If you ever thought dolls were for children, the Toy Face Tour which comes to Bengaluru this weekend, will have you changing your mind in a jiffy. Visual artist Amrit Pal Singh brings his latest collection of toy faces to the city after stops at Delhi and Mumbai.
Doll faces were a happy accident for Amrit. “I have been working in the design space for last the 12 years — from card games and t-shirts to publications and fin-tech apps. In 2020, I was working on a lot of illustrations and I crafted this style,” says the Delhi-based artist, adding, “I put out these illustrations titled Toy Faces on my socialsand they became a big hit.”
Toy Faces by Amrit Pal Singh. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Soon enough, Toy Faces were getting picked up by members of the design and tech community worldwide. “I was licencing these illustrations and getting a lot of commissions too. The pandemic was underway and the idea of a digital identity was picking up steam; people also wanted to have a fun representation of themselves.”
“I wanted to create a series which was diverse. At that time, a lot of things were happening which impacted the art scene, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and since I was creating my work on a purely digital medium, it became popular in the tech community.”
Toy Faces by Amrit Pal Singh. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Amrit says it was only in 2021, on someone’s suggestion that he tried Toy Faces as NFTs, not realising their success would skyrocket. “After a year of commissions and commercial projects, the popularity of the NFTs inspired me to transform my work into an art practice. I was making Toy Faces of those who inspired me; my first few faces — Frida and Van Gogh, my favourite artists — were auctioned and highly sought after. I began to focus on creating NFTs and was lucky enough to be discovered by a publication.”
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The Toy Face Tour marks the completion of Amrit’s 100th NFT, modelled on the late artist MF Husain. “I saw MF Husain in 2002 when I was in class IX. He had come to my school and while there sketched a piece that remained in our art room as an inspiration. I grew up looking at it and it was an honour to officially collaborate with his estate on this project. Similarly, the artist Amrita Sher Gill was a part of my life growing up in Delhi. A huge body of her works is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, plus a road near my school is named after her. I ended up being fascinated by her life.”
Visual artist Amrit Pal Singh. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Amrit credits his art teacher in school for realising his potential. “I didn’t do realistic paintings but my teacher appreciated my ideas and I ended up illustrating the school magazine. I did environment-based sketches and participated in many competitions,” says the former student of Delhi Public School on Mathura Road in Delhi. “I used to watch cartoons growing up. I remember watching Lion King and being fascinated by the art form and what could be done with it. That exposure led me to pursuing animation courses in Delhi and Canada.”
The Toy Face Tour debuts seven new faces, including MF Husain and Amrita Sher Gill, and will also display around 25 other faces made by Amrit. “While crafting collector’s items, I was creating my personal favourites from music, literature and history, but for this show, I decided to go back to what got me started in the first place — artist toy faces.”
The exhibition will showcase a collector’s Toy Room complete with life-size teak wood furniture, accessories and toy faces printed on canvas. Merchandise such as pins, prints, totes and tees will also be available.
Toy Faces by Amrit Pal Singh. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Most NFT exhibitions are presented digitally, but we wanted to break that notion and present everything in a more tangible form. The first goal of the show was to introduce the art community to my work and the second was to show how digital art can be presented in a different format.”
Amrit says that’s the same reason the exhibition was being held in a resto-bar. “Our previous choice of galleries was well attended by members of the art community, but not too many members of the public. Bangalore is a tech-forward city with many people from the industry. It is also home to my biggest NFT community, that’s why I wanted it to be more of a public experience.”
The Toy Face Tour presented by Method and Hefty.art will be on display at Church Street Social from July 7-23.
