Acrylic on canvas

183.5 × 152 cm. 72 1/4 × 59 7/8 in.

Signed in English on bottom right

LITERATURE
2019, Collect Them All!, Christie's Auction, Shanghai, p.4-5 and 42
EXHIBITED
31 Aug – 12 Sep 2019, Collect Them All!, Christie's Shanghai Art Space, Shanghai

PROVENANCE
31 Aug – 12 Sep 2019, Collect Them All! Christie's Selling Exhibition, Shanghai
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

Get Rebel, Get “Naughty”!
Michael Lau's Cure for Life

Michael Lau was born in 1971 and is known as the “Godfather of Action Figures” in Hong Kong. Toys were a treasure to Lau as a child and guided his future direction in the field of art. After graduating from the Hong Kong Art School in 1992, Lau held his first solo exhibition at the Pao Galleries the following year. In 1999, he reached a pivotal moment in artistic carrer: he combined the increasingly popular street hip-hop, trendy, and graffiti culture, successfully created the first “Pop Art Figure” in Hong Kong – the “Gardener”. It's a collection of 99 12-inch dolls with their own character and personality, exhibited at the Hong Kong Arts Centre and later toured to Japan, London, Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. He's straddling both the art and fashion worlds in Asia. A 2008 Forbes magazine article titled “20 Trends Sweeping the Globe” cited him as a leader in creating and leading the vinyl figure trend in the 1990s.

Advanced Packaging, Revolutionary Innovation

“All art are toys. All toys are art.”
--Michael Lau

Package-Change Series 08——Naughty is a representative of the ‘Package Change series', in which 11 pieces were developed since the beginning of 2018. The artist has deliberately replaced the corners of the canvas with semi-circular shapes, revealing what Lau is skilled in by giving the work a three-dimensional texture. The image of the protagonist is a self-portrait of the artist, facing the rapid changes of the external world with his self-deprecation. Lau conveys that things change in the outside world through the change of “package”, people's thoughts and communication are also altered inside out. The “package” is not superficial, but an important tool for self-expression.

Subversive Vision, Fearlessly Forward

The artist uses spontaneous and relaxed geometric lines along with colorful combinations of mismatched face features to emphasize the characters' vivid facial expressions. The labels in the painting encourage people to re-examine the world with subversive perspectives for a more spacious world. The work is appropriate for all ages and classes. With the color combination giving a strong visual impact, it intuitively presents the vibrant power of contemporary art, encouraging people to break the shackles and face the challenges of life with naughtiness and humor, going forward fearlessly!

Price estimate:
HKD: 220,000 - 320,000
USD: 28,300 - 41,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 240,000