I had a nice surprise over the weekend when a parcel arrived from the good people at SideKick Media (the folks who made the most excellent Suckadelic). Inside much to my pleasure was a sample promo box of the new Art Hustle product.
This is essentially the same as a normal box however rather than 36 packs it has 8 and none of the sketch and autos, which is a very cool idea. As you can see the boxes are very impressive to look at at and they have really gone to town on the packaging. 
These are the real wax packs of yesteryear.
They look feel and even smell just like old wax used to. Each pack also includes a stick of gum, produced by Topps for the real vintage effect. The cards are of course printed on the retro cardboard stock that is so rare now but was the norm before Upper Deck entered the card market in the early 90’s. They look and feel vintage which is a great contradiction when you consider how modern the subject matter is. My first impression of these cards has been overwhelmingly that I need to get more of them.
The set s composed of 162 basic cards and they are all about different artists and the varying styles they use. 
This eclectic blend of of modern art placed on a vintage card stock creates an interesting and contradictory experience, you have this brand new product that feels like it is so much older. The base cards are vivid and capture your attention immediately, they have images of the artists themselves and also selections of the work they have produced. The artists and the work shown in the set is impressively diverse, but the different styles add to the overall appeal of the set. The 8 packs brought out 53 different base cards so nearly 1/3 of the set which really isn’t bad going at all, but collation shouldn’t be a problem with these anyway because each of the limited edition boxes has assembled by hand to make sure that every box contains the right number of inserts and at least on basic set. You should really have a look at the interview and photos they have in an article up on the NSU site, it’s very impressive and provides a lot of insight into the way these cards have been manufactured.
The back of the box
These boxes as I mentioned are very limited, with only 300 produced in all and retailing at $126.00 a box. That’s almost twice the “normal” price for a box of mass produced TV or Film tie in cards, however this is higher brow stuff, intended for an adult market, and those with an appreciation of art not just cards. They also have a LOT of incentive cards in a box, each box boasts 2 sketch/art cards, and 10 autograph/tag cards. That puts the price in a much better perspective. The set has 75 contributors and the web site really sums up what
Open Box
the whole thing is about:
The Art Hustle is a set of artist and art-based trading cards produced by The Cardhacks and manufactured in the USA by SideKick Media. The set is very much a collaborative effort with artists, and exhibits an international group working in multiple disciplines, including street art, toy art, kaiju, sketch, illustration, painting, aerosol art, poster art, collage, digital art, sculpture, photography and more.
The cards are bold and clearly this is a foundation on which it is hoped future sets can follow. Having seen the results first hand I think it would be extremely unfortunate if we didn’t see a second series of the Art Hustle. These cards are some of the most innovation and interesting to come out in a long time. In an industry dominated by popular entertainment (read film and television) these cards provide a window into something much more intriguing. You cant buy the DVD, these cards could be the only opportunity you get to see some of the art they display. It’s a new set as opposed to the next formulaic Cash Cow of the Clones sets the industry has become used to. . In short this is a great looking set of cards, it has loads of quality inserts, and breaths new creativity into what can at times be a stagnant hobby.
Art Hustle Promos
If you have a real interest in cards or art then head out and grab some of these before they sell out, you absolutely will not be disappointed. You can find them for sale here
Oh and they also sent this additional promo card along, to make sure we all have something else to look forward to later in the year.
