New York Toy Fair 2014: Tenacious Toys Photo Coverage

Eric Nocella Diaz, fellow business owner (Argonaut Resins) and fellow local, sculpting live at Toy Fair.

Toy Fair is always exhilarating and exhausting. We get to see old friends, make new connections, check out new products, plan collaborative projects. This year, 2014, was the first time I personally felt I was a part of something important and bigger than myself. Instead of wandering around alone, picking up free plastic giveaway crap from large manufacturers, I was meeting with the people who really make stuff happen in the toy world. And I'm a part of it now, helping make things happen. I'm being very vague here but since you read my blog, you'll know when I start talking about big projects....

Anyway, in this post I'll throw in a few pics but I have a nice selection of about 50 pics from Toy Fair at the following link:

Click here to view our pics from Toy Fair 2014

Steph gets a big thumbs-up from Evan, owner of Mimoco. Evan started his business the same year as we did.

left to right: Sean Gallagher (toyasobject.com), Klim Kozinevich (bigshottoyworks.com) and Digger Mensch (formerly of Art Asylum, here at Toy Fair consulting with theloyalsubjects.com). Three dudes who could easily execute any possible design project, and blow you away with the results.

Jonathan Cathey (theloyalsubjects.com) in between meetings

it wouldn't be Toy Fair if I didn't spend a few hours running around acting like a total jackass...

INSIDE TOY FAIR: Live art by the Elite Gudz crew

I was really excited when, at the last minute, I heard that the artists from Elite Gudz had been tapped to perform live art and customization in the Designer Toys aisle of the NY Toy Fair! The platforms for this project are the Mannequinz you see in the following shots.

Elite Gudz, headed up by street artist/designer/entrepreneur Phetus, is a Long Island, NY-based creative studio. One of their many projects is the Concrete Immortalz comic book. Their roster of artists includes some of the best and brightest of NY-area street artists from all walks of the art world: Phetus' resume spans the fashion, design & comic book worlds, Rolo works in illustration and fashion, Mr Den is a tattoo artist, sculptor & painter, Brian works on comic books and handles PR for Elite Gudz, Narek's a digital painter & illustrator, my buddy NEMO, of course, is an independent sculptor & painter extraordinaire who I've mentioned countless times.

Toy Fair got in touch with Elite Gudz not so long ago and offered them a spot so they could show attendees some art in action. I have to say, their booth does lend quite a bit of street cred to an otherwise all-business convention.

Elite Gudz setting up early Sunday, the first day of Toy Fair:

Rolo gets to work on a Wall Lord-themed Mannequin:

Narek, NEMO & Phetus starting their projects:

Rolo cannot be stopped, he just bangs out the most amazing illustrations in minutes:

Mr Den sometimes smiles.

But even when he does, he somehow still looks like he might rip your arms off. He's a really nice guy, I swear:

NEMO in his element, pushin clay:

Phetus at the start of what looks like a very colorful Mannequinz project:

I told you Rolo works fast. The dude's a phenom:

If you can, stop by booth #4954 on the lower level of the Javits to check out the artists at work!

I am sure Elite Gudz will be posting up pics of the finished Mannequinz on their website after Toy Fair.

You can also fan them on Facebook.