Lily Black’s Modded Toys at 1:AMSF

Friday night, Lily Black opened his customized toy show at San Francisco’s 1AM SF, the gallery that he stumbled upon one day on his way to grab a sandwich. Flash forward to now, where he’s their in-house toy modification teacher (sign up for classes here) and star of solo shows. Something that KFC will never understand with their double down obesity delight is that you need to sandwich the goods between two slices of talent. That’s the recipe for success. But I digress.

Too bad for me (and thus for you), I had to get out of the city and couldn’t linger in SOMA to chat with Lily, who strikes me as a refreshingly original character in the toy scene, and a funny guy at that. Check out this interview from last year where he answers the question:  “What can students expect from your Toy Modification classes?” with “Successful careers as artists. That was so funny, I’m crying as I type this.” Ha!

It’s cool to see an artist bring a three-dimensional personality to three-dimensional toys. Putting aside the acerbic humor, Lily “embarks on a journey through an apocalyptic future where the earth has frozen over and the only traces of life are bots, droids and machines.”  I’ve never seen Rocketworld IWG toys customized quite like this. The Bonsai figures are solitary and quiet. Elsewhere in the show, those feelings are echoed and enhanced with a series of 1000 hand-drawn human faces.

Click through for more snaps of the show, which runs through May 1st. Lily Black is also launching a website of his toys, though at press time it appears to be down. Stay tuned for updates. And if you’re in San Francisco, check out the figures in person. See you there next month when East Coast graffiti and design legends take it over.