ONE DAY CORNWALL-BASED ARTIST ROBERT BRADFORD LOOKED AT HIS CHILDREN'S BOX OF OUTGROWN AND DISCARDED TOYS AND NOTICED THE 'RANDOM COLLECTION OF COLOURS, SHAPES, AND FORMS THEY MADE.' HE THOUGHT, 'IF I COULD FIND A WAY OF PUTTING THEM TOGETHER TO CONSTITUTE A LARGER FORM THEY WOULD HAVE A GREATER POTENTIAL AS LARGER SCALE SCULPTURE.' ROBERT'S FIRST CREATION WAS AN ALSATIAN DOG, MADE FOUR YEARS AGO COMPLETELY FROM HIS CHILDREN'S TOYS. 'IT WAS AN EXPERIMENT AND I DON'T LIKE IT MUCH NOW, BUT I LOVED THE PROCESS SO I STARTED MAKING MORE AND MORE OF THEM.' HE HAS NOW CREATED DOZENS OF LARGE-SCALE SCULPTURES THAT USE UP TO 3,000 TOYS AND OBJECTS EACH. HE BEGAN WITH PLASTIC FIGURES AND BRANCHED OUT TO CUDDLY TOYS AND HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS LIKE NAIL BRUSHES AND BRILLO PADS. MOST OF HIS WORKS ARE COMMISSIONS FROM PET OWNERS WHO WANT A TOY VERSION OF THEIR BELOVED PETS. HE WORKS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF THEIR FURRY FRIEND TO CREATE A STRIKING, IF A LITTLE PLASTIC, LIKENESS.
HIS LARGEST WORKS, THE TOY SOLDIER AND THE TOY ANGEL, TOOK ALMOST TWO MONTHS TO MAKE AND ARE LAYERS OF THOUSANDS OF MODELS, FIGURES AND GAME PARTS METICULOUSLY CHOSEN FROM CAR BOOT SALES AND THRIFT SHOPS. ROBERT RECENTLY EXHIBITED IN PARIS AND AT THE FRENCH AIR 2009 BIENNIAL SCULPTURE EXHIBITION IN THE COTSWOLDS. 'CHILDREN ARE DELIGHTED BY THEM, THEY GRAB THEIR PARENTS AND DRAG THEM OVER TO HAVE A LOOK', HE SAID. ROBERT WHO IS KEN ON RECYCLING, WILL BE SHOWING HIS WORK AT THE HENLEY FESTIVAL IN LONDON FROM WEDNESDAY.
TO SEE MORE OF HIS AMAZING WORK, VISIT www.robertbradford.co.uk
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