Hey Good Looking
Toby Leon
100% digital paper
Original Print, 60.96 x 81.28 x 0.25 cm
Limited Edition of 50
Toby Leon
Return Policy
15 days money back guarantee
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• You're welcome to return or exchange any items in your order — open a return request within 7 days of delivery • All returned items must be delivered back to us within 15 days of delivery in their original condition • Please don’t send anything back before submitting a return request • Feel free to send back your items after we have reviewed and approved your return request • After we receive your returned items, we will notify you that we're satisfied with the condition of the returned item(s) • After we approve your return, you will be refunded via your original payment method within 1 week — includes processing time between our bank and yours
About Toby Leon
We imagine history into existence every day. Shaping the world around us as we go. And I remake histories with every piece. From a motley crew of tales tall and true. A melange of myths, signs and symbols. Every one ripe for my kitsch confections, which could all be legends one day...
Every piece I create is true. Sourced from truth and grounded by it. But never real. Reality's a fiction we're all subscribed to, which doesn't make it any less true. And that's the thing about the truth. Or the past. It moves in both directions. Myriad, in fact. Never sitting still or doing as it's told. Forever questioned, dissected, reframed and upended. Queered and inverted. Packaged and performed. Told, retold, adapted then sold. Evolving, like everything else. Which is why I like to think my art exists outside of time. Reaching for infinity. Not reality. A kaleidoscope of mish-mashed truths, which are only as surreal as we choose to make them...
Toby LeonAbout the Product
The carousel in Hey Good Looking becomes a symbol of childhood innocence and carefree delight. And the carousel actually has a rich history dating back to medieval times. It was a tool for knights to practice their jousting skills, a symbol of chivalry and bravery. Today, it represents a momentary escape from reality, a brief respite from the trials and tribulations of life.
In "Hey Good Looking," the carousel becomes a symbol of childhood innocence and carefree delight. A momentary escape from reality. A brief respite from the trials and tribulations of life. Seen here ferrying a small dinosaur skeleton round and round, a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Adorned with a blue bow, the dinosaur becomes an even more playful nod to the curious nature of existence - the juxtaposition of life and death, the transient and the eternal.
The carousel is not just a ride, but a menagerie - butterflies, cheetahs, chimps, and lizards - representing the diversity and interconnectedness of life. The three adults, dressed in fabulous clothes to momentarily recapture their youth, embody the human desire for joy, connection, celebration and without any kids in the scene, we find this carousel ride speaks to the mercurial nature of the ageing process. With each revolution of the carousel, we find a mirror of passing years. And with each passing year we wonder, will we become who we hoped we would? Will we ever settle into our own skin and find happiness within? All of these present and critical personal challenges are given the space to let go at carnivals and funfairs. So while ageing is often associated with decline and loss, it’s reimagined here with grace and love — as a callback journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
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Series Statement
My digital collage series, "Candy Babel’s Carnival for Kidults" is a metaphorical midway. Drawing from the ancient narrative of the Tower of Babel, a monument of human audacity that was splintered into a mélange of tongues and cultures, I find connection with echoes of the travelling circus — bringing together disparate groups of people ‘under one tent’. In this reconstructed Babel, the tower becomes a stage, a spectacle, where the othered and the marginalized, the 'freaks,' dare to exist in their full, vibrant humanity. And people pay to see it. Encapsulating the essence of play in its purest form — joyous, unifying, transformative.
In this carnival, play isn’t recreational, it’s revolutionary. The carnival becomes a tableau vivant, where each performance is an act of rebellion and acceptance, a safe space in the most vulnerable of places — on stage. The queer, the different, the non-normative, can all find a home here, shining stars in this periphery.
I present to you a kaleidoscopic world that basks in its rainbow otherness. Revelling in its queerness. Through this work, I hope to engage in a dialogue about the myriad ways in which we express and experience our humanity. I aim to challenge perceptions, to provoke thought, and to celebrate the beautiful complexity of our existence. Come, join the carnival, and rediscover the world through the vibrant lens of Candy Babel's Carnival for Kidults.