How Constantin Brancusi’s Paris studio changed a Hong Kong designer toymaker’s life
- Michael Lau reveals how the Pompidou Centre’s Atelier Brancusi gave a vivid understanding of the Romanian sculptor and inspired his practice
Atelier Brancusi, part of Paris’ Pompidou Centre, is the perfectly preserved Parisian studio of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957).
Bequeathed by the Romanian artist to the French state following his death, it was reconstructed by architect Renzo Piano in the early 1990s after the original was damaged by flooding.
Hong Kong artist Michael Lau Kin-man, best known for his designer toys, as well as for paintings and sculptures, tells Richard Lord how it changed his life.
My first trip to Paris was in 1996 or 1997, after I won a sponsorship as part of the Most Promising Artist Award from the Philippe Charriol Foundation (established by the eponymous luxury watchmaker and jeweller to promote Asian art).
I made use of the funding to go to Paris to see all the great museums and original artwork that was previously only available to me by reading.
At that time, I was at a stage when I was in between completing my studies (at the First Institute of Art and Design in Causeway Bay) and trying to get into the world of art.
I had started doing painting and trying to put together exhibitions: I had already done two, at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in 1993 and 1996. I was still pondering what would be next.
I kept doing different competitions, trying to showcase what I wanted to do in my art. It was a period of trial and error.
It was my first visit to Europe, to France, to Paris and to the Pompidou Centre. I went to the Atelier Brancusi, where I discovered the forms of Brancusi’s works. I loved them and got really inspired by them.
The atelier isn’t like a regular exhibition; it’s his studio. It has a much more intimate feeling – you get to know the artist and how he works more deeply than with a normal exhibition.
The way everything was displayed in the space gave me a three-dimensional perspective on his work – a detailed understanding of the artist. It gives the viewer a strong takeaway of the relationship between light and shadow and geometric forms.
For someone like me, who does sculptures, it had a big impact.
Upon returning to Hong Kong, I started working on my “Gardener” series, which is a collection of 99 figures, some fictional and some based on real people from the street culture world.
I took cues from Brancusi in designing them. But his inspiration is not just seen in the “Gardener” series; he’s had a significant impact throughout my career in terms of the graphical interpretations I use, from two-dimensional paintings to three-dimensional sculptures.
Every time I return to France, I visit the atelier – I’ve been more than 10 times. At various times I’ve visited, one thing that’s really struck me when I see some of the work again is that it’s almost like looking at my own work and recalling, “So this form has really inspired me.”
It’s not like I’m intentionally copying; his work just left such an impression in my mind.
