As you may well be aware – we here at Muphoric Sounds fell deeply in love with Le Petit Prince – the loving tribute created by Troy Gua of his idol Prince in the form of a marionette – a la Thunderbirds style. Once Gua started sharing images amongst his friends, they began to spread like wildfire turning LPP into a viral internet sensation. Unfortunately, on Monday, November 12th, Gua was served with a ‘Cease & Desist’ order to remove Le Petit Prince from the internet by November 16th. So now, LPP cannot be viewed on any online channel managed by Gua.

Fortunately, we were able to obtain a copy of the LPP Calendar — which is now a collectible item — and are offering it to ONE lucky person in our year-end giveaway.

HOW TO ENTER:
Send an email to contests@muphoricsounds.com with subject line “LPP” by Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 11:59pm EST for a random drawing. The winner will be notified by Saturday, December 22, via email. The winner must respond by Sunday, December 23rd at 11:59pm to claim their prize. Failure to respond to the notification email by Sunday, December 23rd, the LPP Calendar will to offered to another entrant.

(Please note: We dislike spam as much as you do; your contact information will never be sold nor rented, in compliance with US Spam Laws.) So get yourself in it, to win it, and share the word with your friends.

Last week, the unfathomable happened. Seattle-based artist, Troy Gua, who created a loving tribute of his idol, Prince, was served with cease and desist orders from Prince‘s attorneys to remove the Le Petit Prince project from the internet on Friday, November 16, at 4pm Pacific time. It was met by a resounding and well deserved, “Nooooooooo!” from fans of the project. It is believed that what prompted the order was Gua‘s selling a LPP calendar and a few Prince inspired print t-shirts, which was to fund a forthcoming book on LPP. In Gua‘s note to his fans he said he would of course comply with the order, ”I simply do not wish to fight with my hero, and it is terribly disheartening to think that he may hold ill will towards me and this project.” Heartbreaking, given that we are dealing with art and another’s interpretation, and right to freedom in it.

From the start, the LPP project was a labour of love. After Gua attended the Welcome to the America tour, he was inspired to embark on making the marionette, which is a take on Gerry Anderson‘s Thunderbirds. As he started to recreate LPP in iconic periods of Prince‘s career and  share the images on Facebook with his friends, they began to spread like wildfire to become a global sensation. What is so uncanny about LPP is how the one doll captured the true essence of Prince — his serious, unapologetic, badassness, epitomizing Prince’s style and flare in every shot. As fans, we were able to relive moments in Prince‘s time in awe, as we waited for Gua’s coming surprises.

While it was a shock initially, we subconsciously wondered when the shoe would drop. And unfortunately it did. We could take this moment to speak ill of Prince and his business practices but it goes against what LPP was born from, which was ‘love.’ It is unknown how or if we’ll ever see anything more of Le Petit Prince but as a memoriam of the little funky guy, enjoy the images selected below. If you’d like to share a positive word, please visit Troy Gua‘s site to leave a comment.

Personally, I would like to send a big THANK YOU to Troy for sharing Le Petit Prince with us. All those hours spent, all the joy and humor we received, was a true gift of love. As they say, ‘when one door closes, another one will open.’ Keep creating my brother! Much love to you in ALL that you do!

Dearly Beloved, We are gathered here today, for this little guy named Le Petit Prince!

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ll know about my obsession with Seattle-based artist Troy Gua‘s creation, Le Petit Prince. I am completely overjoyed to find out that I can now adorn my workspace and kitchen (and those of friends too!) with this gorgeous calendar for 12-months next year! It features photos from the Le Petit Prince series, some of which are never-before-seen images to make you fall deeper in love this famed little guy, and it opens to the dimensions of 11 x 17 inches. You need this calendar in your life – not only for yourself but also to give as gifts to others. Visit Troy Gua’s Online Store to make your purchase(s) — they will not last!

Oftentimes the art world can be an expression of serious, referential art. So it’s refreshing to come across someone who is truly having fun with it, and using a subject matter close to my heart, Prince.

Troy Gua is a Seattle-based visual artist, has been working furiously over the past five years, creating art that explores pop culture and his fascination with the social medias. His most notable exhibits are his Pop Hybrids, where he combines two iconic figures and reduces the personality into logo, reducing their individuality into a collective, and reduces the photography to a design, creating interesting images that force you to create your own meaning and subversion. His Colorbandz, are portraits at the speed of technology, a concept at first glance seem like bands of colour but as you grasp the concept of the Colorbandz, it begins to come clear. (See Troy Gua‘s self Colorbandz portrait at the end of interview.)

But it wasn’t until Gua tackled the project of making his own Gerry Anderson inspired marionette of his musical idol Prince, the Le Petit Prince, that his name traveled beyond the West Coast. As you will see below, the marionette captures the essence of Prince, from his hypnotic stare, and his perfectly defined lips, to this pristine and unique sense of style. Gua’s symbolic tribute to the artist who has inspired him throughout his life has garnered much attention, and we are sure to see more of Le Petit Prince in the future.

