Wanna Play Tougher? Andy Sahlstrom and the Dark Side of Play

This is an English translation of an excerpt from an article on Andy Sahlstrom by Sabino Maria Frassà, first published in Italian in Il Fatto Quotidiano on August 22.

The full interview in Italian is available at this link: https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2025/08/22/il-lato-oscuro-dellinfanzia-dal-carro-funebre-alla-sedia-elettrica-i-cattivissimi-giocattoli-pop-di-andy-sahlstrom-denunciano-le-ossessioni-malate-degli-adulti/8098320/

We live in an age where reality often seems to chase — and sometimes even outpace — the most extreme visions of dystopia. Not only those imagined by Orwell, who revealed how cruelty can be cold, systemic, and rationalized, but also those staged in films such as The Purge (2013, James DeMonaco) or The Lobster (2015, Yorgos Lanthimos), where humanity, pushed to the limit, becomes a grotesque parody of itself.

Andy Sahlstrom Kid Toys

In this climate, art can only do what it has always done: inhabit its time, narrate it, sublimate it, or — at the very least — acknowledge it. More importantly, art carries the responsibility of unsettling consciences, especially those of a Western public increasingly anesthetized, at once victim and perpetrator of an exhausted capitalist system that has hollowed out symbols, language, affections, and even memory itself, now reduced to a commodity.

Can a toy, then, articulate the darkness of our time? Yes — if it becomes art. And even an object that evokes childhood can do so, when it speaks to the disenchanted, poorly grown adult within each of us. Andy Sahlstrom’s works — as he explained in an extended conversation — are far from playful provocations. They are gut punches disguised as plastic smiles. His best-known project, Kids Toys, Adult Issues, addresses the shadow side of adulthood in a language that is visually pop yet conceptually disquieting. Works such as Cozy Hearse — a funeral car modeled after the iconic Little Tikes toy — or Electric Chair, a child-sized execution chair, exemplify an aesthetic designed to fracture perception: the deliberate short-circuit between form and meaning is at once destabilizing and profoundly disturbing.

These works beckon, seduce, and then strike. They are images that return unbidden — before falling asleep or upon waking, when the unconscious is most exposed. Have we really reached this point? Do we wage war in the name of peace? Do we kill to prevent killing? In this context, irony — caustic, sharp, and unsettling — may be the last effective weapon: capable of piercing collective numbness and breaking through indifference. It is precisely with this lucid, brutal irony that Sahlstrom shapes his “wicked toys”: objects that recall the world of childhood, yet speak unflinchingly of our disturbed present.

How did the idea come about to transform childhood objects into symbols of adult, often darker themes?
A few years ago, on my way to work, I saw some children playing with a toy car. At that moment, I was going through an existential panic attack — something that used to happen to me often. Looking at that little car, the yellow-and-red Cozy Coupe, I suddenly imagined it as a hearse. For context: the Cozy Coupe is that classic red and yellow toy car made by Little Tikes. Eventually, I sketched out how such a version might look and, once I had improved my 3D modeling skills, I produced a dollhouse-scale version.

How does the relationship between viewer and object change when movement or interactivity comes into play in your works?
The accessible, friendly, inviting appearance of toys catches the viewer off guard once they discover the darker side hidden beneath. It’s precisely that moment of transition — between the initial visual impression and the realization of what they are truly looking at — that creates the impact.

The series Kids Toys, Adult Issues has resonated widely — how and why did it begin?
After creating the hearse, I developed the theme Kids Toys, Adult Issues: essentially a kind of mental and social experiment juxtaposing nostalgic childhood toys with the darker aspects of adulthood. At the same time, I had set myself a personal challenge: 100 days of 3D modeling practice. I decided to devote that daily work to this theme, and I ended up creating a toy-inspired piece every day — a daily exercise in modeling, aesthetics, and conceptual development.

Andy Sahlstrom Kid Toys

In our “mature” capitalist system, what role does art play? Aren’t you troubled by its reproducibility?
For me, art is connection — a way of expressing ideas and emotions that words alone cannot convey. It is the intersection of concept, skill, effort, and impact. Whether physical or digital, lasting or ephemeral, art is created by the artist and brought into the world. Reproducibility is a product of our time, but for me it is not “the issue.”

And yet, the 3D printing you use is a technology that allows anyone to reproduce anything at home — from a weapon to a work of art.
Even if something is copied a thousand times, the original idea — the spark from which it was born — can remain unique. For me, a “unique piece” isn’t defined solely by existing in a single copy; it’s a matter of intention. What matters is whether the work carries real emotional weight, a point of view, an authentic human experience that cannot be faked.

Read the full interview in Italian at this link: https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2025/08/22/il-lato-oscuro-dellinfanzia-dal-carro-funebre-alla-sedia-elettrica-i-cattivissimi-giocattoli-pop-di-andy-sahlstrom-denunciano-le-ossessioni-malate-degli-adulti/8098320/