Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams brings his love of vinyl art to Toronto

Pharrell Williams has always kept busy (the Grammy winning musician is also a fashion designer), and his newest project stands to cause a lot of excitement in Toronto's art scene. The Design Exchange has teamed up with Williams to curate and present This Is Not A Toy, an exhibit dedicated to vinyl designer toys. The non profit organization has set up a Kickstarter campaign with Williams to help them fund the multifaceted, star studded exhibition set to include the work of KAWS, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, FriendsWithYou, and more.

It turns out Williams is obsessed with designer toys. The Kickstarter, which has set a $75k goal, champions urban vinyl toys that "are not meant to be played with" and instead challenge expectations and explore the line between commercialism and contemporary art. The DX curators describe an elaborate exhibit featuring interactive installations - to be played with. Their enthusiasm can be forgiven, as the new-ish artform could be as hard for curators to describe as it would be for some viewers to understand. The scope of art is changing as a new wave of collectors signing the cheques emerge, and the grandscale February exhibit could - and hopefully will - lead to many more of its kind in Canada.

Rewards offered on Kickstarter include the basics like tote bags, stickers, and exhibition passes, plus designer Munnys, a Munny customization workshop package, and more.

Donate or find out more about the plans for This is Not a Toy here.


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