The Dragon

I have a plastic dragon on my desk at home.  It’s an expensive toy I saw in an expensive toyshop, and I liked the look of it, so I bought it.  It’s not one of those new-agey things that people get because dragons are so, like, spiritual, ya know?  It’s a genuine plastic toy. 

It’s the kind of thing you might buy if you were a six year old boy who wanted to play dragons and warriors (and had parents willing to buy the expensive stuff).  I also bought a centaur and a gryphon (with a birdman riding it!) at the same time, so it really is dragons-and-monsters type stuff.

I bought it partly because I’ve always loved the kinds of toys they make for six-year-old boys*, and partly because it’s beautiful.  It’s just a glorious model.  Whoever sculpted the original just did a lovely job.  It’s so wonderfully detailed. 

You can see webbing in the skin of the wings, the tongues (two heads) are ever-so-subtly forked and there are various patterns of scaling in different parts of the body.  There are slightly different horns on each of the heads (intentionally so – not from lack of attention) and the musculature in the arms and legs is anatomically sound.  It’s also quite well weighted and balanced.

The paint has been applied by hand by someone who (although no doubt following a chart as he or she painted several hundred identical dragons) payed attention to shade and detailing.  It’s not perfect, but it also isn’t slap-dash and careless.  And whoever designed the details of the paint work did a great job.

The toy is a mass-produced plastic figure pumped out of some factory in China, but it is well designed and well executed.  It’s lovely.  The design and detail on the centaur and gryphon are also very well done, but this dragon is a thing of great beauty.  And yet, so many people would probably just see “plastic toy dragon” and assume it was therefor ineligible to be “art”.

We often dismiss things just because they are mass produced, or made for an audience we don’t want to be associated with or don’t respect (like children).  We fail to see the beauty and the art that went into the original design.  I have yet to see a “proper” sculpture that could top this dragon for attention to detail and depth of imagination.  A lot of figurines are like that, though – they are wonderful sculptures in miniature, and we just don’t see the art through the plastic.

So here’s to the artists behind the toys:  occasionally, someone notices how good your work is, and they are amazed (and hats off in particular to whoever designed the two-headed dragon in Papo’s 2005 toy line – you rock).

*Admit it - they have the coolest toys.