
Fire and Ice Eyezon by Mark Nagata & Custom Edward the Gator by Bwana Spoons
I love a toy show with a theme. I’m especially excited about Melt Down, the first group show at SOYAL, the Scottsdale gallery co-owned by Artizona artists Emmett Potter and Spencer Hibert. The show came about as a way to create a cool art space for desert-dwellers. “It’s hard to get people out to shows, because they just don’t want to leave the nice AC of their houses,” said Emmett. “We wanted to create an environment that would be comfortable and fun to be at for people that made the effort to come out.”

Bomb Pop Parade by Emmett Potter
The show’s title, Melt Down, is a double entendre: “We wanted the feel of a winter storm meets the brutal AZ heat,” Emmet said. “Plus we all kind of have a meltdown in the summer out here.” Here in the Bay Area, it’s not even that hot, but just looking at these images makes me feel cooler. (Time to take off my nerd glasses…)

Fire and Ice by The Sucklord
SOYAL is certain to be a new force in the Scottsdale art scene, and Emmett hopes Melt Down will provide a “broad range of what to expect from SOYAL in the future”.

Yeti Jr. by Andrew Hadle
As for the fantastic artist roster, Emmett puts it: “Spencer and I are really lucky to have so many super rad friends and artists that are in the show. It’s going to be a blast!” A blast of cold air?

Mini Wolves by Cupco
Ready for the lineup? Bwana Spoons, Le Merde, David Horvath, Sucklord, Martin Ontiveros, Koji Harmon, Andrew Hadle, Grease Bat, Brian Flynn, Josh Herbolsheimer, Oliver Hibert, Spencer Hibert, Jeremyville, COPE 2, Mark Nagata, Bigfoot, CUPCO, John Black, Naoshi, Kristin Bauer, Emmett Potter, Piper Ferguson, Tara Logson, MonstreHero, Miss Lotion, KILL, Grant Wiggins, Tripper Dungan, Steve Agin, Mykil Zep and Beak.

Snowbird Return Ceremony by Bigfoot
There are a lot of snowy treasures in this show for sure. The guys are all really stoked about this original handmade Cousin Flatwoodsey by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim. It looks like Cousin’s riding Reverse Ugly on a Killer! (And that’s a sentence you need to really know your toys to understand…)

Cousin Flatwoodsey original handmade UGLYDOLL
I seriously wish I could teleport to this show, which kicks off at 7PM tonight as part of Scottsdale’s Art Walk. There are over 30 artists working in multiple mediums all united under the Melt Down concept. Besides being among cool artwork, SOYAL is keeping it chilly with snowcones, ice sculptures, drinks and food. And oh yeah, the work will be available online here after 10PM tonight. Big ups to SOYAL and all of the artists involved in the show!

EKL Bear by Tara Logsdon & Matter Cruncher by Le Merde
If you’re reading this and you have a blog or a Facebook page or you Tweet or whatever, please spread the word about this show!