After having moved around the first few years and taking a two year hiatus due to COVID Five Points Festival finally, in my opinion, has finally established its identity and settled into a groove. Stably situated for the third year at Zerospace in Brooklyn the festival has become more than just a two day convention but is a celebration of the close knit designer toy community.

Bringing together artists and collectors  Five Points Festival features the very best in designer toys. There are many different styles of designer toys including Sofubi, resin sculpture, Kaiju, Customs, blind boxes, and blanks to name a few but unlike massed produced toys found in big box stores designer toys are mainly intended as display collectibles rather than for their playability. Additionally, the show is a place where fans can get original art, prints, pins and even grab get a craft beer with yearly can art designs, get a tattoo by GOOD LUCK N.Y.C, watch live painting battles, and catch an actual Kaiju wrestling match.

While it feels like Clutter does try arrange the floor space with a separation between vendors and artists those lines can get blurred when situated in the designer toy space where artists are making their toys in very limited runs so you might see a vendor running a dunny show with 1-of-1 custom figures next to an artist that has his own resin figure with a run of under 10. Though at the end of the day both feature artists unique talent and expression.

That said even though I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I wanted at the show this year my coverage is a bit longer than last year and while it is a bit more difficult splitting up coverage into distinct articles for the reasons mentioned above to avoid the article getting too long I will be splitting up my coverage into two articles this year.

Throughout the year Clutter Magazine collaborates with the premier artists and companies in the designer toy space. This allows them to continue curating a very focused show that continues to draw faithful attendees. Follow the Five Points Festival (here) and Clutter Magazine (here) throughout the year.

Finally Clutter Magazine is back on track hosting the Designer Toy awards which will be held in October and will combine the previous years the show was not able to be held!

So let’s take a look at some artists from the 2024 edition of Five Points Festival. I’ve linked to the website for each artist so if there is something you see that you like check them out!

RZP Art

www.rzpart.com
RZP takes street art to a new level by blending his graffiti style on street and vintage signs and even a pizza box and turning them into gorgeous pieces of art. RZP also offers prints and other goodies of his work.

Peter Carnegie – Cute Robot

https://www.petercarnegie.com
A new exhibitor at Five Points Fest, Peter Carnegie, was on hand to showcase his Cute Robot art. These pieces are all handmade and the process of creating these figures is intense and can take days at a time. First the figures are painted and then dried after which they are covered in acrylic and then embellished again and while the robots do come in different sizes each one is unique. Peter also had a few other pieces including a large size LEGO Stormtrooper and a Star Wars Rebel Alliance Symbol. I encourage you to check out his products.

Matthew Lineham & Big Purple Glasses

www.mlinehamart.com & www.bigpurpleglasses.com
Matthew Lineham and Carrie Winiker are New York illustrators and painters creating pop culture inspired nostalgia. They routinely attend Five Points Festival and other conventions. Their most easily spotted by their mini felt pennants which reference everything pop culture from Stanger Things and Barbie to cult classics like Labyrinth and Rocky Horror Picture Show. Their style is unique and typically has a clever ironic feel to it.

Normandie Art

www.normandiesyken.com
Another newcomer to Five Points Festival is Queens artist Normandie Syken. I really enjoyed her artistic take on classic pop culture shows and movies whether it was the classic Universal Monsters or her Pee-Wee Herman or Batman ’66 artwork. Her work has been displayed in galleries and public places such as the SVA Chelsea Gallery and the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation and she has recently had a poster release with Hero Complex Gallery. She has also self-published two picture books titled ”Little Red Witch” and ”Puss in Boots.” Along with watercolor Normandie also works with linocut artwork which she then stamps onto tees. I am a bit biased here as I personally was awestruck by her myriad of shirts in varying colors and I definitely grabbed a few shirts from her booth and I am already planning on buying a few more!

Dominick Navarra

https://www.instagram.com/dominick_navarra/
Based in New Orleans Dominick Navarra creates some truly unique wooden and metal pop culture toys, paintings, and art. Each piece is hand created with bright and lively colors. While last year his figures included Super Mario Bros., Batman, Pokemon, and Godzilla this year there were a lizard, fish, and camera added. Dominick also recently published a children’s book called ”Perfectly You”.

