The toy craze is hardly anything new in Thailand, a country where most of us grew up bingeing on Japanese manga and animé. Hello Kitty and her Sanrio comrades readily spring to mind as they have been widely counterfeited on these shores, but for real connoisseurs, one of the most mentioned and collected contemporary toys of today would be none other than the Be@rbrick.
Be@rbrick has become an object of desire, with the release of every collection usually eliciting frenzied reactions from avid collectors who queue up for hours or pay double the price — or sometimes triple — to get their hands on these bears. Ninety-one giant size Be@rbrick objects have been put on view, up close and personal, at the "Siam Center Presents Be@rbrick World Wide Tour II" exhibition, which ends on July 31.
Launched in 2001, the anthropomorphised bear figure is produced by Japan's MediCom Toy. What started off as a free giveaway turned into the bear that took on a life of its own and over the past decade invaded the world of arts, high fashion and commercial products. The standard size is 7cm tall and usually called 100% Be@rbricks. The 50% are 4cm high, 70% are 5cm high, 400% are 28cm high and 1000% are 70cm high.
There are so many of these Be@rbrick collections and collaborations, that it seems near impossible to catalogue or count all of them. The current exhibition, however, should be able to introduce the eyes of the untrained novice to the world of Be@rbrick, also swooning diehard fans.
Curated by Hong Kong superstar, worldwide celebrity and renown contemporary art lover Edison Chen (yes, it's that Edison Chen with the leaked, erm, personal tapes and all), the exhibition sees Be@rbricks from the likes of André Saraiva (Mr. A), Kevin Poon (Clot), James Jarvis (Amos Toys), Michiko Nakayama (Muveil), Yuko Yamaguchi (Hello Kitty), Eley Kishimoto, David Horvath (Uglydoll), Evirob (Devilrobots) and Shunsuke Takizawa (Neighbourhood).
"I'm a 34-year-old man, and I am a fan of Be@rbrick. I don't know if it's a toy or a decoration. Or an art piece. It's just something I have a relationship with. But for me, it's something more. They're things that I put in my rooms to make me feel certain ways, to set the tone," said Chen who was recently in Bangkok at the launch event.
Most might know Chen as a famous Canadian-born Hong Kong-based actor with an unfortunate bump in his career, but closer inspection will reveal Chen's diversity as well as his interest in art, fashion and design. His Instagram accounts also shows how he connects with revered names in cultural industries worldwide. To have him helm the Be@rbrick exhibition is in a way not a surprise, and he has already done a Be@rbrick exhibition in China before. The Bangkok exhibition has nine extra bears.
Edison Chen.
"I've actually been a fan of Be@rbrick since they first started. Then I became a good friend of the MediCom Toy family, we have been working on Be@rbrick for 10 years now. So when they did the worldwide tour the first time, I followed it. When they said they wanted to bring it to China, at that point I decided to add new artists. One of my hobbies is contemporary art. I think it's interesting to view Be@rbrick as not just a toy but art pieces. I wanted to show the people of China what that meant, what creative people were thinking and doing. There had not been many chances for them to get to see creativity without limitations," said Chen, who revealed he has 70% of all the Be@rbricks ever released.
For non-collectors and non-fans, toy collecting might come off as silly, especially when the price tags can be very high. To Chen, Be@rbrick represents something special, from childhood rekindling to self-expression, and he completely understands why people are drawn to them.
"For people, it's an easy way to put something that gives emotions around your house. We grow up with little bears that we hug, thinking it's cute. For a grown man like me to have a bear on my table is the easiest way to relate to that. For artists, it's an iconic kind of platform now, I think. Nike has Air Force 1, Adidas has Superstar, and MediCom Toy has Be@rbrick, you know. It's something that you can say to people who have knowledge of creative culture and they'll be like, 'Oh yeah'. Most of the artists really want to do one.
"it's interesting to see how grown people get excited over these bears. Little kids also get it. A lot of my friends are now having kids, so I always give them a Be@rbrick. They grow up with it. When they're small, they hug it, and then they become the same size. It's interesting to see, you know, how they develop a relationship with it."
Some of the most sought after Be@rbricks are being auctioned off at Christie's while online bidding wars often erupt. As Chen said, this particular designer toy has become more than just toy, having jumped over into to the realm of art, thanks to its many artistic initiatives.
"The reason why Be@rbrick has crossed over is definitely the curation of who is collaborating with Be@rbrick. I would say the beginning of the non-toy collector craze was when Chanel did a Be@rbrick and then fashion people started to understand its importance. Then collectors started to pay top money for it. Then with the curation of MediCom Toy, another artist that has worked with Be@rbrick was Kaws, and now he's very successful. The Chanel Be@rbrick and Kaws Be@rbrick have caused them to become something more than just a toy. It's become a collectable. MediCom Toy has done very well in terms of artist curating. I think the pricing is also very acceptable so everyone can be a part of it. As a consumer, I might not be able to buy the $5,000 ones, but I can still buy a small one, and it still gives me the same feeling."
As for the exhibition at Siam Center, there are seven Thai artists participating in decorating the 1000% figures. Artists like Rukkit and Pommechan as well as KTC, SC Asset and Siam Center have interpreted Be@rbrick in their own ways.
"I'm not gonna lie and say I know all the Thai artists. They sent me a list of people, and what they wanted to do. Then I did my research and we chose a few. They are very interesting. I think it's important to have the local community partake in the exhibition. It would mean nothing if the artists present are from everywhere else but Thailand.
"Personally, I like to see how they fit with everything. Hopefully, people locally can enjoy Be@rbrick more, and do more with it.
"I don't think anyone can do just anything on Be@rbrick honestly. Everyone has their own perspectives and their own things. It's interesting how they translate that onto the bears.
"Everyone has a different interpretation of it. That's why we ask different artists to put their thoughts and their designs onto the bears."
But the most anticipated one is none other than Mamafaka's Be@rbrick which was released at the launch event. It was the first time that a Thai artist's work has been in production for Be@rbrick. The late street artist passed away unexpectedly in 2012 and it was his lifelong dream to work with MediCom Toy to create his own version of Be@rbrick. With his rough sketches, his friends have made it possible for Mamafaka's Be@rbrick to actualise his artistic inspirations. His version was sold out in matter of days.
Edison Chen also produced one new Be@rbrick especially for this exhibition.
"There are certain things they say you can't do. I've already done 15 Be@rbrick, so I had to do something that seems more art than commercial because the other ones were commercial.
"They didn't say that I couldn't burn it. I thought it would be interesting to see how it would burn and how it would look inside. It came out really nice, I feel. I really like it because you can't really reproduce this one.
"When you can reproduce something, it's not really artsy, you know what I mean?" he said.
Siam Center Presents BE@RBRICK WORLD WIDE TOUR II.
