New Year Grum Drop: 'Candy X Mandy' from Grum Reapur!

The concept of the Grum Reapur came from battling depression and gloomy thoughts that accompany that sort of darkness, the artist, Brad Rumble, wanted to create a symbol of hope for those facing the same battle he had been through himself. By combining the traditional skull face of the Grim Reaper with the imagery of a plague doctor mask the Grum Reapur mask was born. Since starting the project the Grum Reapur Club on facebook has amassed a large family around the idea of sharing compassion, empathy, and support for those facing the same struggles as Brad once did. The members of the Grum family refer to one another as Grums as they each espouse the message behind the toy and tell their individual stories to help inspire others on their own journey.

The toy is made of polyurethane resin and painted with a mix of alcohol inks, neon paint, airbrush and acrylic. Brad uses the toys he creates as a means of artistic therapy, helping pour his emotions and struggles out of himself and into something which represents transformation from who he was, to who he is, in a symbolic gesture of overcoming the self-imposed desire to meet death before his time.

On his journey he discovered the wonders contained within philosophy, anthropology, psychology, spirituality and sociology and further represents these ideas within his Mandy Men sculpt, designed to address the emotional turmoil that is hidden behind the stone exterior that many men try to present. This was because his own inability to understand and process his emotions took him originally into that dark place that lead to his meetings with death. This latest drop and its bloody pink appearance represents the impact that taking entheogens caused on him, a blast of serotonin so strong it lead him to have severe panic attacks that resulted in a stay in hospital, culminating in the sobriety that hadn’t been realized before. They mark the transition from one state of being to the next, a personal transformation if you will. These will be available HERE on Friday, January 7th at 12Noon PST and will be priced from £35-£77($47-$104) a pop!