Reading – Citizen KaNO, The Art of the Hustle

Over the past month we’ve taken a look at two toys by KaNO — Moneygrip DIY (review here) and Boba DEF (review here). Well, while I was putting together the Moneygrip DIY review I hit KaNO’s website again and realized that I’d completely missed the fact that he is selling a book that’s packed with sketches, photos of toys (including Moneygrip, and paintings.

Well, I couldn’t leave that to sit on his virtual shelf without ordering a copy for my collection. I do love books, you know.

Measuring 8.75″ x 12.75″, and coming in at roughly 45 or so pages, Citizen KaNO — subtitled The Art of the Hustle — was published in 2007 by Brand Studio, a publisher I had never heard of before (but one I’m going to take a close look at; look at all of the art books they offer!). This hardcover book is professionally printed and bound and a top quality print job; even the paper’s a nice, heavy stock. Everything about the print job screams quality and (for a book with a no doubt very low run) is well worth the $25 price tag.

(A complaint with the Brand Studio website: No images of the books appear on my computer. Huh? How do you sell art books without showing art?)

Above is a photo of the book showing one of my favorite paintings, and what appears to be the inspiration for KaNO’s newest toy, so I had just had to photograph the two together. And if there’s ever a Charlie DEF colorway of this toy released I could seriously see myself grabbing it. Just like the Boba DEF toy, the Charlie Brown-inspired character is cute, well-executed, and looks just a tiny bit sad. This image was a bit of a surprise for me and I’m glad that I didn’t spend a lot of time looking around KaNO’s gallery and just dove in and ordered the book. Surprises like this can be fun.

I know that not all toy collectors are art lovers, but if you are a fan of art — and love seeing new and different stuff — jump on over to KaNO’s website (it’s right here) and check out the gallery. And then consider buying a copy of the book; you get a cool book and you get to support an artist all at the same time.