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EVENT DESCRIPTION
K11 MUSEA is delighted to present this year’s first art exhibition SPLENDID PARK by Hong Kong contemporary artist and “Godfather of Designer Toys” Michael Lau. This would be Lau’s debut institutional exhibition of nearly 40 artworks including paintings and sculptures created from 2011–2022, featuring iconic series in the artist’s oeuvre including Gardener, Package Change, First Encounter, Soliloquy, Master, Flower, and Portrait. The exhibition opens on February 11 in celebration of the revitalization of Hong Kong art scene as well as the welcoming of Spring, which simultaneously reinforces the artist’s main concept for this exhibition — “The true beauty of spring always finds its way to thrive beyond the fences”.
Creator of Gardener, an avant-garde figurine series in the 1990s that established a collective scene of Hong Kong street culture, Lau played a pivotal role in leading the global upsurge of collectible designer toys. In the past two decades, he has never ceased documenting pop culture through his art while in recent years, Lau re-visited paintings, the genre rooted in his earlier artistic training for his latest practice, enriching the visual library of contemporary art and bestowing Gardener—the utopia of youth, friendship and fantasy—a more contemporary context. Lau’s evolving practice boldly and precisely fused his formative practice, personal life experiences, and positive state of mind. Comprised of scattered yet consistent visual symbols, an aesthetic that hovers between abstraction and figuration, playful and surreal deconstruction, appropriation and juxtapositions of art historical masterpieces, Lau beckons the audiences to a retrospect of his artistic journey starting from Gardener in 1999, through his epiphanies from In the Garden, and eventually reaching the extensive, all-encompassing wonderland: SPLENDID PARK. The exhibition retains Lau’s commitment to community and integrates his reflections on art and today’s world. It’s not only a timely review of Lau’s oeuvre, but also a sincere invitation for audiences to immerse deep into the artist’s creative world.
At the entrance of SPLENDID PARK, Blossom is Awesome (2022) from Lau’s latest Flower series welcomes the viewer. With a row of vibrant flowers in full bloom set against a rich red backdrop, they shelter between the white fences, peering through as if their presence could not be constrained. The painting is rendered with Lau’s iconic street art elements – the complex layering of vivid palette, unique floral characters with embroidered stems, doodling of insects on post-it notes and Lau’s clever scribble of the artwork title on price tags. Combined with his signature spray paint technique, the work was executed with precision and maintained visually harmonious, more importantly showcasing Michael’s excellent command of brushwork and his ideas expressed on canvas. The depiction of white fences represents the stereotypical division of background, genre, and ethnicity in today’s world, where Lau wishes to use the language of art to dissolve all conventions by putting the spotlight back to the blooming flowers. Once again re-affirming his overall theme that no obstacles are unstoppable. Deep into the “Park” stands Big Flower Pot (2022), a sculpture that is also part of his latest Flower series. By altering the size of a common object, Lau provides a new perspective for viewers, henceforth blurring the boundary between art and daily life. Concurrently, flower pots are seen as an important support system for watering flowers, so Lau being the park owner wishes to create a fascinating spiritual paradise for his audiences.
Looking back on the exciting first half of Lau’s journey, his celebration of youth, friendship and dreams have always been recurring themes in his art. From the Gardener series which consists of figurines based on himself, his friends, and iconic figures in street culture he had encountered in his early days; to First Encounter series that pays tribute to classic characters in comics and movies – all of which were influenced by a community that shared similar ambition and outlook in life. The First Encounter series was inspired by Qing Dynasty scholar and poet Nalan Xingde, specifically the quote “If time could stop at the first encounter”, henceforth recording the first impressions when encountering each character. Take 15 Dec 1969 (2022) as an example, the date indicated in the title and labelled on “price tags’ is in fact the official publishing date of the Japanese comic series “DORAEMON”. A cheerful and adorable Doraemon appears to jump out of a drawer, and through his glittering eyes viewer can see the shock of his partner Nobita as he falls to the ground in a spur of panic. This scene represents their first encounter and the start of the many adventures they had together. Nobita’s foot is spotted at the bottom left of the painting next to a vague outline of a chair, this tiny detail helps extend the plot beyond what is visible on canvas, thus unlocking some wildest imaginations. The juxtaposition of outlined chairs with scenes in solid palette, further echoes the two genres the characters were featured in — animation and comics, again evoking gentle memories of a generation with such sensational brushwork that combines the contemporary and the nostalgic.
