Szabotage, UK

Szabotage is an visual artist, street artist and designer, who has become a prominent figure on the local Hong Kong art scene since his arrival in Asia five years ago. Inspired by Hong Kong's iconic style of urban architecture and emotive streetscapes, his pieces incorporate bright neon colours mixed with popular culture references. Through his artwork, he explores themes of personal freedom with a humorous play on words.

Testament to his talent and popularity, the artists credits include a sold out exhibition in London, two successful solo shows and numerous group shows in Hong Kong. Szabotage originals have also been exhibited at the Asia Contemporary Art Show and the Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong. Commission clients include Jaeger LeCoultre, Deutsche Bank, H Developments, The Ritz Carlton, among other brands and establishments.

Szabotage has painted for the HKwalls street art festival and was a finalist in the global phenomenon 'Secret Walls,' where he became notorious for his old-school graffiti style and onstage antics. These antics debuted on the TEDx stage in 2017 with his talk ‘Resilience is the Ultimate High’.

NEW ARTWORKS 2021

SPRAYCATION, 2020

Evolving from Szabotage’s previous collection True Reflections, where the face mirrors and captures every day elements in a graphic form, SPRAYCATION is a break from reality. Just a spray (paint) away from the current unprecedented, crazy times we are all experiencing this year.

In the new exhibition, Szabotage depicts the development of layered stencils as a visual language, with iconic symbols of Hong Kong painted beneath the portraits of women. Each stencil is hand drawn and hand cut, and is positioned to create a collage of narratives. 

The entire collection is synonymous with the artist’s love and passion for Hong Kong, and its iconic imagery. The use of local symbols continues the artist’s interest into how a feature can be simplified to its most minimal representation, yet can be viewed in a number of ways depending on who is viewing the art.

The individual graphic components layer up to comprise an overall image that breaks down a single scene into layers of references. Szabotage questions whether such motifs can still convey the associated cultural and contextual significance of the original object. 

The artist’s practice explores pre-existing images and familiar languages of cultural symbols and icons, and hopes that with each piece, everyone’s personal experience of the artwork is different, that the icons and emblems are interpreted on a very individual level.

SUBLIMEY, 2019

“SUBLIMEY” is a Szabotage slang for the hyper-British expression “Cor Blimey” combined with the meaning of the word “Sublime”.

The show depicts the subconscious and its physical expression and how this can be manipulated by our activities and interactions. This can be likened to the stencil process in which an image is taken and reproduced, that in essence is the very crux of human existence.  The second theme “Reflection” is about how we interpret and process the subliminal experiences we are having.

The entire collection is synonymous with the artist’s love and passion for Hong Kong and its iconic symbols.

Fish 'n' Chips, 2017

The "Can Can" Collection, 2017

Artists in Hong Kong may not recycle empty aerosol materials through usual public channels. Szabotage discovered there is no legitimate and sustainable way to recycle spray cans without registering as a chemical waste producer and privately contracting the removal of cans. As an artist continuously consuming aerosol cans, Szabotage set out to creatively solve the problem of leftover spray cans. Through disassembling and objectifying the spray can, turning the medium into the object, the artist resolves the dilemma of aerosol can consumption and continues the positive life of the entire creative artifact.

Szabotage is inspired by playful use of language and exploring meanings of the word “can”. Furthermore, Ron Arad’s avante-garde industrial furniture design from the 1980’s informs the work. He explains: “I like to think the can and its process has unleashed my humour, and I have looked for ways to explore the humour and the coincidence of the use of the word “can”! I can! Can vas! We can! Tin man can! Can Can! [I take] a fun and light-hearted approach where the subject is informed by the can...

The “Can Can” collection takes on a new personality for my work and becomes very sexy and witty, as well as a hard piece of industrial-looking furniture for interiors. “In a way it reminds me of Ron Arad – the early days of welding the found objects together to make cool furniture.”

The Mini "Can Can" Collection, 2016