Muphoric Sounds got the chance to talk to Gua about his work and what sparked him to pay homage to Prince in what he calls, “a loving tribute, that is meant to be a parody” of his idol. Le Petit Prince is quirky yet perfect, all at the same time.

To view more of Troy Gua’s work, visit his website at www.troygua.com. You can also “Like” his Facebook page to receive updates on Le Petit Prince.

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INTERVIEW WITH TROY GUA

Muphoric Sounds: Who is Troy Gua?

Troy Gua: I’m a dude who just grew up expecting that I was going to be an artist. That’s what I got a pat on the head for as a kid. And I’ve been chasing that pat on the head ever since.

MS: Has it always been in visual arts?

Gua: Yes, since I was little kid I just liked to draw, constantly. I was the youngest of four kids. The next one was 9 years older than me; so I was sort of like an only child, spent a lot of time by myself, and liked to draw musicians and pop stars. I made a series of poor decisions in my late teens and twenties, married my childhood sweetheart, and kind of left my dreams on the wayside. And I kind of gave up on who I was supposed to become and played house for a few years. Became an alcoholic and a drug addict actually. [Laughs] I always had a job. I was married and responsible but I was kind of a shell of my real self, and medicated and numbed myself to that fact for a long, long time. Eventually, that all caved in, and my whole life flushed and it was a reboot. And I met this woman online named Catherine and we fell in love and kind of hit the ground running. We decided to get sober together and make a happy life for ourselves. That was around 2005 when we met and since then I’ve been focusing on getting that dream in order.

MS: You’ve been working solidly since 2008, what has been the best experience for you so far?

Gua: To be completely honest, this [Le Petit Prince]. This has been the most attention I’ve had. I’m in Seattle, which is a pretty insulated community, this bubble in the corner of the country and I’ve been working my butt off for about five years, constantly showing work, feeling like a rubber ball bouncing around the room not being able to break out. And I’d been frustrated for a while with that.

MS: But it seems to be working.

Gua: The funny thing is, as soon as I was discouraged enough, to say, ‘screw it, I’m not going to make this kind of art, it’s bringing me down, I’m just going to start having fun …and make myself a little Prince doll.’ [Laughs] That’s when everybody started to pay attention, which is amazing. But of course, it’s Prince!

(more…)

Lemi Ghariokwu is the artist who was responsible for creating Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti‘s iconic album covers, which not only illustrated his outstanding talent as a visual artist but also how he used art to create political statements apropos to Kuti’s prolific message. Punch Records has secured the rights to the graphic designer and fine artist’s archive and has partnered with the BASS Music Festival (British Arts and Street Sounds), to tour the Art’s Own Kind exhibit across the UK starting on June 9 at the Rich Mix in Shoreditch, London.

Opening night will bring key Afrobeat players, such as pioneer Tony Allen, who was Kuti’s musical director and drummer; Wunmi (the Queen of Afrobeat); Rich Medina (of Jump n’ Funk, NYC); and the visual artist, Lemi Ghariokwu for performance and panel discussion. The Art’s Own Kind exhibit is scheduled to end July 6.

I remember looking at the album cover for Marvin Gaye’s I Want You for hours while listening to it over and over. With each look, I’d see a different detail I hadn’t caught before.

Ernie Barnes (15 July 1938 – 27 April 2009), was a prolific artist and we never really knew the man; we just basked in his art. In the 60s, Barnes played offensive guard for five seasons in the American Football League. After painting The Sugar Shack, his work got featured throughout 70s sitcom Good Times, he was named the official artist of the 1984 Summer Olympics, and received the 1984 and 2004 Sport Artist of the Year award. In 1999, rap group Camp Lo recreated The Sugar Shack for their album cover Uptown Saturday Night and in 2004, Kanye West commissioned Barnes to paint a self-portrait entitled A Life Restored, after West’s life threatening car accident. The painting measures 9 ft x 10 ft and hangs from West’s dining room ceiling.

His work featured elongated figures in motion, where his use of colors created smooth yet detailed textures. An outstanding artist who will be sorely missed. His timeless work will live on through us. Check out Kanye West’s website to see some of his work.

Listen to “Soon I’ll Be Loving You” taken from my all-time favorite Marvin Gaye album, I Want You

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Although Eryka Badu started B.L.I.N.D. (Beautiful Love Incorporated Non-Profit Development), a Dallas based non-profit organization to create community-based programs for inner city youth in 1997, it’s beginning to gain more exposure with its current venture with visual artist Steve Lopez, who created the “Amerykahn Promise” painting of Erkya above. Maybe it’s her complexity, randomness, and uniqueness, which make her such an arresting subject, causing artists to galvanize her in such incredibly ways. “Amerykahn Promise” is truly captivating. Using the Giclée (pronounced “zhee-clay”) technique of printing, only 100 repros have been made for this auction, each is personally signed by Erkya with a portion of all proceeds going to the B.L.I.N.D. organization. Watch the video below to hear more about the project.