Your S’pore Story: ‘Response has always been positive until I posted my nasi lemak character’

The cheat code to going viral? According to a comment on Mr Andy Choo’s artwork, it is making Malaysians angry.

The origin of well-loved hawker dishes has long been a prickly subject between Singapore and Malaysia. So when the 39-year-old unveiled a character based on nasi lemak – as part of a series reimagining Singapore’s hawker favourites as fantasy heroes – he did not expect it to stir up a debate.

Watch his video here.

Dozens of Malaysians flooded his page with comments, accusing him of claiming the national dish as Singaporean. Mr Choo had added a note acknowledging the dish’s Malaysian origins, but the clarification did not appease them.

Still, the nasi lemak debacle – while unintended – felt like a small win. To Mr Choo, it signalled a step towards greater visibility for Singaporean artists on the global stage – it shows that people outside of Singapore are noticing his artwork.

He shares more about his line-up of hawker heroes, what drives him to keep creating, and how he hopes to nurture the next generation of home-grown artists.

“When I did One Piece Avengers in 2012 – a mash-up of the most popular Japanese and American characters – it blew up overnight. So I thought, okay, I know how to get the fame: just take popular characters, put your own spin on them and maybe throw in a crossover.

But after a while, I stopped. I did not want to keep using other people’s characters and most people would not even know a Singaporean was behind the artwork. I wanted to create something that was more uniquely Singaporean – that’s much more meaningful to me.

The idea came during the Covid-19 pandemic. I had nothing to do at home and was staring at a plate of chicken rice. At the same time, the game Genshin Impact was really popular. So I thought: what if I combined the two? Could I create something that is uniquely Singaporean?

And that is how the characters were born. Chicken rice became a tall, slim lady archetype. Ice kacang and laksa represent the younger girls with smaller builds. Then, there are the big guys like chilli crab and bak kut teh. The black and white carrot cake are your average Joes.

I shared them online, including on international artist pages. The response for my artwork has always been positive – until I posted the nasi lemak character. That post sparked a wave of comments from Malaysians saying that nasi lemak was not Singaporean, but Malaysian.

About 10 years ago, I did something similar too – taking something familiar and putting a Singaporean spin on it. Years ago, when the Transformers movies were big, I turned Singapore’s buses and taxis into Transformers too. It has always been my thing.

Apart from creating my own mash-ups, I’ve spent over a decade helping young artists build a strong foundation in art and drawing.

I have been teaching art across primary, secondary and tertiary levels. To nurture younger talent, I am now working on a curriculum that is more interesting for kids. It is packaged like a role-playing game – they unlock skills as they progress and earn badges along the way. And all the characters I’ve created will be used in my teaching materials.

In Singapore, if you want to do art on a professional level, you either work for a company or start your own, like I did. There are not many indie studios here, which is why people end up aiming for jobs overseas, at companies like Marvel and DC.

But I still want to stay. There’s just something special about Singapore and I think it’s because this is where I grew up. That’s why I’m always trying to create something that’s our own.”

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