August 23, 2010
Singapore-based artist Anton Tang takes unused plastic figurines and repositions them in Lilliputian set-ups full of humor and pathos, thus reimagining what it means to be human.
Mischievous. All images used with permission of Anton Tang.
There are times when many of us would like to cover our heads with a cardboard box and shield ourselves from the outside world. Other times, we walk around feeling as if we’re enclosed in such packaging anyway — like faceless, boxed-up products on an assembly line. Yet whichever our experience, alienated or anonymous, one plain fact gives us hope: We’re all human. And we’re not alone.
Stroll
These are the impressions one might have on observing the miniature mis-en-scenes created by Singapore-based photographer Anton Tang, an artist who reuses toys to express his uniquely playful and comic, yet simultaneously touching take on life, and its fragility. Cue cuteness overload.
Never give up
When we think of recycling objects or materials, we usually think about recycling on a big scale — tips designed for such purposes, refuse collectors arriving in the early hours, that kind of thing. But for Anton, finding a fresh use for old toys is a distinctly small-scale business — indeed one whose awe-inspiring detail you’d need a sharp eye, or a magnifying glass, to truly appreciate in person.
Push push
“Toys?” we hear you say. “But that’s cardboard in those shots, right?” Wrong. Sorry to disappoint you, paper recycling lovers, but the objects Anton has so ingeniously brought to life beneath his artful eye are Danboard figures, or Mini Danbos for short — characters in cardboard box suits born of the Japanese manga series Yotsuba&!.
Swimming Fail
From the Revoltech line of Japanese toy company Kaiyodo, each figure, says the sales spiel, “is plastic, has movable joints, light up eyes and stands around 5″ tall.” In a curious example of Japanese creativity cum corporate sponsorship, the different toys bear different brands, from a mini Amazon model that measures just 3″, to “full sized Amazon & 7Eleven logo marked versions.”
Good day
However, in Anton’s set pieces, these commercial products acquire a soul that goes beyond their original purpose — even in the hands of the most creative children. Through Anton’s macro lens, they become art. Anton takes the tiny models he collected years back (reportedly having bought them from the virtual recycling yard that is eBay) and places them in Lilliputian, yet unexpectedly familiar settings, where the ordinarily small objects around the figurines assume a magnitude beyond their normal measure, allowing the pint-sized players in the scenes to touch our hearts.
Hug
In Anton’s world, scaling a curb is no mean feat for a baby Danbo and calls for a helping hoist from a parent who promises, “Don’t worry, I will catch you if you fall.”
Be Careful
Other times, the guardians are seen holding their little one’s hand during a happy stroll, or the family simply spends time together “randomly doing some silly stuff.”
Danbo Family
For a Danbo, riding carefree on the back of a real-life terrapin may be the only way to her next destination, but it’s a fun-filled means of transportation nonetheless.
Bumpy Ride
At other moments, the Danbos express the less upbeat aspects of human emotion, with loneliness a recurring theme. The sight of a dead leaf evokes a “fear of death” in one forlorn Danbo…
Nothing Lasts Forever
… while another even considers suicide while perched on the edge of a precipice that appears to be part of a water garden.
Suicide
Yet even when the little guy walks the line, disconsolate, we’re assured that where “there is light there is hope.”
Hope
Mischief and bullying also rear their heads in the set-tos between Little Amazon and 7-11, with the former alternately bashing his bigger nemesis and getting a hand-off in return.
Bully
By turns we witness a Danbo shackled in plastic chains, reflecting on itself in shallow water or “exploring but always ending up nowhere.”
Aimless Wanderer
Each little scene touches upon simple yet singular aspects of human emotions and relationships — whether love or conflict, hope or fear, joy or sorrow. From the highs of producing “wonderful bokehs” from a “mysterious pokerdot” container (something from the kaleidoscope of human experience has to be lost in translation!)…
Mysterious Container
… to the lows of being lost and alone — and yet even in this last scenario, a guiding hand appears, plus the reassuring words: “When you can’t get back again, I will find you darling, I’ll bring you home.”
By Your Side
Life forms from our world take on new roles in this downsized reality. A pet hamster shares its secrets with one of the little figures…
Gogo Hamster
… while a poor fish trapped in an undersized tank has Mini Danbo try to cheer it up.
Poor fish in a small tank
Some objects from the big person’s world appear small, like a miniature beetle car; others loom large, such as a rollerblade whose wheels the Danbo team are busy recycling.
Inline Maintenance
Although Anton’s Danbos are actually plastic, perhaps they can inspire people to do something creative with their full-size cardboard boxes. At any rate, by choosing not to let his toys gather dust in the attic, or to throw them in trash, we think Anton has made a statement about recycling that goes beyond the material. In reimagining the way in which his characters relate — using to full effect the “Revolver Joint” technology that gives the figures their motion, stability and dynamic poses — Anton recycles anew what it means to be human. And we all recognize ourselves, cardboard or not.
Chained
As Anton told PLATEFORM magazine: “Danbo never fears to explore things around her that might cause mayhem. Every series tells a story, so viewers will feel sad, happy or have fun when they see it.” Thinking outside the box? Reckon so.
Lonely Hopscotch
Also an avid BMX rider blessed with incredible balance, Anton is a talented guy able to translate his freestyle creativity into different contexts. His Danboards are, he told 1-800-RECYCLING, “an ongoing project with no deadlines” in which he aims simply “to take pictures and add life to them.” He has also “shot other pictures, mainly BMX flatland and landscapes,” and if his Danbos are anything to go by, we’re sure it is photography full of charm and personality that refuses to be boxed in.
Special thanks to Anton Tang for kind permission to use his wonderful photographs in this post
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