ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

As a holiday that’s all about disguise and transformation, Halloween shares a natural association with the custom toy world. We toy artists essentially spend the entire year dressing up our Munnys and Think-Ups and MadLs and sending them out into the world, so the conjunction of these very actions with the day of Halloween was a smart bit of creative synergy. “I think that Halloween is a holiday that creative people really enjoy. You can feel free to just go nuts with your ideas, and I think that going nuts on some custom vinyl with a Halloween theme produced some really amazing pieces,” said contributing artist Taupe.

Kill Taupe and Beauty

The APW Arts gallery is, for now, an unassuming 2nd floor walk-up on NYC’s Chrystie St. - small enough to be intimate, but large enough to accommodate the assembled visitors comfortably. The space was scattered with traditional Halloween spiders and translucent rubber bugs, crawling across shelves and artwork alike. Whether intentional or not, they served as a subtle reminder that we were still looking at toys, and inasmuch, the viewers found themselves comfortable with picking up, turning around, and interacting with the toys, which would have made most curators gasp and drop their Murakami-designed monocles. Everything, however, went swimmingly. And there was candy. Outside, the streets were beginning to churn with the excitement and costumes of the Village’s annual Halloween Parade.

Cidenzo and Osiris Orion

The atmosphere was probably the most comfortable and positive that I’ve encountered in my art show adventures, so much credit goes to owner and artist Hans Yim for putting together a show that was both casual and classy. In attendance were OsirisOrion (aka Rob Ingellis), who came in all the way from Connecticut to see the show (and will be featured on next week’s custoMONDAY!), as well as his brother Cidenzo, Steve from Sketchbot, artists and gallery associates Kerry Lee and Patrick Francisco, and a handful of other local creative folks. Work from around the world was on display, as well as four Ouip figures which were shipped from Singapore. I’d never heard of the Ouip either, but it looks like a large format that’s begging for customs.

James Ivey

While James Ivey was unable to attend from his location in California, this was his very first customized toy. The process of working on the figure proved to be a revelatory one. “… I now am inspired to do many more. After completing this toy, I now have a 10″ MAD and a Qee I’ll be carving on for future shows, and possibly for sale on my web site. My toy was something that just popped out like the rest of my art.”

Bampop and Hefnatron

Coincidentally, Hefnatron’s process also involved a system of ‘popping’. “Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a Halloween themed custom toy. It originally started out as something completely different. It was originally going to be a kid dressed in a Ben Cooper style skeleton costume, but while I was sculpting the skull mask, the Phantom of the Opera’s ‘Mask of Red Death’ costume popped into my head. I got more excited about how that would look, so I decided to take it in that direction. I’m extremely happy with the way it turned out.” At least one attendee declared Hefnatron’s Masque figure to be their favorite.

Check out the complete gallery of works below, and drop on by the APW website for more photos, Halloween works that are currently for sale, and invitations to participate in future shows, which will surely be just as excellent.

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• NYC Munny Contest
• APW Arts Halloween Show Mini-Preview
• The Art of Kerry Lee
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