#gardenergala

[toyboxobscura]

For my first post, here is my 2001 Michael Lau GardenerGala Brian by Bandai

[fabuleusecaverne]

Michael Lau crazy Children CC#19 JUNKIE. Peoduit par Crazysmiles en série limitée pour la Toycon de Hong Kong 2003. #michaellau #crazysmiles #arttoys #crazychildren #designertoy #vinyltoy #actionfigure #hktoycon #toycon #toycollector #figurine #fabuleusecaverne #jouet #ericso #jasonsiu #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIbpM_xATCI/?igshid=16klrdiap2gd3

[arttoygama]

Yes!!😀 ART TOY BY @michaellau - #michaellau #gardener #gardenergala #crazysmiles #arttoyculture #barackobama #artcollective #arttoys #whatisit #originalart #originalartwork #instagramart #creatures #Contemporaryart #instaart #artist_sharing #fantasyart #imaginationarts #vinyltoys #artmagazine #characterdesign #artofinstagram #artfido #worldofartists #artoninstagram #fantasyart #Toyart #interiorart #artofinstagram #beautifulbizarre #juxtapoz

[bighatdino]

It's difficult to explain the significance of these upcoming figures from Michael Lau, at least without sounding sycophantic, disconnected from reality, so in general a bit weird.

These toys represent somewhat of a holy grail of toy collecting for myself.  The Gardener line that these figures are part of were a key component of the trigger for art-toy collectibles, as they brought Michael Lau into the spotlight in international toy collecting.

Where these figures differed from those that had gone before was that they were a coherent collection of 1/6 (12") toys based around street fashion, not military clothing.  Hong Kong had long had a growing 1/6 scale market for clothing, weapons, accessories and full military figures coming from companies like Dragon Models and the nascent Three Zero (now the active component of the Ashley Wood venture ThreeA), but civilian items of clothing, particularly fashion, was mostly restricted to female action figures like Barbie.  That this line landed outside of this, and it was generated as a form of art, meant that it hit the "cool", and it hit it hard.  These toys appeared in style magazines, and from there the word was spread worldwide.

I can't even remember exactly how I discovered Michael Lau.  I suspect it was when Lau started producing vinyl toys in the form of the Crazychildren, as when I saw them I was chomping at the bit to get a hold of them, or any Hong Kong/Japanese action figures, vinyl and other stuff (Be@rbricks and Kubricks from Medicom hit around the same time).  This is arguably how the whole vinyl toy market exploded outside of Asia, with companies like Kid Robot and Ningyoushi importing them and shipping them worldwide - building that market up is how Kid Robot ended up being able to create their own line of vinyl figures like Dunnys (and how they also kind of killed the market through saturation, but that's another complaint for another time).

The Gardener figures comprised, at the time, 100 action figures with hand-crafted clothing and sculpted heads.  Their bodies appear to be taken from a base body that Mattel used for male characters in one of their lines.  While they all have their own look, the Gardeners are based around a small group of characters from a comic series Lau created, who appear wearing various outfits, with a main character like Maxx (the one with the crew cut & hoody) appearing in regular, young, snowboard, surfboard and Lazy forms (the Lazy form being based on Hong Kong crew Lazymuthafucka, their bodies were entirely black - 2 are in evidence above).

They appeared in galleries around the world, including in London where I was lucky enough to see them, as Gardenergala.  Lau also produced some copies of a few of the main characters that soon became a Most Wanted for toy collectors worldwide, changing hands for increasingly ridiculous sums of money.  The Gardeners were also produced in a vinyl figure format, more cartoony visual forms, starting with Tatto (a figure that's still inordinately expensive) and continuing on for several years (later versions were priced rather reasonably).

But they weren't the same.  They weren't the clothed action figures, but simpler rotocasted vinyl forms.  Lau created the occasional 1/6 action figure, most recently his Crazy Michael and Crazy Children King, but the Gardeners remained the pinnacle of his toy work.

The announcement that he was designing a 1/12 scale action figure came as a surprise, and the slow build up has been fascinating and exciting.  Each set will comprise 10 figures, 9 know and one surprise.  Hopefully a nice surprise.  The first set, shown above, has 5 of my favourite Gardeners (Young Maxx, Box B, Micro, Tatto and Tip Top) so has me wide-eyed with joy.

And soon they'll be here.  I'm not entirely sure anyone knows exactly when, probably not even How2Work, the company producing them, simply because Hong Kong toy production seems to be a bizarre thing (anyone who has pre-ordered a ThreeA action figure will know what I mean).  They will come out when they come out, and that is that.  But whenever that is, I'm definitely having them.

For more, and definitely more accurate, info on Michael Lau take a look at the Michael Lau Art fansite.

