SINGAPORE: Professor Steve Dixon is wandering around the makeshift stalls, when, amidst used phones, piles of clothing and other assorted items, something catches his eye – a Transformers action figure.
Grimlock isn’t quite in mint condition, but Prof Dixon doesn’t mind. The vendor is selling it for S$20 but he manages to haggle it down to S$15. “It’s one of the classic toys I’m very interested in. I’m pleased with this,” he said.
Indeed, when it comes to toys, Prof Dixon can’t resist a bargain. Especially when he’s at the Sungei Road flea market.
For the past four years, the 60-year-old Briton has been making monthly visits to the famous Thieves Market, where he’s bought everything from porcelain figurines to Pokemon and superhero action figures.
Prof Dixon has become a regular at the Sungei Road flea market and vendors often greet him with a smile. (Photo: Shawn Lim)
In fact, he’s such a familiar face that some set aside figurines for when he drops by.
“Remember the boy on the horse?” he greets one of the vendors, who nods and smiles back. “This lady sold me a wonderful large figurine, one of my largest ceramic figures. It was only S$10, so it was a fantastic bargain,” he told Channel NewsAsia.
Another vendor showed him two small Chinese figures, and a wooden toy horse. When he asked how much they were, she told him to name his price. S$5? Deal.
“I buy a lot from this lady, she’s one of my friends, and she always collects figures for me,” he said.
By the time he’s done, Prof Dixon would be going home with not just Grimlock but two plastic bags full of toys, which he planned to add to an already eclectic collection numbering around 2,000 items.
It was a hobby that began when he first stumbled upon the place, shortly after coming on board as president of the nearby LASALLE College of the Arts in 2012.
An ongoing exhibition by Prof Dixon and his wife, Prue, at LASALLE College of the Arts features some of his toys arranged into dioramas. (Photo: Shawn Lim)
“It was very close to where I work, and I was amazed at how wonderfully visual it was. It was an overload of nostalgia with objects and figures from different eras, cultures and countries,” he said.
At first, he simply collected items he could display at home, such as Chinese ceramic pottery to Japanese robots. But after he became interested in creating dioramas, he decided it wasn’t enough.
“I needed more and more characters to fill these dramatic scenes. So I bought more and more, and started to really enjoy buying a big volume of figures,” he said.
All that toy collecting eventually resulted in an ongoing exhibition of toy-filled dioramas at LASALLE. Called Things In Translation, the show, which was done together with his artist-wife Prue, includes a thousand of his toys arranged into 20 dioramas. It runs until Dec 11.
(Photo: Shawn Lim)
Different commentaries abound in the dioramas, such as Counting Dead Superheroes, where Batman, Spider-Man and Superman action figures, among others, are all huddled in a heap to signify a sense of vulnerability even among the strong.
Among the figures are some rare and old ones, such as a Japanese robot from the 1980s, which cost him almost S$100, and a Mickey Mouse toy from the 1960s.
The idea behind the show’s dioramas was partly inspired by the surreal ones found at another unique Singapore landmark: Haw Par Villa.
But for Prof Dixon, the entire show is really a tribute of sorts to Thieves Market, which is slated to close next year as it gives way to the Jalan Besar MRT Station.
“It’s a very special place in Singapore for me, a really special landmark. It’s been going since the 1930s and it’ll be very sad when it closes,” he said. “I’m not sure where I’ll go and visit when this all goes. There are other flea markets, but most of them are in malls.”
(Photo: Shawn Lim)
But more than the toy bargains to be had, he says it is the people he will miss the most once it’s gone.
“One of the best memories I have of this place was when there was absolutely torrential rain. It just poured and poured and no one could move, and I was under one of these tarpaulin covers with lots of the sellers and we were just having a fantastic joke together,” he recalled.
“We were all absolutely soaked, but there’s just a sense of camaraderie and community here. Everyone knows each other and they’re just wonderful, beautiful people.”
For now, Prof Dixon will be adding his latest finds to the exhibition, and will continue to drop by the flea market to check out what else his vendor-friends have in store.
“There’re lots of bargains here, real gems and treasures. I just hope another place can be found for all these fantastic sellers to go.”
Additional reporting by Shawn Lim.
