THE
STORMTOURIST
Genesis
​
The Stormtourist was born almost by accident.
At first, it was just a personal experiment I worked on between projects.
After creating several commissioned self-based art toys for other people, I decided to make my own.
I started modelling the body as a literal reflection of how I used to stand: tilted pelvis, slouched shoulders, heavy calves.
Same clothes I wore in summer: shirt, ribbed tank, socks with sandals.
From Self to Symbol
​
When I reached the head, I was deep into my own thoughts about ego, validation, and the artist’s place in the work.
Suddenly, making an art toy of myself no longer made sense.
The body stayed unfinished on my worktable for months.
Then one day, I found an old Stormtrooper helmet from a collectible series.
Instantly I thought of the almost forgotten body remaining in my studio. When I tried it, the whole piece clicked.
It became cool, ironic, and strangely allegorical.
Meaning
​
I named it The Stormtourist as a metaphor for modern alienation.
We work for companies (ours or someone else’s) and think we’re free on vacation.
But still we’re serving the same Empire: capitalism.
Yet the toy isn’t about resignation, it’s about human acceptance.
He’s chill. Everything’s fine.
Evolution
Then, following the Popeye and Playboy projects, I suggested to my manufacturer, ZCWO, producing it as a limited edition. He believed in the piece so much that the Stormtourist had to travel to Hong Kong to be cloned.​​
While in production, the talent management and collaboration agency V Collective contacted me from Shanghai. They wanted to exhibit one of my pieces, reproduced in a three-meter version.
​
They had originally asked for another work, but since it was a one-off (and based on a KAWS piece), I proposed the Stormtourist instead, as it was soon to be released as a limited edition.
​
They loved it.
Months later, a three-meter Stormtourist was standing at the Open File Show in Shanghai, and the following year it reappeared at Open File Beijing.​​
As its message and visual language are timeless, another giant version was later displayed at a spinoff edition of Open File in Guangzhou, this time at the Taikoo Hui luxury mall.
Open File Shanghai
Taikoo Hui Open File Spinoff
Open File Beijing
Legacy
​
Today, it’s probably my most recognized piece.
Yes, it borrows from a famous icon, and without that reference its reach might’ve been smaller, but that’s part of pop art and the art toy world: appropriation, satire, reinterpretation.
​
Anyway, it’s not just a tourist disguised as a Stormtrooper or a Stormtrooper on vacation. The Stormtourist has meaning and his own background.
Now you know.