KL miniature food artist Eric Siow celebrates racial diversity with first diorama exhibition (VIDEO)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — As they lean in for a closer look, recognition turns into delight at the familiar sight of the putu piring vendor, lok lok stall and olden-day mobile satay grill depicted in miniature of 1:12 scale.

Watching on as the crowd takes pictures of his work at the diorama exhibition at The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur-born and bred miniature food artist Eric Siow can’t help but feel validated.

“When people smile, it means I got the details right,” said the 49-year-old full-time artist and teacher who has taught students from different countries including Russia, the Netherlands and Columbia.

All of his nine local food-related dioramas on display are equally mesmerising but the chicken wing stall and mamak restaurant are his latest masterpieces, created especially for the month-long Gardens Mall exhibition held in conjunction with Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day.

From the mouth-watering array of fried pasembor ingredients to the freshly made roti canai and marinade-soaked chicken wings ready to be skewered, the attention to detail in the clay work is staggering.

“The satisfaction comes from when looking at miniature food without your finger or coin for comparison, people think it’s real,” said Siow, who can take anywhere from 10 days to four months to complete a diorama.

“If you can cheat people into thinking it’s real enough to eat, then you’re successful.”

The key to realistic miniature food is in its colour. You can get away with inaccurate food shape as long as the colour is right but not the other way around.

The right colour is so important that he only makes colour choices during the day, doing gluing and cutting at night. He requires no special tools, using only things like cotton buds, toothpicks and scrapers.

“Colour can break or make it,” said Siow, whose 10-year stint in Singapore as a graphic designer saw him working with food every single day in tasting, photography and laying out cookbooks.

It was a stressful job but his intimate knowledge of food like the difference in colour and texture of raw and cooked chicken put him in good stead as a clay artist.

While realism in miniature food art is a common theme, misconceptions are rarely debunked with many still seeing it as a mere toy or worse, dismissing it as an activity for children.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Why should I learn this, it’s for kids.’,” said Siow, who studied visual communications at Birmingham City University. “What they don’t realise is that children can’t do it, it’s too intricate.

“They can only make simple shapes, a cute burger or nasi lemak but they cannot make it realistic.”

Shoppers marvelling at Siow’s putu piring (left) and mamak dioramas. — Picture courtesy of The Gardens Mall

A qualified pastry chef, Siow has been a miniature food artist for 12 years since 2011 and began making dioramas in 2015, specialising in local food-related scenes.

His made-to-order dioramas come in an encased five-dimensional model with a 360-degree rotation view or framed in a shadow box.

Serious collectors make up a big part of his clientele and are from all over the world, mostly Asians who have migrated to the West.

Just recently, a customer from Perth ordered three dioramas including his chicken wing and satay stalls as a nostalgic keepsake.

But the most challenging one he made was a diorama of a 200 square feet Hong Kong subdivided flat for six, his first non-food related project. He enjoyed making it even though he found the subject depressing.

His customer based in Canada had it made to show his two-year-old child the crowded living space in Hong Kong.

“My biggest challenge was sending it there without any damage,” said Siow, who spent two days on meticulous packing.

“In the end, only 5 per cent of it was damaged, a bit of the ceiling which he was able to glue back. So that was a relief.”

Already an established art form in the West, miniature art has a long way to go in Malaysia. Over there, dollhouses and dioramas of landmarks like Buckingham Palace are popular.

And while the miniature art communities in Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong regularly meet up and are supportive of one another, here in Malaysia, the few miniature artists we have tend to work on their own.

Siow with his small collection at home-cum-studio in Cheras. — Picture courtesy of Eric Siow

Siow charges based on the number of props and components used and wants to specialise in and promote our local scenes. Because if we don’t do it, who will?

“Artists from other parts of the world will not do Baba and Nyonya things or a kampung house, so it’s up to us.”

Since not all diorama props like crockery can be made, Siow sources from places like Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market or gets travelling friends to bring them back for him.

Recently, he’s begun venturing into 3-D resin printing, which he used to make the egg tray for his mamak diorama.

Dream project? “Baba and Nyonya food,” said Siow, who is currently working on his smallest nasi lemak to date, measuring within five millimetres in diameter.

But he has to get his hands on authentic Baba Nyonya plates first before he can make the food. If regular white plates are used, then it’s fusion and not traditional.

“When making certain food, you have to consider the correct usage of tableware; if you suddenly change it, the whole thing will look different.”

Despite the lack of stability in terms of income, he’d rather stick to miniature food art than go back to graphic design or pastry-making.

“There’s no stress and every day I look forward to making it, I’m very happy.”

The Gardens Mall diorama exhibition will be held until September 17 at South Palm, ground floor.

In addition to Siow’s nine dioramas, another local artist Lim Pui Wan of PicoWorm will be showcasing four dioramas that are of smaller scale.

Visitors can also participate in The Gardens Mall’s Social Rewards photo contest which ends on September 17. Get innovative with your camera because the mall is rewarding visitors who post creative photos/videos/reels with the exhibited miniatures.

For more information, follow The Gardens Mall on Instagram.