JEREMYRIAD was my long-running blog about arty toys and playful design. For five years, I embedded myself into the niche culture of toy art, and I chronicled its creators and collectors on a daily basis. The blog title, JEREMYRIAD, is a portmanteau meaning “a myriad of Jeremy.” Over time, my coverage zone widened to include micro-specializations like edible art and bio-mimetic marketing, as well as bigger conversations about politics, history and art. Increasingly, I cross-pollinated my posts with other forms of art (music, literature) and tied my toy stories to current events. JEREMYRIAD.com contains 2000+ search engine-optimized blog posts, feature stories and interviews.  In 2014,  Toy Art 2.0, a unique coffee table book I edited, was independently published by VTSS Toys.

Project Details

Year 2008-2014
Role Blogger
Posts 2,000+

TOY ART

This category includes over 900 blog posts further sub-categorized by material (vinyl, resin, metal, paper, plush, wood, porcelain, 3D-printed, vintage and action figures). That’s a lot to take in! If you need to first orient yourself to the idea of toys as art, I recommend:

• The Most Amazing Online French Collection of Old Toys
• Singapore’s Mint Museum of Nostalgic Children’s Toys
• 100 Years of Children’s Art and Toy Design at the MOMA

Now that you’ve sufficiently waxed nostalgic, let’s look at toy art today!

• Step inside Selim Varol’s massive modern toy art collection here and here!
• Take a look back at Comic-Con 2012, 2011, and 2010!
• Feel the permanence of 100 Tattoos Inspired by Toy Art!

 2D and 3D ART

This category includes over 700 blog posts about 2D art and 3D art that is (or has a) playful (element), but fall outside the scope of what I define as Toy Art. Naturally, I’ve further sub-categorized this grouping into: sculpture, paintings, art multiples, edible art, product art, art books, illustration, prints, photography, music/video, art involving cats, art with an element of OCD, art on or about drugs and many other specialties.

Here are a few links to start you off.

• Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein: On Originality and Art
• Go Beyond Utility with Jeremy Hutchison
• Die Pigeons! Dye Pigeons!
• Street Art Created by Birds
• Controversial Cheese & Unsavory Sandwiches
• The Titillating Balloon Art of Nancy Davidson

DESIGN

This category includes 400+ blog posts about industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, packaging design, conceptual design and tech toys. These are all big topics that could (and do) fill up blogs on their own, so note that their inclusion here typically indicates that they feature a PLAYFUL (or dare I say toyetic) element. For the subset of design objects that are both functional and loosely or directly inspired by popular culture, I coined the term POPJECTS. Here are a few links to start you off.

• Welcome to the (Designer) Dollhouse
• The Ultimate Pinocchio Popjects
• Happiness-inducing Housewares and Footsie for Foodies
• Designer Uses Iconic Skate Graphics without Permission
• Andy Warhol Soup Cans Now Available at Target
• Million Dollar Listing: Hollywood Home Staged with Toy Art

 ART EVENTS

Here you can find almost 400 posts about 2D and 3D art shows, coverage of art-related conventions and artist signings and studio visits, Here are a few links to start you off.

• Step Inside Gary Baseman’s Home and Head: The Door is Always Open
• Ransom & Mitchell’s Mesmerizing Portraits of Contemporary Artistst
• Desire Obtain Cherish has #SideEffects in San Francisco
• New Work by Ben Frost Examines Capitalism & Consumerism
• Mark Benson Gets the Flu. We Get Conceptual Art
• Junko Mizuno Book Signing and Tattoo’d Superfan

INTERVIEWS

I love interviewing people! Only a fraction of the interviews I’ve done are hosted on my blog, but you can read over 80 interviews there. You can also read some of the interviews I did for Design Bureau magazine, and if you’re interested in that spot where toys and art meet reality TV, there’s this quartet of network interviews. Here are a few favorites from Jeremyriad:

• Product Art and Consumption Culture: An Interview with Shag
• A Playful Interview with Junko Mizuno
• Frank Talk (and a Studio Visit) with Frank Kozik
• Chicago Man Collects Toy Art Tattoos
• She’s Hardcore About Soft Toys
• David Fullarton Compounds His Apologies with Humor

EDITORIALS

Between the categories of Features and Editorials, you’ll find ~300 blog posts that are either extra heavy on content or opinion (or both).  Click here for 70+ blog posts tagged “controversy” or check out a few of my personal favorites below!

• Siberian City Uses Toys to Protest Russian Corruption
• Licensing or Lazy? The Latest Trend in Designer Toys
• Funding Toys Using Kickstarter
• What Does a Portrait of Trayvon Martin’s Killer Made with Skittles Actually Mean? (and then the follow-up)
• Blindsided: A 5-Part Industry Investigation
• Real Talk About Custom Toys

HUMOR & POP CULTURE

This combo highlights stuff that’s either funny or a mash-up of art/design and pop culture (or, in many cases, both). For instance, if you think a Rosemary’s Baby pinball game is kind of hilarious, I dedicate the following links to YOU.

• Real Life Russian Barbie Doll is Really From Outer Space
• Senhor Testiculo: He’s a Nutjob for Cancer Awareness
• Pantone Underwear: Underpantones & Pantytones
• Melvins Tour Van with Kurt Cobain Artwork on eBay
• Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures in pasta, out of paper, on fingernails, as a book, as street art, as stolen art…
• SpongeBob SquarePants Smackdown in Los Angeles
• Artist Air Purifiers (enough said)

HONORS OF THE GENRE