(Gino Joukar, founder of T.A.G.)

Entering the corporate office of Toy Art Gallery, Gino Joukar gives us an unadulterated look into the birth of designer vinyl's, customations, and a domain of collectables that make Michelangelo's David look like a Kmart branded shelf item. T.A.G. evolved to bridge the gap between the high-end, seasoned collectors who can bankroll a $300,000 KAWS Companion purchase to a teenager who is excited for a $30 Jumping Brain Vinyl figure. Gino constructed a gallery and product line into a need for fans of all type. Through years of development, T.A.G. built a business model where demand comes from all levels of the socioeconomic bracket.

Even non-collectors can enjoy T.A.G. as a space to learn and explore the designer toy scene that once laid dormant through a very exclusive market. Gino shares some extremely rare designer toy collections to a public audience without any notion of exclusivity. A lifestyle that was and often remains a secretive industry, obtaining information on specific releases a few years ago was virtually impossible if you didn't know someone deeply involved in the trade.

T.A.G. is Gino's consummate expression of decades of collecting that transpired to an informative platform for any art lover. Showcasing and collaborating with the pioneers of the early Kaiju and soft vinyl figures, he introduces a very illicit toy industry that no one in the U.S. has ever tried before. Through T.A.G.'s collaborative and collective partnerships with established designers and artists such as Mark Nagata, Emilio Garcia, Blamo, Paul Kaiju, Sketch and many more, Gino helps instrument a movement in the designer toy world a channel that supports a very wide audience.

(Over $10k worth of collections on a 4 x 6 table)

Splattered around his office is a time continuum of artwork, art figures, and items that have yet to establish any label besides contemporary art. Sitting inside the foundation of T.A.G. is a bunkered museum that should be recorded into the Library of Congress' historical collections. Conceptually, Gino has deconstructed the dystopia of an exclusive trade world to a diaspora that is centered in Los Angeles.

T.A.G is the place where discriminative thoughts and prejudice among ideologies has become extinct. It's one man's beauty of the world being shared with us.

To find out more about Gino and his Toy Art Gallery visit:

7571 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
http://www.toyartgallery.com