Disposable Lighter Cigarette Lighter, 2003

Tobias Wong’s Disposable Lighters (2003) brought focused attention and unique artistic treatment to an object of everyday use – in this case a lighter -- by dressing it with an expensive and luxurious material: animal fur. This clashing and surprising material choice simultaneously invites the viewer to reflect upon the commodification of fur as well as the implications of its usage.





To make his Disposable Lighters, he used conventional lighters on which he glued genuine fine sable mink, lynx, and silver fox furs. As such, he combined an object of low value in the plastic cigarette lighter, that is bound to be thrown away after it runs out of lighter fluid, with genuine fur, a material valued for the exquisite feeling procured by its touch as well as its immediate and powerful associations with wealth and luxury. As such, he prompts the viewer to take the time to re-examine with newfound interest an object as banal and overlooked as a disposable lighter by dressing it up in a way that makes us want to touch, fiddle with and use this newly fascinating and valuable object.





Simultaneously, by using high-quality animal fur and binding it to a disposable item, Tobias Wong invites the viewer to reflect upon the implications behind the commodification of fur. Something that was once on a live and sentient animal was forcibly extracted and transformed into a luxurious material used for clothing or accessories to provide personal comfort and act as status symbols. His Disposable Lighters convey the insensitivity that goes into using fur as, just like a lighter, it is inevitably bound to ultimately be disposed of.1 But rather than doing this from a forthright animal rights and activist angle, he uses fur to shock viewers in the hopes that they ponder this terrifying issue for themselves. Within a system of hyper-consumption and luxury, how willing are we to surrender our material comfort even when it is enabled by the suffering of others?






Footnote 1: This was not the first time Tobias Wong made art pieces which involved the transformation of animals into commodities. In 1992, while he was a first-year student at the Emily Carr Institution of Art and Design he participated to the year-end Foundation show for which he placed small plastic bags containing live golffish on the floor. After some students complained to the SPCA, Wong switched the goldfish for tuna cans.





Supplement:


In an interview for SOMA Magazine in 2009, when asked about the provocativeness of his work Tobias Wong highlighted that his pieces are meant to be engaged with by viewers both materially and conceptually:


“I want people to think and respond. It’s that simple. Here’s what I give you. What do you/can you give back? It’s a natural evolution.”


This highlights one of the key aspects of Tobias Wong’s artistic practice which he describes as ‘post-interesting.’ What inspires his pieces and his choice of medium comes from nowhere else than his own interests which he formulates in response to situations he is directly faced with. He then transforms these moments and thoughts into pieces which are meant to elicit a reaction from his viewers and hopefully engage them in a conversation with his creations, and therefore, his own thoughts. It is most likely that Wong came up with the idea for the fur lighters after encountering how certain New Yorkers dressed up their pet dogs and essentially used them as accessories. As a reaction he decided it would be more effective to eliminate the effort and time it takes to feed and walk them by placing fur directly onto objects and accessories. In the same interview for Soma Magazine, he described the motivations for such as creative process:


“I create because I need to respond. Most of my work is simply a dialogue. It’s not a new thing in the art world, but the design world needs more of it. Every project is different, so I just think how do I make this one relevant in the current world I live in? There is no form or medium need to choose from. It’s just part of life.”

Disposable Lighter Cigarette Lighter, 2003; Designed by Tobias Wong (1974–2010); silver fox fur, resin, metal, plastic; H x W x D: 8.3 × 5.1 × 1.9 cm (3 1/4 in. × 2 in. × 3/4 in.); The Tobias Wong Collection, Gift of Phyllis Chan and Gordon Wong; 2024-4-46