Play Date: Toys by Artists

AMPHI Gallery presents Play Date: Toys by Artists, a group exhibition curated by Axel Wilhite.

"Toys are the vehicles through which we make the childhood discovery that the 'world-as-it-is' isn't the only world there is," says Wilhite. "Toys make plain that other worlds are available through the imagination. It is in the imagination that all worlds become possible. Art, at its best, is where that capacity for reverie remains available to us as adults. This show is a reminder of that fundamental utility of toys and art — and in the current moment, its defense feels urgent."

Taking inspiration from the seminal 1975 exhibition Artists Make Toys, staged at the Clocktower in New York, Play Date brings together Chris Burden's Spyder-Man — which appeared in that same Clocktower show — with new toys by 69 established and emerging artists:

Dewey Ambrosino, Etty Anderson, Bob Bates, Allison Beaudry, Tony Berlant, Dani Bershan, Rochelle Botello, Jim Brown, Ian Cato, Alan Chin, Jean de Sagazan, Benedikt Fischer, Tom & Lennon Franco, Pippa Garner, May & Mik Gaspay, Steve Gavenas, Jared Goldfischer, Carlotta Guerra, Tim Hawkinson, Yoshimi Hayashi, Shawn HibmaCronan, Charles Hill, Sarah Ippolito, Ben Jackel, Billy Jacobs, Brice James, Tom Jenkins, Mark Kanieff, Noel Korten, Zaq Landsberg, Lawrence Lee, Raina Lee, Suhn Lee, Taylor Lee, Cara Levine, Jenn Lima, Huntz Liu, Erick Martinez, Lincoln Mayne, Michael C. McMillen, Scott Meskill, Maxfield Miles, Kenneth Morehouse, Maria Moyer, Gwynn Murrill, Margaret Nielsen, Paulin Paris, Heather Peterson, Laurie Pincus, Rick Potts, Alyssa Quigley, Adam Raymont, Mathis Roll, Coral Saucedo Lomeli, Tom Shannon, Masha Sheinina, Peter Shelton, Peter Shire, Laurie Steelink, Carla Tome, Audrey Turner, Ann Weber, Stephen Whisler, Axel Wilhite, Robert Wilhite, John Wu, Madam X

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog in the form of a custom "five-suit" poker deck, with each artwork represented by a card, and packaged with a booklet featuring Wilhite's curatorial essay, "Joy Ride." Published in an edition of 500 by Axel Wilhite and AMPHI Gallery, the deck is both a record of the show and a toy in its own right.

The exhibition includes two artist talks and demonstrations, on September 19 and October 3; presenting artists to be announced.