@harry_davies
What is an Art Toy?
Is it a toy? Is it art? What does it represent? Who determines its price? Luasio López answers your questions
For many, the charm of an art toy derives from the difficulty of defining it. For Luaiso López (@luaiso_lopez), Spanish graphic designer and illustrator, it’s about understanding their essence: their figurative characters used in exhibitions, events, and collected by private collectors.
To understand their nature, Luaiso shares part of the history of these iconic objects that–regardless of their shape, price or the value attributed to them personally–are becoming known to the minds and tastes of millions of people around the world.
How it all began
It was September 1999 when Michael Lau, a Hong Kong artist, exhibited his collection, Gardeners, inspired by the character G. I. Joe adapted to an urban aesthetic: tattoos, piercings and skateboards. For many people, this was the trigger for what would become the gigantic cultural and marketing wave that art toys represent today.
Soon, companies like Medicom and Kidrobot began to make their own customizable figures, attracting the interest of collectors who found in these objects–initially made of vinyl–an outlet for their passion for various pop culture characters. This, in turn, aroused the interest of museums and galleries around the world to exhibit this new form of conceptualization, and art toys were positioned as a new form of artistic expression.
Toys or art?
Opinions are still divided. However, a good starting point is to recognize the design and abstraction work behind each of them. Because they are not just replicas, but specific representations that, in many cases, are the personal manifestations of the hands behind them, and that is precisely the origin of the value they may have as collectible objects.
And yes, their designs are usually based on or inspired by toys or characters whose initial target audience is children. However, the resulting pieces have a diverse market, which does not seek them precisely to play with them, but to expose them as a personal statement about their tastes, passions and hobbies.
In the end, it does not matter what the final use of these figures is: their design is appreciated by different people, especially the creative ones.
If you want to learn how to sketch, design and manufacture one of these pieces, we recommend the course Art Toy Creation by Luaiso López (@luaiso_lopez). Their first limited edition Zombie Mario sold out a few weeks after its release in Singapore with Pobber Toys. He also designed a Popeye Zombie for Medialink on the character's 90th anniversary, and has participated in many exhibitions in which he has been recognized as a cultural reference.
0 comments