Juxtapoz, May 2006

From the Island of Misfit Toys

February 10-April 15, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art + Design, LA, CA

It’s hard to find a representational artist today who hasn’t made the cross-over from painted canvas to vinyl figurine. In the process, the contemporary mega-trends of designing and collecting art toys have come to enjoy validity as refined, relatively affordable, and, arguably, even rite-of-passage pursuits. But for all their perky popularity, even the most limited and coveted toys almost never claim one-of-a-kind status – until now. From the Island of Misfit Toys, a two-month-long mixed-media extravaganza at Otis College of Art + Design, showcased 11 artists’ expertly crafted, lovably oddball one-off figures and raised the bar for the toy-as-fine-art medium. Featuring sculptures, live music, painting, and video art by Elizabeth Berdann (blu), Deborah Brown, Nathan Cabrera, Jonathan Callan, Dan Goodsell, Kelly Heaton, Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz, Jeroen de Vries (Jevries), Anne Walsh, and 8 Bit Weapon, the show got its name from the beloved 1964 stop-motion-animation rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. In that Christmas classic, Santa rescues mismanufactured castoffs and delivers them to loving homes; in this art show, the Ben Maltz Gallery did the same good deed. Between Brown’s pearl-wearing giraffe girl, Cabrera’s Star Wars – inspired toxic warrior, Jevries’ radio-controlled, dancing ’67 Impala, and Heaton’s Surrogate in a cloak made from 64 Elmo dolls, it was an “anything goes” display of wacky, nostalgic artistry. And even in a consumer-driven, mass-produced culture, From the Island of Misfit Toys dared to point out that there is always a place for handmade objects, suggested that beauty can be realized through imperfections, and provided a terrific dose of irregularity and humor to the art world.