By: Joel Nakamura

Medium: mixed polymers on hand tooled tin panel
Year: circa 2004
Image Size: 10 × 19 inches
Unique

The use of vibrant red, stylized flames, and metallic accents echoes the texture and palette of Mexican tin art, grounding the piece firmly in folk traditions while injecting it with Nakamura’s signature punk-surreal edge.

Pooper Scooper is a wild fusion of infernal imagination and rich cultural symbolism, drawing heavily from Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) traditions and folk art aesthetics. At the heart of the chaos, a skeletal dog—grimacing and powerful—is leashed by a devilish, airborne figure, leading the beast through a hellish landscape littered with bones, flames, and surreal creatures. Surrounding them, jubilant skeletons dance with gleeful abandon, reminiscent of calaveras—playful skeleton figures central to Day of the Dead celebrations.