A figurine with a soul
“When I think of IKEA, I think of home.” Michael Lau, a contemporary artist from Hong Kong, finds that one of his first impressions of IKEA is that it offers a lot of affordable, functional pieces for modern living. “It’s great.” We met with him to find out about his Soul Toy, a figurine that is part of the upcoming IKEA Art Event.
Mostly known for his urban vinyl art combining pop culture, music, fashion, sports and lifestyle, he’s working with glass for the first time with IKEA for the upcoming IKEA Art Event featuring an exclusive collection of glass figurines.
“I usually produce my figurines in vinyl, or sometimes in plastic. When I do sculptures, I work with fibreglass, stainless steel, but I’ve never done so with glass. I like working with new mediums, so this was such an interesting opportunity for me.”
My piece is titled Soul Toy. I believe that there is a soul within each piece of artwork.
Although there was a learning curve in working with glass for the first time, he describes the collaboration as smooth and open for him to express his ideas.
“Glass has quite a few limitations in terms of production, and I learnt a lot. My piece is titled Soul Toy. I believe that there is a soul within each piece of artwork. The eyes and tongue of Soul Toy subtly hint the letters of the word “toy”, while the shape of the figure itself suggests the form of a soul. I think this speaks to the piece in a witty way.” (We couldn’t agree more.)
When asked what inspires Michael to do art, he says:
“Life and people in general. I think that simply by observing things around you, on an every day basis, by paying attention to people – their behavior – how one character is different from another is very interesting to me.”
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