The first and early images of Mickey Mouse:
above left: the very first Mickey Mouse in 1928's SteamBoat Willie and above right, The Mickey Mouse with which most of us grew up.
"For at least a half-century Mickey Mouse, ears and all, has served as one of the most potent icons in contemporary visual culture. The poster boy for everything from cinematic innovation to American cultural 'imperialism,' the animated rodent is freighted with a veritable encyclopedia of inference. Not surprisingly, artists the world over -- and especially Mickey's countrymen and -women -- have fixated on the simply, distinctively drawn figure. But however much that (deceptively) ingenuous face and unique silhouette turn up in Pop paintings, social-commentary cartoons, and even abstract sculpture, writers and historians have let Mickey's ubiquity pass without substantial comment. Until now. Defying the perils of post-modernist close reading, pop-culture fetishism, and the fabled wrath of Disney Corp., Holly Crawford proffers an exhaustive documentation, classification, and analysis of Mickey's many appearances in the visual art of our time. Her study fills a gap in the critical history of recent art, not to mention in Mouseology." —Peter Frank, Critic and Curator
above: Andy Warhol's Mickey Mouse was one of the first modern interpretation of Mickey that those of us born before 1980 experienced
above: Gottfried Helnwein's portraits of Marilyn Manson as Mickey
Above: Gottfried Helnwein : Midnight Mickey, 2001, 200 cm x 300 cm
oil and acrylic on canvas
The above painting is one of the modern interpretations of Disney's Mickey Mouse in Holly Crawford's book, Attached to The Mouse.
ATTACHED TO THE MOUSE, DISNEY AND CONTEMPORARY ART
Those who have used the same or multiple forms of the image many times over many years include Lichtenstein, Helnwein, Oldenburg, Pensato, Ospina, and Chagoya. The facade of Disney and America in the guise of the Mouse is one of the things that Helnwein and others present to us. Claes Oldenburg took the facade to its literal extreme when he proposed a flat Mouse's image for a facade to Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, and produced a flat Mouse sculpture. Helnwein, Oldenburg and others are using the Mouse to make social and cultural comments about our society, in the broadest sense, but with humor. Paperback: 194 pages. University Press of America (July 28, 2006) Buy the book here.
This past summer, Disney & Wa-Qu, A Japanese Design Firm teamed up for an exhibit that incorporated Mickey into interior lifestyle elements such as wallpaper, chopsticks, lacquer dishes and more.
above: Wall coverings incorporating the famous mickey outline for Wa-Qu's Disney exhibit. The exhibit has ended but you can see some of it online here.
More Exhibit info here
Some other unusual and collectible modern interpretations of Mickey are shown below. With links to purchase.
Artist David Flores' Mickey:
above: David Flores Mickey Mouse, Vinyl Collectable Doll (VCD) by Medicom.
Stands 14 CM's tall. Due for release late December. Japan Import. pre-order/buy it here
Three new "modern" Mickeys are available, manufactured by Tomy for Disney of Japan. Released a few months ago; The Punk, Pass Da M.I.C., and Take Off sell for approximately $45 USD each:
Buy the Punk Mickey Here.
Buy Take off Mickey here.
Buy Pass DA MIC Mickey here.
The iRiver MPlayer is also known as the Mickey Mouse player. The gadget is now available for pre-order in Japan and is scheduled to ship on the November first. The MPlayer does not have display screen. It connects via USB and comes in 1GB capacity. The iRiver MPlayer will be available in five different colors for $87. Buy it here.
Runaway Brain Mickey:
Above: This version of Mickey Mouse was featured in the animated short, Runaway Brain, is a super hot collectible vinyl figure for any Mickey Mouse fan. Produced by Medicom.4 inches tall
Buy it here
Clash Mickey - a tribute to The Clash London Calling album Cover(also called Guitar Mickey):
Designed by ROEN, and produced by Medicom Toy, this is the new VCD (Vinyl Collectible Dolls) series Clash Mickey, released exclusively in Japan. Clash Mickey plays as a cool tribute to the Clash, based on their famous 'London Calling' album cover. Standing 6 inches tall, Medicom Toy's Clash Mickey also comes packed in a neat collectors window box.
Buy it here.
BIRD IS THE WORD - White Munky King exclusive by Frank Kozik. White. Vinyl. 16 inches tall. Only 50 produced. The infamous founder of Communist China sporting the symbol of America's cultural imperialism...Mickey Mouse ears?
Frank Kozik's controversial reinterpretation of Chairman Mao stands 16 inches tall in white, reminiscent of the plaster of paris busts of yesteryear but this is pure rotocast vinyl. Comes packaged in a beautiful red box with gold foil printing Buy it here.
Frank Kozik's Mao Mickey Bust also comes in limited edition colors as well as flocked.
Buy them here.
Mickey has also made some appearances in haute couture lately. Here are a few examples:
Manish Arora
Jean Charles de Castelbajac (JCDC):
see more fun JCDC collections here.
And nowadays Disney has their own couture, where you can find many wild Mickey Mouse items, including their own artsy Mickey Mouse toys like those by vinylmation shown below:
There are literally hundred of contemporary artists who have 'updated' Mickey in their own visions, too many to list. But browse or search Behance, Coroflot, Deviant Art or ebay for "Mickey Mouse" and you'll see many more.
Of course, traditional Mickey always has his appeal as well.
For traditional Mickey Mouse items, click here.