By Jessie Raynor, Akron Area Arts Alliance director

Every generation has its toy manias from Troll Dolls to Ninja Turtles to Beanie Babies to Hello Kitty.  Now the rage is Munny, a blank, white vinyl doll with moveable parts that challenges its owner to create a personality.

Guest curator Rob Lehr, a BFA graduate from the Meyers School of Art at the University of Akron, gave Munny dolls to art students, emerging and seasoned artists, professors, even children and challenged them to create works of art inspired by the faceless, naked toy.  The results are on display in the Box Gallery on the third floor of Summit Artspace through December 31.

The show, titled Paper or Plastic, includes 80 works of art and customized Munny toys.  It exemplifies the lowbrow art movement that was once snubbed by traditional galleries.  Lowbrow art has its origins in humor, punk music, illustration, underground comics, tattoos, poster art, graffiti and other subcultures.

The Box Gallery is one of two galleries located in Summit Artspace, an art center project of the Akron Area Arts Alliance in partnership with Summit County government.  The first floor gallery is currently featuring Kaleidoscope 2012, an annual juried show featuring the talents of members from the Akron Society of Artists, Artists of Rubber City, Women’s Art League and Cuyahoga Valley Art Center.