Go Beastie Ranger!
⊛ Go Beastie Ranger!
⊛ cut paper + washi + chiyogami / wood
⊛ 6 x 4 in • 150 x 100 mm
Now is the time on PaperCuts when we dance.
And fight giant monsters from outer space. Then, when that's all done and the world is safe again, we flip the music back on and kick out one last celebratory shimmy.
Go Beastie Ranger! is one of a trio of pieces created for Gallery 1988 LA's Beastie Boys-themed show, inspired by the video for "Intergalactic". Take a peak at the video and the Giant Robot here.
Where the Giant Beastie Robo-Machine pulled it's inspiration from “Giant Robo” (ジャイアントロボ) and the Kaiju monster movies, the Boys' look is equal parts Japanese construction worker and Super Sentai (スーパー戦隊). If you live outside Japan, you might be more familiar with the Super Sentai in their US form as the "Power Rangers", a show which kept the battle scenes from the original production, and changed pretty much everything else. The dance moves in the video parody the theatrical attack poses of the Super Sentai. I dove back even further in time to the 60's (Super Sentai started in '75) for this pose, using the classic Ultraman ウルトラマン battle posture. When you're wearing a silvery rubber suit, you need a funky pose to get your point across.
Go Beastie Ranger! also forms the right chest plate of the Giant Beastie Robo Machine and His Cosmic Friends, like so:
albeit blurry, the only EXISTENT documentation of the fully assembled Ultra Form. Like Bigfoot or Nessie.