Another highlight from the exhibition is Wall of Jordan (2015), a large-scale painting that embraces youth and enthusiasm in an engaging way. Lau posted the question “What makes you Jordan?” on social media, took inspiration from replies he received and painted them around Jordan’s portraiture set at the centre of the work. The work was later finished with Michael Jordan’s autograph and was eventually auctioned where proceeds were used to fund the Youth Outreach program that supported local teenagers to pursue their dreams through basketball. Through this kind gesture, Lau condensed the Jordan spirit from real life onto the canvas, and then gave back to the community. It is also the first time that Wall of Jordan will be on public display after being in a private collection for the past 6 years.
In recent years, Lau managed to look inward during the pandemic and focus on creating works such as the mischievous Soliloquy series and Flower series that highlight positive life philosophies; as well as the Masters series, a body of work that allows Lau to deconstruct art historical masterpieces and explore social matters in a non-confronting way. Venturing deeper into SPLENDID PARK, viewers would enter a showroom filled with ‘hidden wonders’ playfully featuring 6 unique portraitures from the Portrait series, with each character being a ground-breaking pioneer in their own respective fields. Lau pays homage to those artists while incorporating his distinctive painting styles and motifs – elements of flowers, slogans, paper collages, and “price tags” – a further development from those masters’ contributions. Two circular paintings, Busty Belle (2022) and Puffy Chap (2022) – both part of Lau’s Masterseries, are also shown in the exhibition. The voluptuous hats and blooming florals pay homage to well-celebrated Latin artist Fernando Botero, with details such as the intended backdrop, motifs of clouds and lightening to tease gender stereotypes. Also part of the Master series is Package with Two Figures (2019), titled for both a painting and a sculpture, inspired by David Hockney’s very own Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) but with a fun twist. Deconstructing the duality usually reflected in Hockney’s paintings, Lau created in two different genres with the same title. Such twist of duality is also reflected in the slogan “One for keep, one for play”, referring to a toy collector’s habit.
Moving on in SPLENDID PARK, “Yes, we made it!” (2020), another work from Master series incorporates extensive visual symbols and social events into the composition of Picasso’s Guernica, documenting Lau’s experiences during the pandemic. Through this work, Lau discussed the absurd reality and expressed his wish for human beings to work together to get through adversity. Coming to the end of the exhibition, Dolce far niente (2022), latest triptych of the Masters Series, pays tribute to Francis Bacon’s oil painting Three Studies of Lucian Freud. Lau retained the tension between figure and space while eliminating the sense of chaos emphasized in Bacon’s work through playful rendering of flowers, creating a state of relaxation and transcendence. The title “Dolce far niente” is derived from the Italian word meaning “The sweetness of doing nothing,” while the Chinese title is taken from the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei’s poem “When the water ends, the cloud will rise. ” — all true portrayals of Lau’s peaceful and positive state of mind developed throughout his paintings and in facing the present moment.
ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER
Born in 1970, contemporary artist Michael Lau lives and works in Hong Kong. Lau studied illustration at the First Institute of Art & Design Hong Kong and graduated in 1992. In 1999, the artist was the subject of the solo exhibition Gardener at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, where the urban vinyl figurines on display made a name for Lau, who later led the global upsurge of collectible designer toys as an independent creator. Over the course of almost 30 years, Michael Lau has consciously positioned himself between contemporary art and pop culture, exploring visual possibilities wherein traditional art forms and street elements collide. Employing spray paintand collage to his canvases, Lau created his avant-garde series, including Master, Portrait, Flower, First Encounter, Soliloquy, and Method, to reflect his life experiences and personal philosophies on social topics in the contemporary world.
Lau’s works are held in the permanent collections of museums and institutions, including K11, Hong Kong, Deji Art Museum, Nanjing and Hudson Valley MOCA, New York. His work has recently been featured in exhibitions including In the Garden, Hong Kong (2022); Collect Them All!, Beijing (2022); Maxx Headroom, Hong Kong (2021); COLLECT THEM ALL!, Shanghai (2019); Oh My Toy!, London (2018); and COLLECT THEM ALL!,
Hong Kong (2018) and more.
