The artist I have chosen to research on for this industry report is Singaporean artist, Sam Lo better known to many as the “Sticker Lady”. The reason why I chose to research and present about her is because she is the first recognised artist I followed on instagram and I am truly proud of her achievements as a fellow Singaporean.
Prior to being an artist, Lo was not involve in any formal art education. In other words, she is a self-taught artist and for that, I admire Lo even more for her perseverance and dedication. After her diploma, she worked as a food technician in a local drinks company as a food technician which she heeded her father’s advice to take up a sensible job. Thereafter, she had this existential thought of “where can I go” and she started to feel mundane being in this job. She quitted her job and went on to take a generic business course while working part time at DHL.
It was during this time of figuring out her life that she got into street culture and Lo started hanging out with the creatives in Singapore. During this time, Singapore was looking out for creative talents albeit internationally. Lo disliked the fact that local stuff were considered inferior compared to anything foreign. This thought spur her thinking of creating something innately Singaporean. This was how “Sticker Lady” was born.
Lo started asking herself questions like ‘What’s our culture here in Singapore’, ‘What are we and what’s our identity as Singaporeans?’. The most common answer she got was ‘Who got time to think about that?’. This led to Lo’s first set of sticker named ‘Slow the f-k down’. Inspired by an aunty who kept pressing the traffic light button multiple times while waiting for the traffic light, Lo thought her stickers fit perfect on these traffic light buttons.
Pasting stickers is perhaps her forte what what Lo was initially known for but that is definitely not all of her. She is a multi-talented artist who had her first solo exhibition showcasing her sculpted works at Shouten in Mandarin Gallery in late 2019. Lo even had the opportunity to design the biggest nike store in Southeast Asia opened in Jewel Changi Airport.