Hong Kong-based art toy pioneer Michael Lau will present his Artoy Basel exhibition (booth A21a) inspired by the Art Basel international fair at upcoming QQ Toy Expo 2021 (QTX) to be held from May 1st to the 3rd in Shenzhen (China). Lau envisioned the exhibitionto share the culture and background behind art toys as well as the process and methods of creating them. Intriguingly, the exhibition is designed to be half size or 1:2 scale reflecting the fact that his art toys ‘are half the size of a sculpture’. The exhibition also reflects Lau’s observation and belief that ‘all art are toys and all toys are art’.
In addition to Artoy Basel, Michael Lau has collaborated with Tencent’s QQ (China’s essential messaging/social media platform) on the new Salvator Michael ‘QQ’ vinyl art toy for release at QTX. The figure is based on his Salvator Michael character from his Collect Them All exhibition (2018). The character is Lau’s playful interpretation of Leonardo DaVinci’s famous Salvator Mundi painting. The Salvator Michael ‘QQ’ figure features the character making a hopeful fingers-crossed gesture with one hand while holding a QQ Penguin mascot capsule toy in the other.
An edition of 99, the Salvator Michael ‘QQ’ vinyl art toy (11.98″) comes with a smaller all-black version (4.33″) of the figure which will serve as a clever hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity. Inspired by the Artoy Basel concept, the figure will come packaged in a miniature art crate.
