Mr. Koo talks his Realeyes collection, the local tattoo scene, and moving to Hong Kong

For the past 15 years, Mr. Koo (Prairie Koo) made a name for himself as one of the biggest tattoo artists in North America, working with celebrities and well-known clients. Many know him as a leader of micro realism tattoos, introducing what has become one of the most popular tattoo styles to Toronto. But now, he’s back in Hong Kong and starting anew. Here, he’s simply Mr. Koo the artist, making his first foray into the city’s art scene with his Realeyes collection.

In early 2024, Mr. Koo left behind his life in Canada for Hong Kong, where he grew up. “To me, I left everything in Toronto,” he says. “I gave it all away. I didn’t want anything coming to Hong Kong.” From finding a new studio and recovering from health issues to scavenging for free furniture and almost losing a finger, he candidly shared his journey of moving back and reconnecting with Hong Kong on Instagram.

Once he settled in, it was time to get back into art. Of course, Mr. Koo still does tattoos, but his focus has shifted to personal art. Inspired by his own struggles, he began creating works about mental health. It quickly evolved into a whole collection, which Mr. Koo named Realeyes.

Now, he’s stepping into gallery spaces to promote his work and message. He just wrapped up Present Tense — Tomorrow Odyssey with New Art Est-Ouest Auctions, his first exhibition in Hong Kong. Next, he’ll be joining Young Soy Gallery in Unmasked. We spoke to Mr. Koo to learn more about his collection, tattoo work, and moving to Hong Kong. Keep reading below to discover the story behind his works and his thoughts on the local tattoo scene.

Mr. Koo takes us through the Realeyes collection

Can you introduce the Realeyes collection?

This whole collection started around two months ago. The face you see repeated on every single piece is basically a bunch of people I know. I mashed up all their faces to create this very unique face. It’s a very androgynous face. A lot of people think it’s a girl, but if you see my stickers around the city, you’ll realize it’s actually not a girl.

Everything is talking about mental health. Every piece has a mental aspect that relates to my life or somebody I know. For Sink or Swim, the whole idea is that whenever I’m stressed, I like to just lay in water and block out all the sound. But for a lot of people, it’s very claustrophobic and a very scary thing to do. When you look at the piece, it looks very relaxing, but it’s also very stressful. There are actually two pieces to this and Part 2 is the whole face submerged. When I was feeling stuck, I just wanted to get out, but I felt like I couldn’t get out of that mindset and this is what I came up with.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mr. Koo (@mrkooart)

What’s the story behind this other piece, Realize?

So for this piece, one of them is missing eyebrows, and one of them only has half. It’s kind of funny — most people will never notice these imperfections. This is me talking about beauty standards and how most of the time, people will never notice except yourself. You say, “I don’t look good today. I look kind of fat today,” but nobody knows that. It’s only you. It took us so long to create something nobody actually notices.

We also played around with the material that was left over, so it’s a different kind of fabric. It’s not a normal canvas. It touches a lot more different, it’s a lot more rough and jagged. It’s a very different texture and it’s purposely so. It’s not perfect. There’s some ridges in it because it’s the imperfection that I was looking for, the wabi-sabi feeling. But it’s funny. When I brought it here, the gallery was like, “There’s spots and chunks missing.” But it’s done on purpose. It’s just to be like, “Why is there something missing there?” It’s not supposed to look perfect like a realistic face.

Can you tell us about your installation, Buying Happiness?

This whole piece is about consumerism. I realized when I came here to Hong Kong, a lot of times, people flaunt their wealth and try to one-up each other. I wanted to create a piece that would be more interesting in a big gallery like this. This is one of the cheapest art pieces you can buy in a blue-chip art gallery in Hong Kong, especially in a building like H Queen’s, where there are international galleries.

If you are the first one to approach this, you can get an art piece for a dollar. And then the price just goes up. I’m donating all the money to Mind HK, because to me, mental health is a very big thing, and consumerism is a mental health problem, right? Just consuming, consuming, consuming. In Hong Kong, consuming is the therapy. There’s a sound to this, it’s just saying, “BUY MORE, BUY MORE, CONSUME, CONSUME,” because that’s all we hear everywhere we go. In Hong Kong, scare tactics are a big thing. “You need to buy this now because it will help you do this!” This is my play on it.

