Known as the 'Godfather of Designer Toys', Hong Kong artist Michael Lau creates unique objects that blur the boundaries between toys and art.
Read MoreMichael Lau was born in 1970 in Hong Kong. He graduated from the First Institute of Art and Design in Hong Kong in 1992.
Lau began his work with toys and action figures in 1999 with an exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. His 'Gardener' (1999) series was composed of 99 original 12-inch action figures inspired by the toy industry. Commenting on mass-production and perceptions of toys as low quality and low cost, Lau made a body of work that positioned toys as limited-edition art objects. Crafting the figurines by hand in his studio, each piece in the series was meant to represent Lau's unique thoughts on the world. The characters the artist created were inspired by fashion and street subcultures such as skateboarding and basketball.
To Lau, all toys are works of art and all works of art are toys. His practice making distinctive and exclusive toys has allowed Lau to engage in many partnerships and collaborations with different international brands. In 2006, he worked with Nike to create a pair of shoes inspired by his skateboarding comic strip 'Gardener' (1998). Other collaborations have included Tom.com, MHI, Carhartt and Casio. Many of his limited-edition toys are celebrated and exchanged within the secondary market, with prices reaching up to USD$21,000.
Apart from creating designer toys, Lau has also worked in painting. His solo exhibition at Christie's Shanghai, Collect Them All! (2019) highlighted his toy creations alongside various works on canvas. Lau's pieces in the exhibition still often commented on toy making by playing with the iconography in packaging design.
In Collect Them All! (2019), Lau also worked with art historical references. In his work Package with Two Figures (2019), he paints a narrative of a character looking over at another seemingly trapped in its packaging. This painting is a play on David Hockney's iconic Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972), in which Hockney overlooks a figure swimming in the pool in front of him.
His solo exhibition In the Garden (2022) builds upon his 2020 fixation on the ability of flower characters to invoke joy and spread positivity. In his work, The Flowery Surprise (2022), Lau creates a retelling of the Last Supper with flowers as its central protagonists. In this piece, he adopts a more rugged style to play with visual textures and imagery. In comparison to Package with Two Figures (2019), The Flowery Surprise (2022) approaches its source material with more chaotic energy, integrating textual elements and smears of paint.
Michael Lau has held solo exhibitions at Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong; LGDR & Wei, Hong Kong; Guardian Art Center, Beijing; and Duddell's, London.
Michael Lau's website can be found here, while his Instagram can be found here.
Arianna Mercado | Ocula | 2022
