What makes some of these local or global creatives tick? In this weekly column, visual artist Howie Kim shares his favourite things.
1. Britney Spears: She’s a queen, an icon, and a legend. I f-ing love Britney Spears. As a mid-teen, I remember going home from school to log onto tabloid sites like Perez Hilton or TMZ to read all about celebrities. I think of Britney as an embodiment of pop culture.
And it’s not just about her music but her as a whole: Britney Spears the person, brand and her stories. This obsession with pop culture that started during my teen years definitely shaped the way I create today.
2. Dinosaurs: I must have watched The Land Before Time on laser-disc a million times as a kid. I love the animated film so much that I’ve got the main characters tattooed on my arm. I think that dinosaurs remind me of being a child.
I also like the mystery and idea that these huge creatures used to rule planet earth and that we still see remains of them today, but don’t have an exact idea of how they actually looked like.
3. Snakes: Snakes are my favourite animals because there is just something about their appearance that interest me. There are also countless symbolism and stories about these legless reptiles which make them super cool.
My ambition as a kid was to work in the zoo but Mandai feels like 500 kilometres away. Shared here is a picture of a skeleton of a pit viper that I bought from a local taxidermist as a birthday present to myself last year.
4. Toys: I have a collection of small toys and figurines that mostly collect dust on my shelf because I am a little bit of a hoarder. Most of them are from the capsule toy dispensing machines which I absolutely love.
5. Theme Parks: I honestly don’t recall a time I wasn’t excited about going to a theme park. The fun, excitement, decor, mascots, shows, performers and rides: what’s there not to love about theme parks? It is 100% pure entertainment.
Having fun and enjoying myself is something that is important for me to create. Pictured here is a Google image of the 1999 PC game, Roller Coaster Tycoon which is possibly my most favourite game. Fast forward to over 20 years later, I still play it now and then.
6. Technology: As a ’90s kid, I kinda grew up with the internet and technology while watching it go from the snail-speed dial up to pocket devices today. I think devices and technology are important to me because they are my tools for work but also, because of the connectivity it gives us. The growth of technology is something that inspires me.
7. Kimokawaii: I only learnt about this term a couple years ago when someone used it to describe my works. It is a Japanese term used for describing aesthetics that combines the grotesque with cute.
When I was about thirteen, someone gave me a collectible ‘Living Dead Doll’ that comes in a mini coffin and death certificate, along with it was a sticker of a psychotic looking rabbit with the text ‘cute but kinda evil’. I think these two things sparked my love for the kimokawaii aesthetics.
8. Camp: I love campy things. Things that are over the top, things that are so excessive to a point of where you could no longer take it seriously. Pictured above is a still from Sion Sono’s Tokyo Vampire Hotel. I saw the series last year and I thought it was super campy. It’s almost like a live-action anime.
Once you’re done with Howie Kim’s obsessions, click here to catch up with our December/January 2022 issue!
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