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The Showroom NYC, a new gallery space in
Manhattan specializing in the convergence
of toys and contemporary subculture art.
Overlooking the corner of 2nd Ave. and E
7th St, the Showroom opened to the public
this past month with Tag The Sytem: an exhibition
celebrating street art on the moving canvases
of the New York City subway system.
The Tag The System show follows the path
successfully cut by Toy2R and Kidrobot with
their respective Qee and Dunny exhibitions,
in which a blank production-ready toy platform
is customized by a variety of artists to
make one-of-a-kind art pieces. Tag The System’s
built-in overarching theme brought an added
relevance to this formula, in which the
design object, the artist selection and
the concept worked toward the same end:
a celebration of subway art, with heavy
participation by NYC street artists, painted
on the 20-inch miniature subway trains created
by Klim K. of Drastic Plastic. Think of
it as the alternative celebration marking
the 100th anniversary of the New York City’s
subway system.
Over 150 artists participated in the show,
with one entire wall dedicated to NYC writers
both veteran and emerging. A diverse group
of artists from other contemporary art and
toy spheres contributed as well, ranging
from James Jarvis and Maharishi to the Ron
English and Hot Wheels Graphics Team. The
results were phenomenal, showing a wide
range of diversity and inspiration. Opening
night was an invite-only, complete with
spotlights and an open bar in the restaurant
downstairs.
Tag The System ran until the end of November,
but unsold trains are available for purchase
at Toy Tokyo.com (a portion of all proceeds
are donated to charity). Look for more train
shows, including Underground Resistance
at Playlounge London beginning January 2005.
For more information, visit toytokyo.com
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