Originally there was tracking. So if you walk by, it’ll look at you and follow you, but it was a little too complex to manage so I took it out. On one side, there’s a cell phone that tells you the current price. Let’s say the last one sold for $100, so the next person has to pay more. On the other side, it explains what this is. It’s just a fun installation to make fun of consumerism and also kind of make fun of the gallery at the same time. Like, hey, I know it’s an expensive gallery, but let’s do something more fun. They pushed back on it at first, but because it is a fun, interactive art piece and it is going to charity, they allowed it. It’s an interactive thing that nobody is profiting from except mental health. That’s what my whole thing is about, so why not?

What inspired you to start this series?

My normal pieces are really big. They’re all mental health-based, but my style was completely different. The work looked more vintage and kind of like old propaganda-style work, more illustrative. And then… I don’t know. I just had an urge to create this one face and replicate it over and over again and see how far I can push it. In a month or two, I came up with 20-something pieces and I just kept having new ideas from my daily life. I just stumbled upon this. This was the first time I actually got an airbrush and ever used one. I normally hand paint or draw. Then I figured I might as well just use an airbrush and try it out for this whole collection. Keep pushing it to see how far I can take this medium.

Mr. Koo goes behind the scenes of Realeyes

What did your process look like when creating this series?

I’m using other people’s faces to create a narrative. It’s a portrait of the people around me. Because I grew up in North America, the face is a little more North American. But slowly, I think it won’t really evolve, but it can change through time. The whole art series is based on that one face. There are 20-something pieces and I still create on a daily basis.

I overlaid like 20–30 people that are close to me and then the eye shape was whatever was the most prominent. When you expand the whole face, you’ll realize nothing is proportionate. It’s not a real face. The reason why everything is cropped and you only see the face, no shape or anything, is because I’m trying to show you can’t really judge something when you only see a portion of it. With mental health, everybody looks good on the outside. But on the inside, you don’t know what else is around, right? It’s welcoming you into the piece to put yourself in that perspective. So, if you look at this piece, what do you see? Where do you put yourself in the mental health aspect when you’re looking at this piece?

What message do you hope to convey through this collection?

Mental health awareness. I want to show people that it’s okay to show who you are. A lot of people find it very difficult in Hong Kong to even talk about how they feel, therapy, and all that stuff. My goal is just to raise awareness and push my heart out.

What’s the story behind the name?

It’s kind of a funny story. My friend’s name is Laiza. She’s a big KOL influencer in Hong Kong. When I first started this collection, I was painting different styles of faces and I said, “Laiza, can I paint your face? Let’s work on a collection together and we can call it The Real Laiza.” Because on her Instagram, she doesn’t really show herself. It’s what people want to see. And then I was like, “That’s a pretty interesting name.”

My main goal is for people to realize who they actually are and what they’re feeling in the inside. But the most prominent thing about this piece is the eyes that look right through you. It’s never looking at you, it’s looking through you. It’s very prominent in all the pieces. Some pieces are just the eye, sometimes there’s a teardrop, and some of it is just a small portion, but at the end of the day, the eyes convey the message. It tells people how people feel. So in my pieces, I try to show the emptiness in the eyes. A lot of my work is supposed to look very simple in the eye and not sad, but the story behind it is very dark indeed.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mr. Koo (@mrkooart)

Why did you use an airbrush for the collection?

It’s very close to a tattoo machine. I never realized that. It’s not like a brush where you can just put it right on. From air pressure to how close or far you are to how fast you’re moving, it all depends on how the ink comes out. So it’s a very, very, very technical thing to use. But I love how smooth and imperfect it can be. Sometimes, it can get clogged and it can spray. Sometimes I’ll be like, 99% finished on a piece, and at the last second, a spurt of ink comes out and the whole piece is crap. But I love that aspect of it.

In my last collection when I first came here, I did about 15 pieces. When I found this style, I packed all 15 pieces and threw it out. To me, art is about finding happiness. I didn’t really enjoy the old stuff after I created this piece. So I just kept pushing and creating more and this is the avenue I’m trying to go in, to move with and work with different brands on this collection.

