Way Back When Playpen Ed. 1 of 50

In the 'Way Back When Playpen,' time collapses into itself. A surrealist digital collage, it's a symphony of myths, a congregation of forgotten gods, and an echo of ancient narratives.

Behold, the curious spectacle of Hanuman, a conch-playing nymph, and a petrified dinosaur skeleton hanging out in a broken-down funfair ride. Rusting away in the back of an abandoned lot.

This paradoxical playground is no random assembly of whimsy. It's a parallel universe, a place of anti-space where the outcasts of our collective memories and narratives frolic in a celebration of the overlooked and the forgotten. It is a comment on how society has grown so accustomed to venerating the new and reinventing the wheel — relegating its own history, its own imagination, its own gods and monsters to the sidelines. As if they were but infants confined to an eternal playpen. Reminding us we’re all the children of myths and legends, and to confine them to the past is to confine a part of ourselves.

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ABOUT ME
Born in Sydney, I spent my childhood surrounded by artists, oddballs and academics. They taught me to question everything. Respectfully and without fear.

Twenty-two countries and four continents later, I can find home anywhere with WiFi and a hearty chunk of intrigue. It's because of them, and I'm forever grateful.

ABOUT MY ART
It's All Just A Little Bit Of History Remixing...

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 instead of reality. A kaleidoscope of mish-mashed truths that are only ever as surreal as we choose to make them...
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Toby Leon