Andras Istvan Arato, the man behind the 'Hide the Pain Harold' meme, is in Singapore.

The 79-year-old Hungarian engineer is best known for a series of stock photos — featuring his signature pained smile — which have elevated him to meme status online.

He is here to attend the Token 2049 cryptocurrency event held at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) from Sep. 18 to 19, CNA reported.

Arato is reportedly attending as a guest of Web3-focused studio Memeland and NFT community Arc.

Walking meme

On Sep. 18, Arato posted a photo on the 'Hide the Pain Harold' Instagram, of himself smiling against the backdrop of MBS.

"What a night!!!" it was captioned.

Arato was also holding up a cup with a sticker of his face on it.

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A post shared by Hide the Pain Harold (@painharold)

In the comments, many fans enthusiastically welcomed him to Singapore.

One in particular also managed to get a picture with Arato that night.

'I'm not actually a sad guy'

In a 2019 interview, Arato told The Guardian that he initially hated being made into a meme.

He had done photoshoots in Budapest to create stock pictures to be used by businesses and websites, but didn't expect that online users would overlay his pictures with text about situations like these:

"They used my image because it looked as if I was smiling through the pain," Arato said.

Eventually, though, Arato took ownership of the meme. He has since starred in various commercials, appeared on talkshows, and has travelled all over the world for conferences and lectures.

"But I’m not actually a sad guy – I think I’m rather a happy one," he clarified.

Top image from painharold / Instagram & generated on Imgflip.com