#DTA2019 Showcase: BREAK-THROUGH ARTIST
With Voting since ended, and winner to be announced this weekend at the 9th annual Designer Toy Awards Show (June 1st) in tandem with Five Points Festival 2019, I'd like to take a closer look at the following 9 x FINALISTS for "BREAK-THROUGH ARTIST", in the 2019 Designer Toy Awards! (*This is a Closed/Panel Voted Category).
WHAT-IS: "Presented in recognition of an artist who gained significant industry-wide notice last year. While they could be relatively new to the scene or a professional who struggled for years, their dedication to Designer Toys and making a place for themselves within the community is honored with this award. Not only should they have had a variety of outstanding releases last year, but also an increased fan base and overall visibility."
Street Art, Spray Cans and Cookie Critters are the ammunition of United Kingdom-based artist known as "CZEE13", who you can follow via his socials @ Instagram and Facebook, as well his earlier graffiti work featured on www.czee13.com.
CICK HERE for all blog-coverage of his art on TOYSREVIL.
KYLE KIRWAN is a sculptor and resin caster living in an RV traveling the United States. I first featured his unique and original "YOLO" & "Mudcat Chronicles" concepts (feeling very much indie fantasy comic books of the 80s), and have seen his art evolved to the birth of his "Willo" and "Blooms" & "Skully Blooms", and even had a chance to see his work up-close at "Choking Hazard" in 2017!
Kyle's work is also a finalist in "Custom of the Year" (Fan Voted), "Best Resin" and "Custom of the Year" (Panel Voted). Stay connected to his socials now on Instagram / Facebook ... and CLICK HERE to view all his art featured on TOYSREVIL.
French artist MP GAUTHERON's stylised aesthetics and palette is seen from painted canvases to collectibles toys, from skatedecks to makeup, and is extremely apt in showcasing her art across her socials (Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / mpgautheron.com) and especially her artwork-in-progress archived and presented on YouTube, which is exceedingly commendable, for her patience and dedication to showcasing her art, least of all her art! I am sure somewhere somehow someone is working with her on her first "original character creation", but meanwhile her traditional custom-paintwork is becoming legendary, IMHO.
MP GAUTHERON is also a Finalist in the Fan-Voted "Artist of the Year" in the 2019 DTAs.
CLICK HERE for coverage on TOYSREVIL.
OK LUNA is a Hong Kong based studio which "brings you warm characters with interesting stories," with whole backstories and world-building, for the characters to manifest unto vinyl collectibles, in a myriad of versions, both in hue and character designs. And the stable has now grown much more beyond their "JOBI" The Fox, although he remains the core company product, as far as I am concerned. They have as well just released a new "GOBI The Kid Fox" blind boxed series with China's Pop Mart.
And while the creator remains cloaked in secrecy (at least to me), you can follow their socials here: Instagram / Facebook / Coverage on TOYSREVIL.
Hong Kong-based PHILIP LEE of classicbot.com has since provided the toy-scene with a jolt of nostalgia-tech nobody knew they needed, with Apple/Macintosh-homage/appropirated collectible figure releases, leading to the current incarnation in plush (made with @dark.label.hk). Stay connected to their socials; Instagram & Facebook.
(Insert image of Philip at Thailand Toy Expo 2019 by Sayris Pibul).
When I first had the opportunity to meet Hong Kong based artist/illustrator PUCKY (at the 2016 Illustration Arts Fest in Singapore), she had just released her "Pookie Circus" vinyl figures with Unbox, and within the span of two years, has essentially exploded across Asia and China, with a serious collection of blind boxed releases with POP MART, and even larger than life-sized mall displays in China!
Her art and products being Finalists in the 2019 DTAs include:
- Artist of the Year (Panel Voted)
- Toy of the Year, Space Cat (Panel Voted)
- Best Resin, Space Cat (Panel Voted)
- Best Mini Series, Pucky Pool Babies (Panel Voted)
- Break Through Artist (Panel Voted)
- Toy of the Year, Space Cat (Fan Voted)
Stay connected to her socials; Instagram / Facebook / www.hellopucky.com / Continued Coverage on TOYSREVIL.
Cory Privitera AKA SCIENCE PATROL 合同会社 has been slinging sofubi as far back as my earliest blogpost in 2014 (*So probably much earlier...), and has since collaborated with a wide array of toy designers, including Javier Jimenez and Nathan Hamill. Stay connected to his Instagram and continued coverage on TOYSREVIL.
From the adorable baby-forms to the pastel hues, the creature creations of South Korean art toy sculptor Seulgie Lee AKA SEULGIE consistently focuses on the CUTE, starting with the sculpting and casting of her SATYR resins, into expanding into the blind box arena with Pop Mart, with her incarnations of SATYR RORY rivalling that of "Sonny Angels" soon!
Along the way, she has created "Pooltime Kitties" and "Pooltime Bunnies", and you really should stay connected to her socials; Instagram & Facebook, and of course continued coverage on TOYSREVIL (Since 2015).
Making huge splash in Asia recently, Hong Kong based illustrator turned toy-designer, YOYO YEUNG started out in the scene custom-painting art toys and her adorable bat-"YOKI" vinyl (2017), and very soon self-produced her "fox"-themed characters in resin, and eventually being made into vinyl with Unbox Industries (OMG I gag for her RABYs), and very recently announced her own "Kenneth The Fox" blind boxed series with Pop Mart.
Stay connected to her socials; Instagram & Facebook (Personal FB), and continued coverage on TOYSREVIL.
