Steve Jobs (Action Figure) Returns From the Dead
The twice-banned Steve Job action figure finds new life thanks to a Los Angeles-based artist.
Creepy or counter-culture? You decide.
A Los Angeles artist is preparing to give new life to the Steve Jobs action figures that were popular for a brief flash of time in late 2010, before Apple lawyers got involved and ordered Hong Kong's M.I.C. Gadget Store to stop making and marketing the figurines of Apple's CEO.
To note: M.I.C. Gadget Store ended up releasing a disguised Steve Jobs figure dressed as a ninja and marketed as "Pineapple CEO" in January of 2011, and Apple's lawyers came a-calling once again.
We'll have to wait and see if the third time's a charm, as the Los Angeles-based Cory Allen Contemporary Art has announced that artist XVALA — Jeff Hamilton — will be debuting a new series of Steve Jobs figures based on the look and feel of M.I.C. Gadget Store's banned models.
While XVALA's using the M.I.C. Gadget Store figures as the mold for his own, his twist on his "Think Different" figurines involves building them out of a mix of plastic porcelain and a recycled resin that consists of trash taken from Steve Jobs' Palo Alto, California residence.
Yes, XVALA collected bits and pieces of Steve Jobs' actual trash and mixed them into the process of recreating a banned likeness of him in the form of an action figure.
"The 'Jobs' sculpture represents the pros and cons in pursuing the quality of life," said Cory Allen in a statement. "Unfortunately, there are adverse effects bestowed on a global population when supporting a vision."
The sculpture will allegedly cost anywhere from $150 to $200 when it makes its debut later next month, and Allen maintains that the piece will be built and showcased regardless of Apple's feelings on the matter.
"He famously said that real artists ship," said XVALA in an interview with ReadWriteWeb's Adam Popescu. "We're going to make this Think Different sculpture and ship it. He would like that."
Additionally, a limited number of all-black versions of the Jobs figurine will be on display as, "a motif for the past suicides at the Foxconn factories that continue to grow," according to a statement by Cory Allen Contemporary Art.
The new Steve Jobs sculptures will be officially unveiled on October 13 at the Los Angeles Brewery Arts Complex.
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