There is a trend underfoot: designer toys or urban vinyl are becoming mainstream. These aren’t mass produced toys that you’d find in bigbox toy stores, in fact to call them “toys” is a bit misleading: these are pop art sculptures that happen to use toys as canvas.
Chances are you’ve seen urban vinyl toys. They are collectible figures and toys, made from vinyl or plastic, designed by both budding artists and famous ones alike. The whole thing got started in the late 1990s when Hong Kong artist Michael Lau created the first urban vinyl figure from an underground comic, which looked like a custom-made GI Joe action figure. After friends raved about the unique toy, one thing led to another and a genre was born. Now, you can find artworks by artists like Takashi Murakami, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Coop, KAWS and Pete Fowler as urban vinyl.
This whole trend is captured by Ivan Vartanian in his new book Full Vinyl: The Subversive Art of Designer Toys. Ivan called the movement “subversive” because:
… we realized a consistently recurring theme: the act of subversion. Either the content of the work itself is subversive or the means of production is. The producers are subverting rules by how they work and the nature of their figures. Mass-produced toys are replaced by small-scale productions. Band-released “limited editions” are worthless compared to “insider picks.” Cute and pop characters have an erotic, aggressive, or gruesome element. High-brow is mixed with low-brow art.
Full Vinyl is like a who’s who of the urban vinyl movement: it has over 400 color photos of vinyl toys from the some of the most famous artists in the industry. True to form, the book comes with a corrugated cardboard cover (just like the box those toys come in!) and a cute vinyl squid keychain to boot!
But enough readin’, let’s see a couple of examples from the book:
Urban vinyl figures by Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup:
From Junko Mizuno and KAWS:
This fun one is from Nathan Jurevicius:
Last, but not least, from Pete Fowler:
That's not all: HarperCollins is kind enough to sponsor a book giveaway to kick off the launch of Full Vinyl. If you want a FREE copy of the book, please leave a comment on your most favorite urban vinyl artist/creation (you can mention a few, but please one comment per person) - top 10 comments will get a free Full Vinyl book (Note: I can only ship to US addresses, though).
And please, visit the website: Full Vinyl to order.
The review above as well as the giveaway are sponsored by HarperCollins.
Either way, The Nathan Jurevicius creation (urban vinyl sushi chef) has to be my favorite, followed closely by Pete Fowler's middle character (looks kind of like The Rock from the Fantastic 4 trying to go on a diet).
Cool contest.
The 1/2 bones, 1/2 organs is definitely my favorite. Very detailed and creative! The contrast in color also adds a lot, I think.
The sushi character is quite creative as well.
they just look fun.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o248/Teapotfox/atmetropolis.jpg
How interesting, to see this review just a couple of days later. :) Incidentally, so many of bOINGbOING's coolest links come from you, I eventually found my way to the source. You're a very fun read!
http://www.xuss.net/2004/softv/Davy/
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/artoftoy_1931_110350084
It would be nice if I win a copy of this book. =)
Thanks for the kind words, Eva! BB rocks!
People are fed advertising day in, day out. News media nowadays is nothing more than paid advertising. You can't go anywhere without being fed something someone wants you to buy. Not even this blog.
This is not an unannounced ad masquerading as news: I fully disclose the fact that it is a sponsored review.
Anyways, I've been reading about these things all evening since my original reply (above). I found this one by Roberto Jwareghi:
http://www.cameroncollectibles.net/prodimages/AFranken_Monkey_Green_Lg.jpg
I like this one for a few reasons; it is cool looking, it's interactive, and it glows in the dark! Very unique from the other ones I was seeing.
I also like bearBricks, kubricks, and (the ex) itroduced me to a hilarious spin off "tofuBrick".
As the toys enter the mainstream they have gained a lot of polish, distribution is wide, and money is being made.
Some folks dislike blind-boxing, but I've become obsessed with buying these little guys up, and opening them up in the store, or before I leave the parking lot!
For Xmas I gave about 20 of them to family. One such gift made my cousin think I was introducing her to some cult, because of the odd website of one of the producers.
Vinyl Toys are odd... sometimes thought provoking... fun to collect... fun to give... and an can become an expensive habit.
Eric N.
Click my link to see photos of a few of my Dunny's.
British illustrator James Jarvis designs some 'neat' vinyl figures, you can check out his company Amos Toys:
http://www.amostoys.com
Do you know if James Jarvis is covered in the Full Vinyl book?
P.S.1: Does anyone remember Sony's Time Capsule toy project?
http://shift.jp.org/063/timecapsule
P.S.2: Oh yeah, great contest!
Baseman's also a fav, although I enjoy his artwork in frames better.
I'd love to have one of those books.
Peace,
Noel
I'm also a huge fan/collector of Tim Biskup and Nathan Jurevicius stuff.
The sushi chef is hilarious! I want one for my computer desktop...!
--TwoDragons
Not only was it a sick series of figures (speaker-incorporated figures appearing in everything from jerseys, hoodies and track jackets to other more abstract figures barely resembling people at all), but all of the figures were real, working speakers, allowing for stereo hookup. The different members of the series incorporate everything from one small to three substantial speakers, so anyone could collect them as they wish, compiling their own stylish speaker system in the process. If any urban vinyl took form and function to their advantage, it'd be the speaker series. Definitely whats up.
http://ccgi.firewyre.force9.co.uk/brassgoggles/?p=254
I'm afraid I can't enter (being in the UK) but I just wanted to let others know about Doktor A's stuff. It's quite different from a lot of other, more flat-coloured vinyls.
http://www.potatostamp.com/images/qeefrontsm.jpg
Junk Mizuno of course, and Pete Fowler's Monsterisms are among my favorites...and who could forget the smorkin' rabbits!
One more thing: Alex, while I would be annoyed at the shameless plugs if they related to unneat topics, I do feel that free books on new pop art forms are quite neat. As long as the subjects relate to your theme (neatness), and you clearly label them, I personally have no problem with you getting a little help from sponsors every once and a while.
http://tinyurl.com/ybvjnf
His "Mysterious sighting in the Thames!" is a close second but also check out his "Professor Teslastein", "The Automatic Girl", "Autumn Mummy" and "Copperpod" amongst others.
I'm also not in the US either (although I can provide a US shipping address which might qualify me ;) ).
This book looks awesome I have a met and worked with some of the artists I would have to say that Nathan J has some extremely fertile imagination and an amazing sense of line and color He is my personal favorite I have insane ammount of respect for Michale lau and his ability to constantly reinvent his style
http://www.spanofsunset.com/store/html/9.html
Then again, a Cheshire Cat would have been nice. It's sold out now.
http://www.spanofsunset.com/store/html/330.html
All of these vinyl toys are cool. I'd love to have a book about them. Go HarperCollins and Neatorama!
One of my favorites: Michael Lau's first series of Crazy Children, specifically, Littlewest. She is one tough hoodrat.
One that Needs to be a part of my collection: Chax Colony's Gloomy Bear big bloody plush or vinyl.
One that makes me proud: SUG, Portland's hometwon hero!
You've been notified by email - those who qualify will get a free Full Vinyl book courtesy of Harper Collins. If there are any left over, I'll go back to the list of commenters. Otherwise, thank you for taking the time for this promotion!
"TokiDoki vs. DevilRobots Trexi PLUS" series at UrbanzToys here in Hawaii.