This weekend’s auction features a ton of great art toys (AKA Designer Toys AKA Urban Toys)! If you’re not hip to the more avant garde side of art, that might be a new term for you. For decades, toys were toys and art were art and never the twain shall meet. That changed at the turn of the century, and the world of collecting is better for it. Back to the Past is here to explain just what an “art toy” is – and why you should be checking out not just this weekend’s auction, but our eBay store and online gallery for even more of them!
How Designer Toys Came To Be
The concept of Art Toys originated in Hong Kong in 1999, at an exhibition held by artist Michael Lau at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. An established painter, he chose an uncommon medium for this particular collection: 12” G.I. Joes. He had customized the figures, ninety-nine in all, with hip-hop streetwear fashion and styling. The show was a hit and traveled the world, visiting Taiwan, Japan, and France.
Hong Kong toy store owner Raymond Choy took notice. With his company, Toy2R, created the LEGO/Playmobil influenced Qee line. These oversized vinyl figures helped to formalize the format of art toys. You start with a generic body style, usually anthropomorphized animals or generic minifig-esque humanoids. Then, you bring in artists and let them go wild. You might give them a theme, to create a curated collection, but other than that you let them design whatever they want on that generic body. From there, a limited run of the figure with that design on it is created. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The most common medium is soft vinyl, but anything you can make toys out of gets used.
What Kind of Art Are Art Toys?
There are two art movements primarily represented in art toys: lowbrow and urban. Lowbrow art is a surrealist pop art style heavily influenced by underground comix, punk rock, and hot rod culture. The term was coined in 1979 when Rip-Off Press (famously home of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic) published an art book entitled The Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams. Robert Williams, whose paintings were featured in the book, had chosen the name as an ironic contrast to the “highbrow” art galleries and publications that refused him. But he inadvertently granted the movement he was part of a name, one which sticks to this day.
Urban art is a catch-all term for the popular art of cities. The usual common denominator of these art styles is that they grew out of activities seen as vandalism. Murals, graffiti tags, and other art pieces in public spaces, not always approved by the owner of the property they’re displayed on, are the basis for the movement. Over the last thirty or so years, it has gained increased recognition and popularity, with London’s famous Tate gallery holding a “paint the outer walls of our museum” show in 2008. Urban Toys are designer art toys that specifically use this style. All urban toys are art toys, but not all art toys are urban toys.
These two underground, outside-the-system movements lend themselves very well to art toys. After all, the whole concept of “toys for adults” was underground itself not so very long ago.
Where To Buy Designer/Art Toys
Suffice to say, art toys aren’t something you’ll find at Wal-Mart. For new specimens, your best bet is to order them directly from manufacturers like Kidrobot, Toy2R, and Medicom! Smaller artists sell directly through their social media accounts. You’ll want to be pretty quick on new releases, since the whole idea is that there won’t be more after the initial release.
Which means older designs can only be found on the secondary market. Since these toys are high-end objet d’art, you’re not likely to find them at garage sales or thrift shops. No, designer toys are the province of auction houses and galleries like Back to the Past. Our June HiBid auctions serve as a teaser for a gorgeous collection that is also coming to eBay and GoBackToThePast.Shop in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to our social media @b2pcollect to find out when exactly they go up. And if the prices you’re seeing inspire you to sell your own collection, drop us a line and let us help you sell it!