Focus on the "At-Home Art Toy" Trend Spreading on Instagram (Part 1)
MEDICOM TOY | MEDICOM TOY
Text by SHINNO Kunihiko｜Edit by KAWASE Takuro
LOUNGE /
FEATURES
June 26, 2020
This "At-Home Art Toy" project, launched by MEDICOM TOY and OPENERS, began on Instagram. Many art toy fans from Japan and around the world participated. OPENERS has carefully selected and presents outstanding posts that brought warmth to your time at home!
Did you discover anything new during the STAY HOME period? Thank you so much for your many entries from around the world for this project, where you shared photos of yourselves enjoying your time at home with your treasured art toys! All submissions were filled with love and were incredibly difficult to choose from.
Looking at the trends, KAWS-related items were, as expected, the most numerous. They could be considered synonymous with art toys, alongside BE@RBRICK. Also eye-catching were humorous works using popular characters from Star Wars and Disney, as well as posts showing people enjoying their time at home with music and art toys.
Therefore, we would like to introduce 16 diverse works selected by the OPENERS staff from the many submissions. The deciding factor was, after all, "how much love for art toys could be felt?" Please continue to spend wonderful times with your art toys.
●bearbrick_lee
This collection, which evoked the most artistic feeling, features a lineup of BE@RBRICK 1000% figures by Keith Haring, Jackson Pollock, Van Gogh, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol. The lighting is superb, making it feel like "an art museum at home!"
●299nakano
Playing darts at home. "My turn next." They expressed Charlie Brown and Linus playing together amicably using BE@RBRICK. If you look closely, the meticulously crafted miniature set is amazing! The love for PEANUTS really comes through.
●weareteambanzai
Participating from Portland, Oregon, USA. Lined up on the stairs are the DAFT PUNK 1000% BE@RBRICK figures from various releases. According to their profile, the owner is also musically active in a unit called Team Banzai.
●sunny side_noricat55
We received many submissions photographed in home gardens. Among them, the WORLD WIDE TOUR BE@RBRICK KAWS 400% made of Karuimoku real wood and the harmony with spring flowers were particularly striking. It's 100% natural material that soothes the soul.
●dar_plus
An artistic space created by displaying toys in a corner of the home. The taste is evident in the black-based furniture, DJ booth, and sneakers. Sitting on a miniature chair is the BE@RBRICK THE BEATLES 100%.
●bflv
This shot features items from A BATHING APE®️ among a lineup of BE@RBRICK 400% collections. It includes the 25th-anniversary MULTI COLOR model and collaborations with READYMADE and NEIGHBORHOOD®️!
●fsv88
In the kitchen, the muscular BE@RBRICK "Aitsu" (TATTOO) 1000% is preparing food. Waiting for the meal at the table is the BE@RBRICK Peko-chan Vintage Version 1000%. The composition using the kitchen setting is truly impressive.
●kiyoshi88
KAWS, now known as a global artist. This collection brings together BE@RBRICK KAWS 1000% figures released over the years, starting with the 1st model (bottom right) from 2002! The sheer presence of these figures, each approximately 70cm tall, is overwhelming.
●bigbotero
Participating from Vietnam. Emerging from a matryoshka doll is a girl with similarly prominent eyelashes. It fits perfectly and is quite cute! This is one of the figures from BE@RBRICK SERIES 28, released in 2014.
●johnloo
This idea is brilliant! The BE@RBRICK ANDY WARHOL "Flowers" 1000% was released just this May. This BE@RBRICK reproduces one of the series Warhol created in 1964, using hibiscus flowers as motifs, through water printing.
●ysokhrak
Everyone had wonderful ideas for their displays. Here, a KAWS COMPANION figure perched on a bowl-shaped natural wood object is incredibly cute! Combined with the scenery outside the window, it looks like Issun-boshi (a one-inch boy) about to embark on a journey into the outside world.
●shawnwkk
This submission is from Singapore. They arranged BE@RBRICK figures inspired by Hajime Sorayama's SEXY ROBOT (the one on the right is a collaboration model with Daniel Arsham released to commemorate the opening of 2G last year). The reflections of the scenery on the metallic surfaces are truly artistic.
●gorotchi
This BE@RBRICK is inspired by Korin Ogata's Important Cultural Property, the "Wind God and Thunder God Screens." It was beautifully photographed as an original museum gift sold during the special exhibition "Confrontation - Japanese Art by Masters" held at the Tokyo National Museum in 2008.
●mitihiro2525
This is a KAWS anatomical model figure that was displayed in the center of the OriginalFake Aoyama store, which sadly closed in 2013. At its feet is the UNDERCOVER HAMBURGER LAMP, and the tote bag in hand is a MEDICOM TOY 20th-anniversary item.
●laixiangpow
A professional photographer submitted a lovely photo of a bee and flowers. This "Beebrick," as the user commented, is a character by illustrator Shiko Yamada from BE@RBRICK SERIES 21, released in 2010.
●mickey10046
This is a heartwarming scene that brings a smile to anyone's face. In fact, it features the same BE@RBRICK design, with the upper body of a girl on the left and a boy on the right. The original appeared as one of the figures in SERIES 4 in 2002, and was later commercialized in a 400% size in 2012.