This is your first time using the airbrush. Did it affect your creative process at all?

I think I had a draw to it right away because it’s very similar to a tattoo machine. I’ve been tattooing for more than 15 years. I can do it with my eyes closed. After working on this for the first 2–3 days, I think I came up with like, 5 to 8 pieces already. Sink or Swim was probably the fourth piece I did, but for this gallery, I redid the whole piece. I actually have the original one at home and this is the second rendition of it, it’s very similar.

Through time, the technique gets a lot better. Realize is one of the first 2 pieces I did with it. You’ll see the technique is not as good. The second one is a lot more smooth, a lot more soft. But I like that aspect of it, where you see the nice, raw progression in the process, from material to the different paints and techniques.

Mr. Koo on tattooing in Hong Kong and Canada

How has your tattooing experience influenced your personal art and style?

With tattoos, my style’s very… it used to be very unique. Many years ago, there were no micro tattoo artists in Toronto. I brought that to Toronto and opened one of the biggest tattoo stores in North America, pushing this style. Now, so many artists in the world work in my style. Even in Hong Kong, there are a lot of artists working in my style, but still a little different. At the end of the day, I’m not copying. I’m one of the leaders of this style, right? And now it’s just amazing. People are adding on to it and doing their thing.

I want to do the same with art, to be able to work with different brands. There are not really any artists working with charities and brands to do collabs. So I’m trying to do more of that, bringing my tattoo side — as in the business side — into the art industry too, while pushing my creativity.

Have you been doing tattoos in Hong Kong?

I still do work in Hong Kong. I don’t post it as much just because the clients in Hong Kong are a little bit more lost with tattoos. In Canada, a lot of my clients came from LA or America, and most of my clients were celebrities or the super-rich, right? Now, it’s a little harder in Hong Kong because I don’t push it too much. I would love to get back into it and do more of it. But it’s a hard market here, because everybody is cheap. I’ve noticed that 90% of tattoos I see in Hong Kong, the skin is damaged, the artist doesn’t know how deep they’re going, the skin is all raised, the ink is all spread. There’s quite a handful of artists that do very good work, but most of the people have bad work because they’re trying to look for the cheapest thing.

What do you think of the tattoo scene here?

A lot of clients from Hong Kong come in saying, “I don’t know what I want, but I want something.” Then I’ll ask them a story, like, what do you want? And they all go, “I don’t know. Maybe I want a cover-up,” not realizing that they want a cover-up because the first tattoo they got, they just got whatever. A lot of people here don’t really see tattoos as an art form. They want a tattoo-er, not a tattoo artist. Some will come to me wanting a Japanese piece. They don’t know that I don’t do Japanese work. I only work in my style. A lot of times, I push away a lot of work. My clients, even now, are mainly from North America or they fly in from around the world.

Also, I don’t show the drawing beforehand. If you want something from me, you come, and I’ll draw the day of and it’ll take me like 5–10 minutes to draw whatever you want. Full back piece? 10 to 20 minutes, you know. It’s a different process from what artists in Hong Kong do where there’s a thousand back and forths. It’s not the artist’s work anymore. It’s just what the client wants, what they saw on Pinterest. That also pushes away the clients in Hong Kong.

Is it different from the tattoo scene in Canada?

My clients in Canada know what my art is and they want my work. They don’t want me to copy somebody’s work. Here, the first thing people say is “Actually, I don’t have a drawing of what I want. I don’t know what I want.” I have to educate them and say that I’m an artist. I will draw it for you. If you like my work, I will create my work for you. But they don’t understand it. They’re looking for a tattoo-er and think they have to draw it.

You’ve got to look at the artist’s portfolio and see what they do. If an artist doesn’t have any colour on their portfolio, they don’t do colour work. If they don’t do realism, they don’t do realism. They only do line work. But normal people see it as “If you sell food, you must sell all types of food.”

From tattooing to creating personal art

Why did you shift from focusing on tattoo work to creating more personal art?

I actually started shifting in Canada. I slowed down a lot of my tattooing. I used to do five to ten pieces a day tattooing. I went from that to doing one to three times a week and that’s it. I spent most of my time painting.

