Held in Nolito New York (just skirting Soho) last Friday (April 22nd, 2011) was this years Toy Street event. Conceived and created by the Cookies-n-Cream mob  this was the events second year and drew a huge crowd over its 8 hour opening time. Playing host to tables such as Myplasticheart, Kidobot, suckadelic, Mishka, and ToyTokyo to name a few, the event also attracted artists such as Lou Pimentel, and Steve 'Sketchbot' Talkowski.

I want to start off by congratulating Cookies-n-Cream for creating this event and putting so much effort into not only making the event a success but helping to promote the Art toy world. In response to feed back from last years event, they dropped the cover charge to get in, but still kept the cost of having a presence there to a minimum, which definitely increased foot traffic and I'm sure spending. The lack of cover charge also allowed for a more diverse crowd of people, passers by checking out the wares, grannies buying prints, all the good stuff you would expect from a NYC based show.

My only criticism of the event was the space used, let me clarify, not necessarily the space used, but the way the space was presented. Although a lot of the art found in the toy art world comes from an urban or street culture, it does pertain more to a gallery-esque space, less of an art fair vibe. My over all feeling was one of a jumble sale (garage sale i guess in translation - although this isn't really close enough). The surroundings were drab - boards or curtains could have cured this, and the tables looked cheap, a weird juxtaposition for $100+ toys/art pieces. I have to wonder if this is a reflection of the direction in which the scene is turning, far away from the Kidrobot custom shows of old where a crystal dunny custom would be on display.

The plans for next years event are to expand to become a two day event, which would be awesome, and to expand to a larger space.

Again a big congratulations to all involved. I hope this event continues to grow and I will throw my full support behind next years extravaganza.

www.thetoystreet.com