I am absolutely (at least momentarily) infatuated with Andy Aguilar of the Dope Fiends who takes amigurumi characters and displays them in comic book and video animation format to create a cool new form of crochet art entertainment. Truth be told, I am not really all that into the content but I just love the style and format of this cutting-edge art and I especially love the way that it defies so many stereotypes about crochet.
Note to the easily offended: This artist uses some foul language and talks about sex and drugs.
Breaking the Crochet Stereotypes
The main thing that I love about what this artist is doing is that his work succinctly defies just about every stereotype there is about knitting and crocheting so that’s what I’m going to talk about first. As crafters, most of us know that the stereotypes no longer hold true, but they’re still out there and I’m thrilled when I see them being busted up.
This artist:
- Is a guy. Ναί, there are male knitters and crocheters. They’re growing in number. Crochet is increasingly popular with teenage boys. There are amazing crocheters in the fiber arts world (such as Nathan Vincent). But crochet and knitting are still seen as girls’ activities among the general public and I love that this artist says no. Plus he’s not just a male using amigurumi in his art … he’s a male talking about distinctly “αρσενικός” topics in a male voice and male medium and using amigurumi in his art. Awesome.
- Is youthful. I don’t actually know how young this guy is but what I do know is that he’s talking about young topics (music, drugs). His amigurumi characters are wearing bling and baggy clothes. Many crocheters these days are young but the “old lady crochet” stereotype still exists and this helps bust it up and show that crochet is a democratic craft.
- Is geeky / techy. I love geek crochet. I love what nerdJERK has done with video game crochet. I love some of the geekery on KnitHacker and CRAFT. And I love that amigurumi is turned into comic books and video animation here. Crochet and high tech are not mutually exclusive. These days, they can easily go hand in hand. This artist shows that.
Καλά, More About This Artist
Andy Aguilar was profiled by Adrian Gomez of the Albuquerque Journal earlier this month because of his participation in Albuquerque’s ComicCon. That’s where I first learned about him. The article explains that Aguilar has a a degree in media production technology and was trying to work in the film and TV industry but found it both difficult and unsatisfying. He started his comic book, The Dope Fiends, σε 2004 as a creative outlet where he could share a story in visual format but didn’t begin posting photos for it online (to Flickr) until 2008. The Dope Fiends now has its own site with an active YouTube vlog. There is also Dope Fiends music that can be previewed and purchased on The Dope Friends website.
About The Crochet Art
A Favorite Moment
Connecting to The Crochet and Amigurumi Community
My favorite of the videos so far is Vlog 3 because this is where the videos reach out to spread the word about the larger crochet amigurumi community. We’re pointed to some great sources, several of which I didn’t already know about, συμπεριλαμβανομένου Croshame και GourmetAmigurumi.
Άλλα παρόμοια Καλλιτέχνες πλέκω
In addition to the two folks mentioned about, Andy Aguilar’s ami art reminds me of these artists:
Patricia Waller … something about the darkness of Andy’s characters reminds me of this creepy cute crochet artist
[...] New amigurumi-rich vlog post from The Dope Fiends [...]
[...] Lauriane’s video work reminds me a little bit of Andy Aguilar from The Dope Fiends. [...]