Since I came here, I completely changed my style and I’m just launching myself as a new artist here. To me, I left everything in Toronto. I gave away all my properties, my cars, my money. I gave it all away. I didn’t want anything coming to Hong Kong. I didn’t want any stress. I wanted a completely empty mind and to know that I don’t have anything I gotta worry about except rent. I threw away all my art from the past and now I’m just starting fresh. I want a fresh, new start. Even with my artwork. I don’t want to bring in what I used to do. I’m just a new artist in Hong Kong and this is how I’m launching.

A lot of people here wonder, “How did you get into a gallery like this as your first show?” But I think persistence and good work will push that and a good message will take you a long way. My message is not about me, it’s about the mass population, and that helps a lot.

What triggered that shift from tattooing to creating personal art?

I think doing tattooing for 15 years is… it’s a long time. For me, being one of the most well-known artists in Canada, that was my identity. There was nothing else. I was just known as the tattoo guy. When it came to Hong Kong, I wasn’t known as the tattoo guy anymore. I was known as the guy who picks up trash and also the guy with the f***ed up finger, you know? So everybody in the street stops me like, “You’re the finger guy. You’re the trash guy.” I’m not. I’m an artist, which is kind of funny. So, I’m trying to push that a bit more. I just want to find my happiness and create fun, interesting projects all the time.

Tattooing still makes me very happy, but the clientele and the way Hong Kong approaches it weren’t really making me too happy, so I slowed down on that. But I still do it and I’d still love to do more and push that more while I’m doing my art.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mr. Koo (@mrkooart)

How has moving to Hong Kong influenced your art style and your approach to art?

I moved here specifically just to do art. The first thing I did when I got here was I got myself a big studio to paint. A lot of people who go to my studio — like the galleries — they all go, “This is the nicest, biggest studio we’ve seen for an artist in Hong Kong.” There aren’t really any artists here whose full-time job is just to paint and create fun stuff all the time. I’m fortunate enough where I’m able to do it, not financially, but mindset-wise. I’m able to do it because I believe in my art and what I can do.

So the shift that made me transition was mainly just the happiness part, just creating. I love creating. We also do content creation, media photography, and videos. We also have an agency to do that stuff. That’s pretty low-key. I don’t really push that much, but we do work with a lot of brands to do fashion, personal videos, and even gallery stuff.

This is your first exhibition in Hong Kong and your first exhibition in 12 years. Did you learn anything new from this experience? Do you feel like it changed your perspective as an artist?

Yes, because the difference is, now, my main income is art. Back in the day, it was more of a fun thing, right? I’m creating art as a passion and also a business. That’s what differentiates me from a lot of artists in Hong Kong. I love what I do and I’m here to disrupt the industry in Hong Kong and push my name.

Do you have other exhibitions lined up?

My next one is with Young Soy Gallery. It’s also a group exhibition. It’s talking about portraits and also mental health, which was a perfect fit for my work. They want about four or five pieces for that. It’s not any of these pieces for New Art Est-Ouest. We might reuse Buying Happiness again just because it’s pretty interesting and it’s very jarring when you look at it.

But yeah, same thing, just trying to push the message of mental health. I want to do more charity work, donate paintings, and just try to raise more awareness at this point. I know the money will come eventually, but to me, the mental health aspect and helping others are more important.

What other projects are you working on?

I’m also trying to create a… basically these beads I’m wearing. It’s something that I created a while ago, but I want to push it more. You know the Livestrong bracelet? That yellow bracelet back in the day that everybody wore for testicular cancer or something? I’m trying to create this bracelet that gives back to mental health. Basically, a portion goes to mental health and it’s just a quick reminder to smile when you look down on your arm all the time.

I’ve always had this tattoo that my best friend Laiza gave me to smile. She has the same thing. Every time I look at it, it’s just a quick reminder to be happy. There’s a lot of things happening in the world. I want to create a product that I can push as a reminder to people and also work with more brands to spread the word about happiness. I’m not the happiest person — I’m still struggling a lot with mental health — but I know that through art and pushing mental health, I can better myself and better others at the same time, so we can grow together.

You can catch Mr. Koo and his Realeyes collection at Young Soy Gallery during Unmasked.