DROLDN (Danny Roldan)

http://droldn.com/
Danny Roldan returned to Five Points Fest with his unique style and low run prints, stickers, apparel, and custom toys. A very humble and nice person to tlak to DROLDN ‘s art is influenced by nature and his surroundings. At Five Points Festival he had a new run of Godzilla shirts, totes, and oomimoon artwork. DrOLDN also was working on a very intricately painted pieces featuring his unique style.  

The Naughty Rabbit (Elisabeth Holmes)

https://www.instagram.com/thenaughtyrabbit/
Elisabeth Holmes is another returning artists to the show. As her moniker The Naughty Rabbit suggests her art focuses on rabbit figurines but also branches out into other creatures which this year included dogs in the style of a Chinese dragon. I also really enjoyed seeing her mixed media insects that were a mix of a rabbit and a butterfly and featuring felt wings.

Toys Van Damned

https://toysvandamned.bigcartel.com/
Jason “Jungle” Diaz an independent toy maker from New Haven, CT also made his return to the show. Jason’s sculpting style is very interesting with very rough edges yet depicting his characters with clarity. Jason also often plays with different medium including foam, soft vinyl, and molded stone.  Most of his sculpture comes from the designs in his Retinal Circus graphic novel and features his main characters. Jason also plays around with other items including metal wallets and designer watches. His automatic Deep Red Diver watch with pitchfork seconds hand and his Tiffany Nautilus watch were something I would have enjoyed owning if I had a few spare dollars.

Yutoos

www.instagram.com/yutoos
If you are looking for figures with an astral theme then Yutoos is the person for you. His totems, in various sizes, are inspired by geology (as can be seen from the crystal totems) while his colors evoke the vastness of the universe.

Fetch For Donuts

www.fetch-for-donuts.myshopify.com
NYC based artist Aleana Soto is a toy designer and freelance graphic designer. She brings her colorful and eye-catching visions to life through her art and toys often working with resins. I really enjoyed seeing her color schemes on her donuts and bunnies. Her custom fetch mini bunnies Five Points Fest exclusives were a really nice touch but if those were not up your alley she also had mini bunnie keychains.

Cicada Black Studios

www.cicadablackstudios.com
Christian and Tiff owners and operators of Cicada Black Studios brought their unique 3D printed resin toys to Five Points Festival for the first time. His insect like designs (beetle, mantis, ant, etc) are all hand painted and though they are low run do come in different sizes. They also offer unpainted designs for those looking to painting their own figures. Another nice touch were the hand painted wooden boxes that housed the toys which also included a foam insert to keep your toy safe and secure.

Error84

www.instagram.com/error1984/
Error84 returned to Five Points Festival all the way from sunny California. This west coast artist specializes mainly in pins but also sells stickers, toys, apparel, and prints. Some of his designs trigger nostalgia while others feature a blend of pop culture and horror. I especially liked his Snow Blight Cotton Candy Variant pin; if someone wants to buy that for me I’ll send you my mailing address!

Elliot Lobell X Neon Creature

www.ElliotLobell.com
Elliot Lobell is a Jersey City-based animator and fabricator specializing in stop-motion animation. When not working on animated shorts he creates and sells his handmade figures. For Five Points Fest he focused on his latest creation ”Three Heads Are Better Than None” figure which featured figures painted by different artists. Elliot also had smaller paintings and Yeti wood cut outs.

47-49 Designs (Tank-Dino)

https://www.instagram.com/47_49_designs/
47-49 designs were back at Five Points Festival with their Tank-Dino character which just as the name suggests is a part dinosaur part tank parody figure that pays tribute to Japanese monsters. Their design ranged from larger vinyl figures to smaller resin versions. The smaller resin figures also featured a few different tank head sculpts to create a bit of variety. Along with their primary figure 47-49 designs also had apparel and even some neck ties.

Zimot

https://zimot.co/
I’ve never been quite sure how to categorize Zimot’s art. A mix of bright colors and abstract designs Zimot combines religious iconography, pop-culture and color that pop. His artwork is inspired by novelty items and toys from the 1930s-1980s, such as blow molds, carnival chalk, neon mod banks, monster toys, cheap injection-molded throw-away toys, mid-century decor, knickknacks, etc.