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“Waxing Nostalgic” 20”x20” acrylic on canvas.

In June of 1985 I turned 10. That’s also the same time Garbage Pail Kids were released.
The iconic pink wax package of the first series will forever elicit from me a feeling of sheer joy. Hunting down and collecting the complete set of Garbage Pail Kids became a nearly full time job that summer.

I’ll never forget going with my father to his friend’s house later that year. While I was playing with his friend’s daughter I looked up from the game we were playing and saw something I couldn’t believe. There was a Garbage Pail Kids sticker stuck on the side a dresser that I’d never seen before. I was flabbergasted. I had them ALL. I’d studied the checklist and practically had it memorized. Who the hell was this snot covered anomaly Messy Tessie? The girl I was playing with did not understand my urgent questioning. I needed to know where it came from.

That’s the moment I learned that there was a second series. My work was no longer complete! The thrill of going to the corner store where I was told they could be found was beyond compare. I was worried that I’d never get them all because this store wasn’t near my house. There was no way my parents were going to drive out of the way to so I could drop a few quarters on some new GPk on a regular basis.

Luckily they were soon available near my grandparents’ house where I got my usual fix of MAD Magazines, candy, and comic books when we’d visit on weekends. I collected them up until about the 9th series, but the first five series that used Adam Bomb on different colored backgrounds heralded the excitement of discovering new, disgusting, characters that annoyed adults and teachers enough to make the news. Much like the Cabbage Patch kids made the news for being so popular, albeit acceptable.

I never stopped loving the originals, and looking at the original packages will always make me happy.

Prints are available here in two sizes. 12”x12” and for a limited time 17”x17”. All prints are archivable an printed on 100% cotton, acid free, hot press paper

the original is 20”x20” acrylic on galley wrapped canvas with the color continuing along the sides of the canvas. It is available here for $650.

This month I’m happy to be participating in two different shows at two different galleries.

A selection of original paintings, along with a variety of framed and unframed paintings will be on display at The Mill District Local Art Gallery in Amherst, MA until the end of March. There will be an opening for all of the artists showing at the gallery on Friday, January 26, from 5-7 pm. It’s going to be a good time! The variety and styles of work are all super cool.

“On TV” – 12″x6″ acrylic on cradled wood panel.

A wind up Tomy Rascal stands atop an old TV set featuring Max Headroom. The summer new Coke came out there was a promotion at a little convenience store near the beach that was hosting a promotion by Coca-Cola. My prized possession that summer was a Max Headroom t-shirt they were giving away. I think I need to find one online and buy it. One of these days we’ll see Max Headroom return as a fully computer generated AI and we will have reached the future.

In 1987 a mysterious person in a Max Headroom mask highjacked the airwaves of Chicago tv for two short, insane, pirate broadcasts. I wish I was there when it happened. Thankfully you can find the footage online. I used that person in a mask as the original image on the tv screen, but decided it was too obscure and would just appear to be a messed up version of Max Headroom, so I repainted it right at the end. I’m glad I did, since it’s cleaner and the colors are more fitting.

Max Headroom was so cool, I wish he’d been around longer.

Click here to watch the time lapse process video

Small Blue Toys

Small Blue Toys – 8”x8” -When I heard about an art show coming up called, Blue, I thought I’d make a new painting to submit. Turns out the deadline was that day, so I was a little delusional when I attempted to complete this in one day. I submitted an existing painting that was accepted, and had more time to finish this one.

I grabbed a bunch of little blue toys, spread them out and got to it. We’ve got a modern version of the rascal robots, a pvc Care Bear, Finn from Adventure Time, and awesome Matchbox car from when I was a kid, some Smurfs, a Fry Guy, Cookie Monster from the Little People set, Tuxedo Sam, a wind up eyeball, a spaceship, an astronaut, an army guy, and an alien.

Prints are available here

BLUE – Group Show at ArtWorks Gallery Ware, MA from January 20 – February 25 2024

My painting “Life Savings” is on display along with work from about 20 other artists of varying disciplines.

Happy 2024!

Pandora’s BoxPandora’s Box – 12”x16” acrylic on canvas. I was alway fascinated by the idea that all of the world’s troubles were locked away safely until the box was opened and they escaped into the world. I’d imagine what it would be like if it had remained closed. I’d also imagine what it would be like if there were others, and what would happen if they were opened. Two PVC versions of Stripe from Gremlins, the robot from Lost in Space, a werewolf Smurf, Optikk from the New Adventures of He-Man and a demon from Blackstar make up the cast, along with some eyes, fangs, a monster, a skeleton, and some gumball machine display cards featuring various novelties and gags. A small batch of prints are available below.They are 12”x16” printed on 100% cotton, acid free, archival, hot press paper. If you are interested in the original, please email me.

Order Print

Click here to watch the Time Lapse Painting process video for Pandora’s Box

My art in a magazine!

Two of my favorite paintings are in a magazine! Toy Chest comes as a free pull out poster, and defending the Castle are right on the first page. Stardaze80 is a magazine created by @stardaze80 on Instagram. It is full of 80’s pop culture, from toys and video games to old tv listings, lunch boxes and advertisements. Learn more about it and order one here

Opening Saturday Sept 23 from 1-4 PM at Workshop 13 in Ware, MA. I’m honored to have three paintings accepted into this year’s show. Every year the work is incredible and worth seeing in person.

