loss of innocence, and being lost in an overwhelming world. Slinkachu’s photography is incredibly unique and inspiring.