Michael Lau - My Kawaii Valentine: Online Auction Hong Kong Monday, February 14, 2022 | Phillips
  • “ALL ART ARE TOYS, ALL TOYS ARE ART!”
    — Michael Lau

     

    Stemming from Michael Lau's renowned Gardener Series that began as a comic column in 1998, the current work is one of the artist's figurine designs that gained a cult following in Hong kong. Inspired by vintage G.I. Joe action figures, street culture and his community of friends, each figurine lives within Lau's own imaginative utopia.

     

    Unlike other commercial action figures, each Gardener model, such as the present work, was handcrafted by the artist, encouraging viewers to appreciate each figurine as art objects instead of toys. As a pioneer of the vinyl art toy movement, Lau’s debut exhibition of a series of 99 original 12-inch Gardener figures at the Hong Kong Art Centre in 1999 overturned public conceptions of toys as a mass-produced, low-cost, low-quality product, and instead positioned them as limited-edition art objects.

    • Provenance

      Comix Box, Hong Kong
      Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1998

Ж8

12” TATTO (from the Gardener series)

titled "'Tattoo G'" lower right
vinyl, spray paint, acrylic, wood, paper and fabric
26.3 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm. (10 3/8 x 12 x 12 in.)
Executed in 1998, this work is from an edition of 10 and is handmade by the artist.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$70,000 - 90,000 
€7,900-10,200
$9,000-11,500

Contact Specialist

Hin Hin Wong

Associate Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong

+852 2318 2013

hinhinwong@phillips.com

My Kawaii Valentine: Online Auction

Online Auction 14 - 22 February 2022