The three paintings are Me, Grimlock , Pick a Prize, and Two Kings. I hope to see you there!

In 1983 toy company, LJN, released a line of action figures inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. The toys weren’t directly from any particular version of the role playing game. They were more like archetypes of characters you could find in the game.

There was the heroic paladin Strongheart, a Dwarf named Elkhorn, a good and an evil wizard, an elf warrior, and a half-orc. They were all very cool 3.5” articulated figures with good detail. But of them all there was one that stood out as possibly the coolest action figure ever released, possibly even cooler than Kenner’s Boba Fett.

His name was Warduke.

Warduke looked to be straight out of a Frank Frazetta illustration, like his famous Death Dealer. With a dark blue helmet that had dragon like wings sprouting from the sides, a single arm and leg covered in some kind of matching blue chain mail, and iron gauntlet on one hand, and both a skull on his girded loins and a bigger skull making up the entire front of his shield, as a kid we knew Warduke wasn’t fucking around!

I loved this figure, and still do. I was lucky enough to have owned him and the now rare Fortress of Fangs. The fortress was a large two level playset that appears to be a snake’s head. The first floor is made up of a lake of lava surrounding a treasure chest. There are stalagmites and stalactites that add to the fangs part of the name.

A set of stairs leads up to the second floor where there are trap doors, a falling axe, a wall of spikes to crush intruders and a large winged demon guarding it all. I posed Warduke in front of one of the eyes for this painting.

Below is the time lapse video from painting g Warduke.

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A post shared by Chris Bordenca (@chris_bordenca_art)

Last weekend I had a booth at ChisCon in Milford, MA. It’s a really fun meet up of action figure creators and fans. There were incredible custom action figures, mind blowing dioramas, and beautiful action figure photography all on display. Plus there were a ton of toys for sale.

@chris_con_collector_meetup was a blast. Every show is special; this one was full of people who not only liked my paintings, but who could identify every single figure in every painting. The conversations were always fun, interesting, and totally relatable. Everyone has stories about their toys and I love hearing them.

I also love meeting people I’ve only known or followed online. Today @mechazone stopped by and we got to hang out, I met @thecollector77 who put the whole awesome show together. I got to meet and chat with @mrstevie18 , @toygalaxy , and @red_wagon_dioramas plus I saw some familiar faces and got to talk to a ton of people about toys, art, and life.

I’m terrible about taking photos of and with people, but here’s a few.

I am exhausted, but it was a blast!

“Me, Grimlock” 16”x12” acrylic on canvas. Soundwave, Jetfire, Prime, Bumblebee & Grimlock. They were, and still are my favorite Transformers. Grimlock tapped right into my love of Mechagodilla. Really how much cooler could it get a T-Rex, that’s a robot, that also turns into a more different robot! (I heard Strongbad’s voice as I typed this)
(No robots were harmed in the making of this painting)
I worked on this up until midnight last night to be able to fire up the printer to make prints and debut the painting today at @chris_con_collector_meetup

I’ll do a separate post about the show, but if you can make it next year, definitely go!

prints available here https://chrisbordenca.com/product/grimlock/, email or DM to purchase the original.

Masks – 12”x24” oil on canvas –

Growing up in my city, we had J&S smoke shop, which was also a magic and joke shop. It was full of magical, creepy and funny objects, including horror masks lining the walls by the great Don Post studio. I remember walking in and feeling terrified but fascinated at the same time by the ultra realistic, gory masks behind the counter, high on the wall staring down at me. The Magic Parlor in Salem Massachusetts is this kind of store. Full of magical items, funny, creepy, and just plain weird. Stepping in to the store I felt like I had gone back in time to J&S smoke shop.

These masks are primarily from @trick_or_treat_studios which has become the ultimate producer of highly detailed masks. Their placement on the walls mimics animal head trophies in a room from a different era, except these are monsters, and the den is a shop filled to the rafters with skulls, preserved spiders, practical jokes, and magical items from all over.

See the time lapse of Masks being painted below.

https://fb.watch/l5ccC8hOyn/?mibextid=cr9u03

Prints are available here: https://chrisbordenca.com/masks/

These two wind up monsters were everywhere in the 80’s and 90’s. Knock off King King and Godzilla along with a Creature from the Black Lagoon. I recently added King Kong to my collection and wanted to paint it immediately. The old wood and worn paint of the vintage Coke bottle crate looked great in contrast to the shiny bright plastic.

This was done in three sessions over three days. I don’t do anything to keep my acrylic paint wet. I’m constantly remixing colors as needed. I typically uses Cad. Yellow Med., Pthalo Blue (green shade), Quinacridone Crimson, & Titanium White. On this painting I used some pthalo green to save me a little bit of mixing.

Every painting is different, but mostly I try covering as much ground as possible to start and then gradually refine in passes, using colors I mix where they need to go across the painting. By the end I’m putting fingernail sized amounts of paint on the easel to mix colors for details.