The Making of Chris Ryniak & Amanda Louise Spayd's 'Migration' Part 4: The Creatures of Chris Ryniak

Chris Ryniak and Amanda Louise Spayd have spent the better part of four months sculpting, stitching, crafting and conspiring together on their most ambitious collaborative exhibition to date: Migration, opening March 1st at Stranger Factory. In the last three weeks we've documented the process and progress of the show, exploring the tools, paintings and sketches and just recently, their gaggingly sweet relief wall sculptures. And now, with mere days to go before the critters are set loose to scamper about the shop and scarf all the snacks, it's high time we took a gander at some of these monsterly mugs!

If Monsters & Misfits, Late Season or his contributions to such cracking exhibits like Imaginary Menagerie or Circus Annual weren't any indication, Chris Ryniak is absolutely soaring right now. His customs and original sculpts have grown increasingly more complex and ambitious in the past two years, and given the utter charm of what he does, his work is incredibly versatile. We've seen everything from wood cuts from Ink It Labs, to sold out Dunnys from Kidrobot, to the highly anticipated Mini Zombiegut from Circus Posterus. And with his recent foray into making his own critters, his skill set continues to grow as voraciously as Bubblegut's appetite, and I can't wait to see where it takes him in the next couple years.

From the breadcrumb trail of teasers that we've seen on his Instagram, it's already apparent that Ryniak's brilliance will absolutely shine this Friday at Migration. In terms of critters, he'll have a small congregation of custom Mini Bubblegut Travelers (top left), joined by more involved, original pieces, like the fella on the top right. Just look at that backpack! Twine-tied bundles of kindling, a miniature axe secured by leather straps with little metal studs ... and the texturing! The satchels actually look SOFT! This is epoxy resin, people, that can't be easy!

And then there's these guys, who are really cool: dubbed Dumpy Dollops, these rolly pollies are a rudimentary, rock-like species who dot the sides of migratory roads. They suffer from underdeveloped limbs, so all they can do is sit there and cheer, or give you directions that are probably wrong. That happy orange fella isn't a Dollop, but I let him photobomb because he's just so excited about his first toof. Plus that axe I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it's his. And you saw what he did to that kindling. Scroll for more Dollops!

This is just a taster of the small army Chris has shuffling its way to Stranger Factory, and on Wednesday, we'll pay a visit to Mandi's critter camp. We then go live from Albuquerque on Friday, so be sure to join me (@vinylgoddess) on Instagram and Twitter for on-site coverage of the opening!

Migration is a two-person collaborative exhibition featuring new works from Chris Ryniak and Amanda Louise Spayd. The show opens March 1st through the 31st at Stranger Factory (109 Carlisle Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106). Opening reception will be held March 1st from 6pm to 9pm; both artists will be in attendance! To sign up for the preview, enter your email address in the Updates box on Stranger Factory's home page.

(with photos and info from the CP blog)