The Vader Project

By Johann Joseph

I managed to catch the tail end of this awesome art tour. Unfortunately, it was the very end of the tour. All 100 of these Vader masks head for the auction block in July.

The story of the project is a semi-classic tale. Dov Kelemer and Sara Jo Marks of DKE toys got together with their friend Ronnie Goldfinger, from Master Replicas. In 2006 they headed to the NY Toy Fair to meet the rest of the Master Replicas company to discuss their idea. But how do you discuss a plan to ask for 100 1:1 scale Darth Vader masks when all future plans at this point are purely concept?

Well, however they did it, the present day shows that their discussion was fruitful.

Lucky for them there were 100 of these masks that were stored in China that Master Replioca could part with. A production flaw opened the gates a bit. What came next was their "wish list" of artists that they were hoping would participate in the project. And almost all from the original 100 said yes.

Now, here they were in California with 100 helmets in their living room. They sent them out to the artists, and almost as quickly they were starting to get them back. Fast forward to 2007, right before Star Wars Celebration IV. They were asked to show this collection, but due to business decisions not their own, they were without a sponsor. So, creative control, producing and bills all landed on them.

At the time of the Celebration, they had 66 Helmets, all standing in rows. Not sure if the show was going to sink or swim. It was truly a make or break moment for these two. They had 20,000 people walk through the doors over the course of the next 5 days to see this gallery open for the first time. The show then followed the celebration to Europe and Japan, and was even showcased at Comic Con.

Some of the designs became iconic, like the Statue of Liberty designed Vader mask. The tour even went on to a record breaking showing in 2009 at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pennsylvania. That was the history of the show, and now here in the present I managed to snag a copy of the Vader Project auction book. Some of these pieces go from $3,000 to $20,000.

As I walked through the rows of these masks, I was in awe of the artists interpretation of cultural pop (some had George W. Bush and Dick Cheney with a quote "Disturbance in the Force") to just Star Wars themed masks. Amanda Visell had painted hers as the bridge of the Death Star. And Vanbeater designed his mask with a giant hercules beetle-like horn sticking out of the front. Everyone's creativity seemed to be going all out on these masks. Even Jo Hahn of Linkin Park fashioned reindeer antlers on his.

Unfortunately, the gallery didn't have the best lighting, and the masks weren't positioned to get the most optimal shots. I really hope you go out of your way to view the other designs, I wasn't able to take photos of because some were being touched up for the auction and I had a dying battery. But it was definitely something worth seeing for myself.

To see all of the helmets, visit the tour's website at www.thevaderproject.com