Today is Art Day unveils new art merchandise at NY NOW
Today is Art Day's David Beaulieu at NY NOW
At last week’s summer 2019 NY NOW home/lifestyle/handmade/gift market trade show at New York’s Javits Center, Today is Art Day, the Quebec City-based action figure supplier focusing on great artists, unveiled the latest additions to its growing catalog with Mary Cassatt--its first American artist--and two non-artist figures in William Shakespeare and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The company also introduced a second Vincent Van Gogh figure, this an unpainted do-it-yourself version. But it also expanded its line with a pair of “Bucket List Scratch Posters.”
“It’s like movie scratch-off posters that you scratch off boxes to reveal movie images after you’ve seen the movie,” said Today is Art Day founder/CEO David Beaulieu. “We’ve revisited the concept with great artwork.”
The Art History scratch poster features 100 masterpieces that are hidden by foil and revealed when the foil is scratched off after the painting is seen in person. The Vincent Van Gogh scratch poster has 40 of his most famous masterpieces including early works, self-portraits, still lifes, portraits and landscapes, which are likewise scratched off when they are viewed.
“It’s the new poster you didn’t know you needed!” said Beaulieu. He also pointed to 10 new pins featuring iconic artwork images (from Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Edgar Degas’ Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers, Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, Piet Mondrian’s Compoisition II in Red, Blue and Yellow, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte, and Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Straw Hat and The Starry Night) and six new pop-up cards (The Birth of Venus, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, The Scream, and Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Aries and The Starry Night).
“They bring the paintings to life,” Beaulieu said of the cards.
Meanwhile, he was holding an election in his exhibitor’s booth to determine his next figurine. The nominees were Mozart, Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Charles Darwin, with Darwin perhaps having an edge by holding a turtle in his hand.