Michael Lau is Urban Vinyl - A 1UP classic from July 13, 2005

Those vinyl figures are everywhere today. When you go to a toy store you notice how they have influenced the design of current figures. You can't walk through a Tower Records without seeing the figures patterend after rock artists like Metallica and the Insane Clown Posse. Maybe it's an odd teddy bear, a robot duck or an oblong monster taking up shelf space.

Why is there a club dedicated to the figures at 1UP? How did 1UP's own SuperJenn get involved in her own collection? I don't know how other 1UPpers got started with their collection. I know where I was the moment that Urban Vinyl first hit on the old Action-Figure website.

I wasn't keeping a pulse on street culture. I wasn't seeking out the next big thing. Six years ago I was flipping through a Japanese magazine when I saw the first "gallery art" that spoke to me.

An artist out of Hong Kong named Michael Lau was exhibiting at PARCO in Japan. His medium was unique. Hand-crafted plastic and resin figures that captured a slice of street culture. It all started with Maxx.

I've heard people comment on the attitude, the clothes, the detail... I was impressed by the whole. These weren't just cool figures, they looked like people I knew, they spoke more about the culture I followed than any picture or article ever had. Michael had crafted 99 figures each one as impressive as the last. Each one telling a story.

I wanted to know more.

Like how Michael created a comic strip in the magazine East Touch.

Eventually he modeled several 12" figures on the same characters he featured in the strips. These predated the 1/6 scale figures wearing street fashion that would explode in the 2000's.

His friends pushed Michael into doing something with his figures. Michael didn't realize there was anything to it. Eventually he began working on the original "Gardeners" all 99 figures at about the same time he began sculpting smaller figures and producing them in limited runs out of vinyl... the rest as they say is history.

Michael was too far ahead of the curve. Most of the news I found out about him was either in Chinese or Japanese. So I set about making a webpage for my friends in the hopes that they could help me track down his art.

People that saw Michael's work longed to have a 12" Gardener of their very own. Michael did appease the patrons by offering scaled-down 6" figures based on early Gardeners. It was these 6" figures that are directly responsible for the look, style and craze behind present urban vinyl art. Michael's ambition is to have figures made of the now 103-deep gallery figures.

The secret was out. My page was getting more visits from strangers than friends. Urban vinyl was slowly seeping into our culture.

But Michael is and always will be in a league of his own.

His designs are the most unique of all the figure artists. That's possibly because he was the first one out there and his style was not influenced by any other artist. His figures lend themselves to comic strips as easily as they do animation.

He has been approached time and time again by studios, producers and game publishers about licensing his characters. He has turned down 99.9% of these people (including EA) because they aren't willing to properly represent his art and his characters. He is more protective of his characters than most Hollywood parents are of their children. The man cannot be bought!

Nike has sponsored his last two gallery shows. At the same time he denied the request of an executive at Nike to buy an original 12" Gardener. Sure Michael could always sculpt a new figure but then again it's the principle of the art. Michael Lau don't mess around!

Michael had quickly found himself ranked among the elite artists with street roots. Futura2000, James Lavelle and Hardy Blechman were some of the friends and contemporaries that Michael had made. Michael used the exposure as did other artists to send a message to the leaders of the allied nations before they invaded Iraq. His 103rd Gardener figure was named No War.

Every time Michael produces a new figure or gallery piece he tries to reinvent himself. At the same time he is always on top of the quickly evolving street world. Only Michael could make sneaker heads flip out over a Nike with an Ice Cream pattern.

If you remember my blog post a few weeks back, Ice Cream's are the hottest property on the sneaker scene. Created by N.E.R.D.'s Pharrell and Reebok. Michael turned the sneaker scene on end when he used the art on one of his Nike figures. "Can it be done?... Oops, it has!"

Michael Lau gives me a reason to collect. No other figure artist can claim that they have influenced my collection.

Michael Lau e-mailed to say thanks for creating the web page... That was crazy! Michael Lau is Urban Vinyl.

EDIT: I created a fan page dedicated to the Art of Michael Lau in the early 2000's. I let the domain expire in the mid 2010's because I no longer had time, or money to keep it going. Although it will no longer be getting updates I have restored it on my personal server for people that want to find out about the Urban Vinyl movement. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!