Basic HTML Version
40 | FireFlyz
Art
Scene
“It opened up my eyes to another
world. It showed me a whole new
world of endless possibilities and I
saw and experienced new things every
day.”
Whilst in Milan, Michel took the
opportunity to travel around and took
in to the art scene around him. When in
Florence, he was moved and inspired by
the sculptures he saw in the streets. This
led Michel to begin taking classes of the
fine arts of Brera and the the School of
Castello inMilan. His first sculptures were
created at that time, the abstract figures
that he keeps on creating today by mixing
colours and geometrical shapes.
“Of my experiences in the fashion
world, I kept my taste for clothing and
mix and match colours. My sculptures
give shape to the void.”
When Ken Scott passed away in 1991,
Michel had planned to return to Malaysia
to penetrate through the art scene, but a
destined encounter with his future wife
at a friend’s party changed his mind
otherwise. To dedicate himself entirely
to his art, Michel decided to leave Milan
and settled down in Nice with his wife
and become a full time sculptor.
In Pietrasanta, Italy near Carrare, he
found the very famous foundry, Massimo
Del Chiaro, where Botero and many
famous international artists work. The
bronze in this foundry has qualities
that don’t exist anywhere else and not
everybody canwork at Del Chiaro. Bronze
sculptures demand not only artistic quali-
ties, but also a flawless realization. It is
here that Michel honed his skills as an
artist, leading him to produce some of
his great masterpieces.
Over the years, he developed a specific
technique of working that is very much
a unique style of his own – he sketches
ideas of his piece on paper with pencil,
painting it on a canvas and creating a
plaster replica before finally realising it in
bronze. When asked on who his inspira-
tions were, he revealed it to be Ken Scott,
Susan Nevelson and Sylvia Braverman.
His first sculpture won the first prize
in the Prestige de l’art & Prestige de
Europe in Nice in 2005 and he has gone
on to win many more awards, including
a jury’s award for his famed sculpture
called the Eagle Of Nice. Michel’s pieces
are well-loved by art collectors around the
world, which he still works on creating in
his atelier in Nice. He continues to create
and honour the wishes of his private or
public collectors around the world.
Recently, his sculpture, Aidos, was
shown at the prestigious Salon 2012
l’AIAP-UNESCO show in Monaco and
won the first prize for Commission Na-
tionale de Unesco 2012. His Aphrodite
sculpture was also selected to represent
Malaysia at the International Consul
Art during the Marseille City of Art &
Culture of Europe 2012. Michel debuted
in his home country, Malaysia, in 2010 at
the Kuala Lumpur Tower and holds the
merit of being the first artist to showcase
his work there. Since then, he has held
exhibitions around the world that are
well-received. With still so much fire,
energy and ambition, it seems that this
is just the beginning for Michel, who
still has plenty to offer the world with
his inimitable, timeless and beautifully
artistic sculptures.
“Of my experiences in the fashionworld, I kept
my taste for clothing andmix andmatch colors.
My sculptures give shape to the void.”