Tokka's Pre-Fight Donut Show

We all love comic books and characters, right? Throughout September stop by to see works based on some of your favorite characters!

Artist, Tokka, has worked with Nickelodeon, Disney and others throughout the years doing freelance engagements in comics, animation, game design, and even animatronics characters.

Join us at the 3^rd Friday Reception on September 20 to meet the artist. Also on display is our Annual Miniature and Small Works Show. Light snacks will be provided.

Tokka: Artist Statement/Bio

  “Pop culture devoured and digested…

We all draw inspiration from our childhoods, but Tokka’s landscape is a nostalgia junkyard nightmare that defies category and forces us to examine why we love our memories. “

– Ciro Nieli ; Showrunner for Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! , Teen Titans, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Dubbed the “Jackson Pollock of the Ninja Turtles” by Nickelodeon, Tokka is a published designer and illustrator whose work includes special freelance engagements in comics, animation, game design, and even animatronics characters. He has been working in this field for over 23 years.

An alumni of Colorado Springs’ original “Inkspinner – School of Cartooning and the Arts”   – Tokka was referred to as “REN & STIMPY” in a classroom of budding X-men, Spider-man and SPAWN artists, perhaps due to his relation to the more monstrous and complex characters of his childhood in related media such as Harvey Two-Face, Wile E. Coyote, Quasimodo, or the behemoth alligator snapping-turtle creature that is his namesake.

Straight out of high-school and into college, without graduating the former, and in the 90s, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In college, he studied as a “fine-artist” in a design program, and in spite of adversity he managed to graduate Pikes Peak Community College in 2005 with a dual Associate Degree in Visual Communications / Multimedia Graphic Design and Illustration with a minor in the History of Disney.

Due to the multifaceted expertise & aesthetic of his work, with complications compiled by the illness – the ability to focus linearly on one single field in the art industry has been an excruciating challenge over the decades. 11 years ago, some vision and purpose came into focus in the process of utilizing found objects, vintage and reclaimed items. UPCYCLING these objects as his “canvas”, such as used and broken skateboard decks, has, as of late, become a signature of his work.

“The Turtles are the best thing to happen to me and the bane of my existence,” A reluctant underdog- Tokka

Networking in the comic/animation arts and entertainment, primarily but not exclusively with the TMNT comic franchise, has enabled Tokka to have many human moments with behind the scenes creators, writers, actors and fans alike.

Tokka sees this body of work (the largest in his history in one place) as one part memorial to those he’s loved and lost. These are the modern-day, mythological characters he’s appreciated and fostered all these years with loved ones living and gone.

Having a history of a high rejection rate for his work, he understands the universal human craving for acceptance. With his oddball “reverse-license” approach to the pieces presented, he hopes the interaction of the viewers will be human, inclusive & welcoming to the hearts and minds of “kids” of all ages; perhaps enabling one to relive the happiest, most obscure moment of their childhood, adulthood, or parenthood with some of their favorite icons. Or maybe they will reconnect with a wacky sidekick or super-villain that they forgot and deep-down, loved.

“Cowabunga, Dudes!” . . . indeed.