Imaginary Vintage Toys of Randy Regier

Randy Regier is an artist who makes vintage toys that didn’t actually exist, but certainly could have. Regier’s range of imaginary toys is shown through the eyes of a child attempting to make sense of the craziness in our world. He quotes from The Cultural History of Toys, a 1928 essay by German literary critic, Walter Benjamin:

Children do not constitute a community cut off from everything else…their toys cannot bear witness to any autonomous separate existence, but rather are a silent signifying dialogue between them [children] and their nation.

For Regier, these words ring true beyond toys, extending to “all manner of objects – artifacts – from our collective past that are formed and fabricated by human hands and intentions.”

These are fantastic, from the authenticity of the production to the details of the packaging. I particularly enjoy the names of the fake companies (Gypco, Shytee Dae, Crapstar) and the not-so-subtle social commentary. I would love to see some of the skilled toy customizers in our scene attempt provocative projects like this.

Check out Regier’s lastest works: Hecho en Maine (the artist currently lives in Portland Maine) here and Paradox Lost here. Click through for a full survey of the imaginary toys. Wonderful.

[via How to be a Retronaut]