ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Who knew our state capital could throw such a massive art block party? And what exactly is 2nd Saturdays?

Every month, galleries in Sacramento stay open for an art walk late into the evening, transforming the city streets into Sacramento’s largest art event. Second Saturday is a night to wander about, visit galleries and have fun. You can meet artists, people watch, socialize and perhaps buy a piece of art or two.

After checking out the SaraJane gallery for the Annie Owens and Amos Oaks show, I headed off to Upper Playground to see who was on their walls. The Sacramento shop is UP’s 6th location and on this occasion, they were hosting an exhibit by Santiago-based pop surrealist, Basco. The retail area of UP was pretty packed, and shirts by Jeremy Fish and Sam Flores were flying off the shelves. What was with the uncredited Joy Division Unknown Pleasures graphic, though, I wondered?

After passing by an experimental theremin street ensemble, I followed a crowd into Body Tribe Fitness, an exercise studio that had, for the evening, traded its benchpresses for installation art. This place was brimming with good energy. Designers mingled, and art was priced to sell. I spotted plush toys and papercraft immediately. This is where I ran into Cinder, who I could have sworn I’d seen the prior weekend at The Maker Faire. Alas, must have been a doppelgänger.

Cinder had a range of media available: from papercraft Hakubots (nee Cinderblox) to bunny paintings to hand-carved tiki pencils. Expect to hear more from him as he finishes transitioning his MySpace page to a Blogspot blog. I’ll be staying in touch and bringing you more of Cinder’s Hakubots–which are scheduled to get a rat rod makeover later this month. There was a communal spirit in this gallery. I purchased the Hakubot (above right), and Cinder planned to use the cash to get one of Nicolas Caesar’s zombie plushes (also shown in the photo).

Nicolas Caesar seemed to be holding court with a small crowd at all times, but was super-friendly and stopped for a photo-op and quick chat. Said Nic: “I grew up on Creature Features, plastic toys, horror decals, comic books and ghost stories. My art is a reflection of that era.” According to his website: Nicolas had “worked as a knife salesmen, tour guide for the Winchester Mystery House, and did the taxes for Tiger Woods but he couldn’t escape his destiny being the wild and spooky artist he is today.” Nicolas updates his Scary-Art site daily with new paintings and plush toys (hand-sewn by his wife, Sarah Karas). If you think you can’t afford original art, I encourage you to check out his shop. There’s stuff within my budget, and remember, I’m a toy writer. Which reminds me, I ran into an old friend, Mitch, who I hadn’t seen since our days producing medical journals in a stuffy South Bay office some years back. Mitch is now a happy gym teacher. Hear that, kids? Want to teach P.E. or write about toys? Stay in school!

I’ll leave you with this image: ceramic underpants by Emma Luna at the 20th Street Gallery. With “fancy panties” selling for $350 and “stack pastel washcloths” for $1,200, it has me wondering if I should cruise by a construction site and try to dip some knickers in cement.

Stay tuned for the next adventure as I rove around northern California in search of art, toys and art toys.