Intergalactic Strongthangs: A Studio Visit with the Plastic Aztecs

Plastic Aztecs. Photo courtesy the artists.

At the risk of understatement, I can say for sure that the Intergalactic Strongthang Competition is a unique kind of exhibition. It’s a group show, envisioning an expansive narrative world of extraterrestrials, united only by their utter weirdness, and by their zealous desire to win the ultimate prize: a crystaline “trophy” known only as the Daggerkrag. The show encompasses nearly every medium, from paintings and found objects to video, and is the brainchild of the Plastic Aztecs, currently represented by locals Becky Furey, Andrea Sanders, and Dorothy Stucki. Amidst preparations for their opening (this Saturday, June 11, from 8-11PM at MINT Gallery), the three ladies kindly agreed to an interview.

The Plastic Aztecs’ approach to artwork resembles a kind of tribal collaboration. Although the group has a stable creative nucleus, there isn’t a permanent leadership or membership. The ultimate goal is to fill the gallery space, atmospherically, in a way that exceeds the synergy of a normal group show, where artists create in isolation, or perhaps even in competition with one another. (I wonder if this distinction was another inspiration for their more recent themes?)

Andrea Sanders and Dorothy Stucki (Plastic Aztecs), Small Skull. Photo by Ben Grad.

Click here, or on the photo above, for images and a BurnAway.org review of last year’s Neon Apocalypse show at Eyedrum.

And for a sneak peek of the Intergalactic Strongthang Competition, check out the thumbnails provided below! (Followed by the interview.)

We’re going to have a video projected on one wall, Becky has like five or six paintings, our friend Aaron has one painting, and then Andrea and I worked on some drawings—we’re going to put them on vinyl, so they can be like giant stickers. One’s four feet tall, and one’s eight feet tall. And then I worked on something … it’s going to be like a cardboard cutout. You can put your face in and get your picture taken. And then we’re going to have costumes.
—Dorothy Stucki

Plastic Aztecs. Photo courtesy the artists.

When we started talking about sexual commentary, when you address things that deal with sports … or competition in general … things like costuming or making a trophy and [the meanings] all that equals—I think we really get into it. Yes, it’s about sports … though it’s more about the celebration of the winner.
—Andrea Sanders

And the Olympics last year—that was kind of resonating in our minds a little bit. A lot of us don’t really watch sports, but then the Olympics come and suddenly you’re super interested in diving. And [before that] you never watch diving.
—Dorothy

What’s the Olympic sport … where you ski and shoot? Curling? When something gets so specific, it becomes meaningless. And I think with [the works in this show] … being in an intergalactic realm—it’s all about vanity, you know?
—Becky Furey

I think some of the stuff is propaganda …. Some of Becky’s drawings and some of the photography we’ve done has played off of Wheaties sponsorships and how people are built up to be larger than life. So—in an intergalactic realm, [we're] taking made-up intergalactic beings and making them more awesome than all the other intergalactic beings.
—Andrea

Plastic Aztecs. Photo courtesy the artists.

Yeah definitely, I can remember as a kid, too, I loved making forts. Kids are inclined to make stuff. So … forts, are kind of like an art, you know?
—Becky

I was really serious as a kid. People would be imagining stuff, and I would be like: ‘That’s nonsense.’ [Scoffs.]
—Dorothy

I liked building stuff as a kid. I don’t remember what I thought about though …. I’ve gotten more creative over the past five or six years. I didn’t have a car radio for a long time. That’s when it began. I just started fantasizing about stuff. And then I really loved thinking … you know, it would be hilarious if a llama was eating ice cream. I mean, that stuff just kills me!
—Andrea

That’s part of making art—never being able to leave something alone, you know?
—Becky

The Intergalactic Strongthang Competition will be on view July 11 though August 16. Thanks to our intern Toria Muñoz for assisting with this article.

Tags: Andrea Sanders, Becky Furey, Dorothy Stucki, Intergalactic Strongthang Competition, Plastic Aztecs