The Cup Artist

Happy Friday! "Coffee" is the week's theme and I thought best to end the topic with another talented individual creating art out of coffee cups.

His name is Cheeming Boey. He is a foam cup artist. Born and raised in Malaysia, he admitted to being a "terrible student" who was "bad at math and English," so he turned to art. He moved to California to study computer game design and eventually became an animator. One day, he was at a coffee shop and had the urge to draw. But he didn't have any paper. 

No paper, no problem. He fished out a foam cup from the trash and began drawing on it.

Foam cups, a Sharpie marker and a wild imagination were the only tools he needed to turn blah into TADA!:

His first few works were displayed in his cubicle at work. A co-worker asked him what he was going to do with all these cups. He said he was going to sell them. "No one is going to buy that crap, Boey," his co-worker retorted. But people did. And are still doing so, paying hundreds of dollars for his masterpieces. Take that, co-worker!

The hobby he started in 2006 is now a flourishing business. His work is so impressive, he's been featured in major publications and videos.

For potential buyers, his foam cup artworks are mounted on cork and encased in an acrylic box, lest someone at home accidentally gets rid of it, thinking it's "just a cup with a drawing". Duh.

In one of his interviews, Boey says, "To me just because something is labelled disposable, doesn't mean it has to be. It is what you make of it."

A once fuzzy vision of the future, the lack of drawing paper or criticism did not stop this young man from relishing the sweet taste of success. Boey, I raise my cup to you!

Images borrowed from Sharpie and I am Boey.