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I’m not the best writer, I guess that’s why I’m an artist. But I can tell you that it’s getting pretty exciting here in Dallas. Seems like the art toy people are finding each other, and Dallas art patrons are showing a lot of interest.
Our first resin show (Mod Economy Fall 2008) drew a good crowd of curious folks…but this time for The Attack of the Designer Toy Show we met a lot of people that knew about custom toys and vinyl and wanted to see what we had. Knowing that the artists sculpted and poured their own resin figures was a big bonus as the idea of owning something more one-of-a-kind seemed appealing to buyers. As usual, artists shared information on casting techniques and the mold making process with the public. We even encouraged artists thinking about toy design to try it out.
Scott Higgins
NREAZON
Nakanari
Jason Milstead
Jason Ice
The annual spring art walk was the perfect setting for Saturday April 18th’s opening reception. All the galleries were open and many made the jaunt around town to visit and see as much art as they could. At Avenue Arts Venue, Scott Higgins designed a blank DIY resin figure, Frugi, and asked Nakanari, N’reazon, Jason Ice and Jason Milstead to customize them. After lighting the shelf, we added a nice color effect to give the room atmosphere and playfulness. The custom Frugis were on the first wall as you entered the gallery.
The soundtrack for the show was put together by a local DJ (Mr. RID) who found a great mix of sound effects and music from toy commercials, as well as plenty of rocking tunes like Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Want to Grow Up.” It was the perfect compilation for this mixed crowd.
Astists Ric Bowden, Steven Vogeler, Ross Brown and Scott Higgins all had original resin figures. “Rudy,” Steven Vogeler’s resin figure, was unique in concept, an Atari joystick with cartoon legs come to life.
Ric Bowden and his Killbot 3000 came in various color schemes. The artist even had T-shirts and posters available.
Ross Brown was bringing the heat with his red devil resin figure with removable sneakers and pitch fork.
Scott Higgins took a gentle jab at cigarettes with his Smoking Lung figures.
I had two sets of Cymon and Reggie characters: the grey “expo locals” and the “street performers.” Both sets had small video monitors playing Cymon and Reggie imagery hanging next to them.
The rest of the gallery was filled with paintings by Joey Waldon. His fun paintings of sock monkeys smoking pipes and teddy bears with breasts added a surreal touch to the exhibit.
The doors opened at 6PM, and the gallery was steady till 1AM. Great crowd! The show runs through April 30th, so go check it out.
Edward Ruiz - who has written 1 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.
Artist Edward Ruiz lives and works in his studio in Exposition Park across the street from the State Fair of Texas. Along with casting resin figures, Edward enjoys designing lighting and video for rock shows and other fun events.
April 24th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Cymon and Reggie are awesome! Smoking Lungs are killer too.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I see what you did there Jeremy…lungs…killer.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Jeremy-
Thanks for the continued coverage on the resin movement.
It was a pleasure working with all the artists in the show.
Keep up the good work.
April 25th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Man, maybe I should have made the trip from Austin to Dallas for the show. Guys, can you bring your event to Austin? I wanna see cool, custom toys!
April 25th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Hey Philip ,
with the way things are going we will probably have another show in a few months, keep checking in on us we are practically neighbors (austin-dallas).
As far as doing a show in austin I would enjoy that , maybe you can recommend a space…and thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
edward ruiz
April 25th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Edward, as long as I don’t have any work-related trips I should be able to make the next show.
As to an Austin location, I suggest talking to Domy Books.
April 26th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Thanks Philip,
I’ll check them out!
April 27th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Cymon and Reggie are really great, love to see more of those!
April 27th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Thanks Sjo ! I have more ideas for those little fellows. and i have a new guy coming out, so stay tuned!!
April 27th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I implore Edward and Scott to post purchasing/commission info! People are really feeling these guys, yours truly included.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I’m on the bandwagon too, Cymon and Reggie look great. So often artists make great resin figures but something gets lost in the actual painting. This is definitely not the case with these. Amazing brushwork my friend!
April 27th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
well…gosh i don’t know what to say , I’ve been so focused on making these guys that i never really worked out how i was going to sell them…
but if your interested in them drop me a line so I can get an idea of how many to pour, i will be doing that soon, and can make sure I have one for you.
you can reach me at: avenueartsvenue@gmail.com
Thanks again to everyone !!
sincerely edward ruiz
April 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Wow! Great to see so many people digging the resin toys! I have been away for a while, and I am now playing catch up. Thanks for the support, and I am definitely will be coming out with more toys for the next show, but if you have any questions as well you can email me at Monsterbotstudio@gmail.com
thanks for your support!