[fabuleusecaverne]

Michael LAU Crazychildren #12 Mr B TBE uniquement déballé pour photos DM si intéressé #michaellau #toys #addictoys #arttoys #vinylfigure #resintoy #designertoys #toycollector #figurecollector #vinylfigure #actionfigures #ericso #thisisnotatoy #urbantoys #plasticfigures #crazychildren #crazysmilesco #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvZBe3Ai__/?igshid=1ig3h8vacxzp2

[fabuleusecaverne]

Michael LAU Crazychildren #11 Mr A TBE uniquement déballé pour photos DM si intéressé #michaellau #toys #addictoys #arttoys #vinylfigure #resintoy #designertoys #toycollector #figurecollector #vinylfigure #actionfigures #ericso #thisisnotatoy #urbantoys #plasticfigures #crazychildren #crazysmilesco #gardenergala https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvY1GGA_yJ/?igshid=yfyamyv210t8

[fabuleusecaverne]

Michael LAU Crazychildren #13 WOO C TBE uniquement déballé pour photos DM si intéressé #michaellau #toys #addictoys #arttoys #vinylfigure #resintoy #designertoys #toycollector #figurecollector #vinylfigure #actionfigures #ericso #thisisnotatoy #urbantoys #plasticfigures #crazychildren #crazysmilesco #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvYmuOgfsN/?igshid=4rpzly9twmek

[fabuleusecaverne]

Micheal LAU Crazychildren #16, CazychildrenKing. Figurine scellée neuve DM si intéressé #michaellau #toys #addictoys #arttoys #vinylfigure #resintoy #designertoys #toycollector #figurecollector #vinylfigure #actionfigures #ericso #thisisnotatoy #urbantoys #plasticfigures #crazychildren #crazysmilesco #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEtSpE4KOhC/?igshid=32yls8j5d0w8

[fabuleusecaverne]

Micheal LAU Crazychildren série limitée version Grise. Figurines scellées neuves, set complet DM si intéressé #michaellau #toys #addictoys #arttoys #vinylfigure #resintoy #designertoys #toycollector #figurecollector #vinylfigure #actionfigures #ericso #thisisnotatoy #urbantoys #plasticfigures #crazychildren #crazysmilesco #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmUw5sqJzc/?igshid=lcxsr4w74kv2

[fabuleusecaverne]

Lau-verdose. Tu veux di Michael Lau??? Ben j’en ai. #crazysmilesco #crazysmiles #crazychildren #gardener #michaellau #lazymuthafucka #vinyltoy #arttoy #designertoy #prototypelamdogsystem #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9RMaLGqfUH/?igshid=10w2osj1nu6ct

[fabuleusecaverne]

Lau-verdose. Tu veux di Michael Lau??? Ben j’en ai. #crazysmilesco #crazysmiles #crazychildren #gardener #michaellau #lazymuthafucka #vinyltoy #arttoy #designertoy #prototypelamdogsystem #gardenergala (à Marseille, France) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9RMaLGqfUH/?igshid=10w2osj1nu6ct

[fabuleusecaverne]

// VENDU SOLD // Michael Lau x Adidas - Lamdogstar IV 6" by Crazysmiles ------------ Edition Limitée 200 exemplaires • produit en 2003 ------------------ #alltoysareart #designertoy #play #artoy #collectthemall #designertoys #michaellaudunk #toyfigures #toys #gardener #michaellau #crazysmiles #arttoys #crazychildren #designertoy #vinyltoy #actionfigure #toycon #toycollector #figurine #fabuleusecaverne #jouet #ericso #jasonsiu #gardenergala https://www.instagram.com/p/CRebUurowvw/?utm_medium=tumblr

[arttoygama]

@Regrann from @haku777 - GUMGUMGUM ALEX GUM JENG #michaellau #crazysmiles #gardenergala #vinyltoys #designertoys #arttoys #toyart #artsanity #whatisit #figureart #artfido #urbantoys #Contemporaryart #newcontemporaryart #arttoyculture #fantasyart #Artmagazine #imaginationarts #worldofartists #characterdesign #contemporaryartist #creepycute #artfido #artsanity #artlovers #artoninstagram #artofinstagram #artistoninstagram #artcollective #toycollector #urbanvinyl #toyphotography

[arttoygama]

@Regrann from @haku777 - ART by @michaellau #michaellau #crazysmiles #gardenergala #vinyltoys #designertoys #arttoys #toyart #artsanity #whatisit #figureart #artfido #urbantoys #Contemporaryart #newcontemporaryart #arttoyculture #fantasyart #Artmagazine #imaginationarts #worldofartists #characterdesign #contemporaryartist #creepycute #artfido #artsanity #artlovers #artoninstagram #artofinstagram #artistoninstagram #artcollective #toycollector #urbanvinyl #toyphotography