In pop colours of red, yellow, and blue, an almost eight-metre lobster sculpture clams onto a melting paintbrush. It looks at thousands of passersby who come to visit the Victoria Harbour every day. Many frequently stop to take a picture of this alien creature which happens to be a mirror image of the artist himself.

Known as the godson of Andy Warhol, Philip Colbert follows pop art philosophy and brings his brightly coloured lobster sculptures to Hong Kong. The main one stands at the Harbour, and the rest are at the nearby K11 Musea from March 26 to May 13.

Philip looks at the eight-metre high Lobster Painter.

Originally from the UK, the lobster spoke to him since he was a kid. The sense of surrealism of a lobster resonates with him. “I always love the spirit of bringing fantasy into reality,” he says. “This artistic character is my persona, I can then bring that character to life on a large scale.”

Without hesitation, size matters for sculptors like Philip. The bigger it is, the more realistic the fantasy becomes. The giant lobster sculpture blends with the backdrop of Victoria Harbour, integrating with both nature and the city. This is an exciting phase of art where public art takes over urban landscapes, he finds that “bonkers in a way.” 

Although it is not his first time exhibiting in Hong Kong, this is his biggest steel sculpture yet. This project took him a couple of years, then finalised the past few months to showcase it at a mall space. Philip is all about democratising art and making it accessible to the public, “I want my art to hopefully bring good energy to people, a bit like when you look at a sunflower,” he says with an analogy.

Philip with his K11 Musea sculptures.

To Philip, sculpting is more than showing a piece of 3D art, it is about reinventing one’s world. In the rest of his sculptures at K11 Musea, one sits in egg pyjamas and a crown. “I used to always wear egg suits and that's why when I became a lobster, I felt the lobster should wear my wardrobe,” he says. “I like the symbolism of the crown because we're all kings of our own world.”

Located at another exit of the mall, a soup can lobster reflects more philosophical ideas. The soup is a direct reference to life and the lobster is breaking through it to seemingly leap out of his old shell. This sculpture pays homage to Warhol, but it demonstrates Philip’s approach to reinventing the past and making something different out of it.

Can soup lobster.

To Philip, trying to find great meanings in the everyday can tap into something profound. He used to study philosophy and thinks academic ideals can be tapped into in very accessible ways. “The most important thing for me is having humility in our work and not being too pretentious with preaching academic ideas,” he says.

With more than a hundred lobster sculptures in his collection, Philip believes he has made more lobster artworks than anyone else. The promenade sculpture is just an opening to his fantastical world of lobsters.

Picture credits: Orange News

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