Toxic Candy Art Toys by Stephane Levallois

jeremy | October 7, 2010 | Toys, vinyl | No Comments

I’ve been excited for the release of these for a while now, and I’m really happy to report that Stephane Levallois‘ Toxic Candies, with their mischievously saccharine smirks, exceed my expectations. France’s ARTOYZ has proven enough times now that a great eye for a certain je ne sais qua aesthetic and good ideas mixed with nationalism and ethics yield an excellent toy.

To those unfamiliar with Levallois’ work, Sweety, the first character in the Toxic Candies lineup is something out of Murakami’s universe mixed with an Isz from The Maxx (Props if you get that reference). She’s got articulation at the arms, neck and candy-twists. The striped paint is achieved through scoring the surface. I tend to like the look of these in matte, but I can’t help wondering how they’d appear with a shiny, candy-like gloss coating…

Liquorice is Sweety’s pal. I can’t help feeling that France is being a bit randy with his packaging, which includes “Taste it black”. OK so that’s not so different from Buff Monster’s “Tastes so good”… But then again, ARTOYZ is the same company who used the tagline “Walk like Jesus” to describe the kinetic Be@rbricks in Series 20. That would never happen in America. Let’s all go to France and write saucy things!