Wild Things: Art Toys Aren't For Kids (Except When They Are)

In 1963, Maurice Sendak wrote a book called ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ – hands up all those who’ve read it, or read it to their kids. It’s a beautiful book, about the wondrous adventures of a boy named Max. Wearing a wolf costume to tease the dog, he’s sent to his room with no supper – and encounters a menagerie of fantastical, mythical creatures. Although just ten sentences long, the book is a masterpiece – simple and poignant, a fragment of a child’s life and imagination.

Wandering a wild forest grown purely from imagination, the Wild Things are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max conquers them ‘by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once’, and he is made their King. The book originally featured horses – but Sendak couldn’t draw them for toffee, so instead featured caricatures of his uncles. Later, while working on the book’s operatic adaptation, he gave them the names of his relatives: Tzippy, Moishe, Bruno, Emile, and Bernard.

And we begin to see how a child’s book and the modern art toy culture can mesh perfectly.



Art toys live in a world of the artists’ imaginations – and in the imaginations of the people who by them and love them. They may have grown from a plastic throwaway culture and a love for rock album and graffiti street-art, but there’s an innocence to them that makes my son constantly raid my shelving, demanding to know what their names could be, who their friends are. Even when they’re teeth and claws, it’s the fusion of their contemporary culture with their childishness that makes them so compelling.

The Where The Wild Things Are Kubricks take this back towards pure, childhood magic; a time of adventure and education. They’re gorgeous, classic Medicom – stylized beautifully from the book’s illustrations, each 2” tall and laden with memories – both Sendak’s and our own. One can almost picture the mysterious Uncles, loving and disapproving; getting the young Maurice into mischief.
Also available is he adult version – for the pure collector, the Max-as-King Kubrick complete with accompanying collectable Be@rbrick. It may be less laden with nostalgia, but it brings us out of the bookshelf and into the modern age – the two-pack is straight from the forthcoming movie adaptation: -



The live-action movie version, directed by Spike Jonze is scheduled for imminent release. Starring Max Records as Max and Catherine Keener as his mother, featuring Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Dano, and Forest Whitaker providing the voices of the Wild Things, it promises to be true to both text and magic. With Sendak as a producer, it’s a way to take us all Where The Wild Things Are.