Monthly Archives: February 2020

Peaches & Cream 悠长假期

February 7, 2020 2020年2月7日

The world of Felicia Chiao radiates with the warmth and glow of a dusk sun. Her illustrations capture the comfort of a lazy day off alone, often featuring a peach-colored person with an oversized head lounging about at home. “The bald character who shows up the most is basically my version of a very fleshed out stick figure,” she laughs, explaining that she prefers leaving him without any distinctive characteristics. “Once you add hair or clothes, it has to be someone and I don’t like that. I get a lot of people asking what gender it is and I don’t know why that’s important.”

Felicia Chiao 的插画世界满溢着夕阳的温暖和光芒。在作品中，她捕捉了一个人独自度过慵懒假期的舒适感。她他画面中最常画的是一个桃色大头人，在家里舒服呆着的画面。她笑着说：“画面中出现最多的光头人，可以说就是用简笔画画的我自己。”Felicia 说自己不想为这个大头人加上任何鲜明的特征，因为，“一旦加了头发或衣服，就变成特定的人物，我不喜欢那样。有很多人问我它是什么性别，但我觉得那根本不重要。”

While Chiao’s work frequently depicts homely settings, she often treads into the bounds of fantasy and makebelieve as well, creating surreal compositions that beckon viewers to explore the dense frame and discover all of its hidden secrets. The Easter eggs of her work often reference her Asian heritage: Chinese zodiac animals, lucky cats, koi fish, and more make frequent appearances.

After moving to the US from Taiwan, Chiao lived in Texas, where she spent most of her childhood. “There was an absurdly high Asian population in my part of Texas, so I didn’t think about ‘being Asian’ until I left for college,” she says. “My work depicts an Asian-American viewpoint but I’m not really doing it intentionally. It’s just who I am.”

Felicia 的作品常以家为背景，但也会描绘幻想和虚构的世界。通过超现实主义的画作，吸引观众进入错综复杂的画中去探索，发现其中隐藏的秘密。她作品中的“彩蛋”常常是一些亚洲文化元素：中国的十二生肖动物、招财猫、锦鲤等等。

从台湾移居美国后，Felicia 在得克萨斯州度过了大半童年时光。“在我生活的得克萨斯州亚裔很多，所以在我去上大学之前，我都不会特别去想‘亚裔’这个身份。我的作品描绘的是美籍亚裔的观点，但我其实没有刻意这样做，我只是在展示我自己。”

Chiao creates everything with ink and Copic marker on brown paper, which is what loans the work its unique texture. The inherent warm tones of the medium paired with her cute illustration imbue her work a reassuring sense of calm and comfort. But this coziness is tempered by a darkness nibbling at the edges, usually depicted as a shadowy, shape-shifting form.

Felicia 几乎所有作品都是用墨水和 Copic 马克笔在牛皮纸上创作而成，因而她的作品得以有一种独特的质感。这种纸特有的温暖色调与她可爱的插图相结合，营造出了令人安心的平静和舒适感。但这种感受为边缘处的黑暗形象所吞噬了，那一片黑色的阴影在图中会呈现出各不相同的形态。

The mischievous blob of darkness was originally a visual representation of her digestion issues, which were often brought on by stress. “Initially it was drawn inside the body of characters as a stomach,” she says. “But my mom thought it was a cat, which I thought was funny, so now I just put it in random places.”

The blob has grown to symbolize negative feelings in general, but Chiao stresses that her work isn’t meant to be taken very seriously. She says that while her work does help her emotionally, it’s not as deep as many people tend to think.

Felicia 最初画这个黑色形象，是想用来代表自己因为压力产生的消化不良。她说：“起初它是作为胃的象征，画在大头人的肚子里。但是我妈妈却以为这是一只猫，我觉得还挺有趣的，所以现在就把它画到不同的位置上。”

这个人物渐渐成为了代表负面情绪的意象，但 Felicia 强调，自己的作品没有什么严肃的主题。她表示，虽然作品确实能改善她的心情，但并不像许多人想的那么深刻。

As her art has grown in popularity, Chiao has started receiving more messages from people about how it has impacted them. “I get very long, intense messages from people,” she says. “And I’m glad, but also a little surprised. If it can help others, that’s great. But I’m not going to pretend I’ve got my life figured out enough to help others.”

随着作品越来越受欢迎，Felicia 开始收到越来越多的留言与私信，讲述她的作品对自己的影响。她说：“我收到过一些很长、很热情的信息。我高兴之余，也有些意外。能帮到别人，自然是好事。但我不会假装自己已经顿悟到可以帮助他人的地步。”

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Instagram: @feliciachiao
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Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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Instagram: @feliciachiao
Behance: ~/feliciachiao
Tumblr: feliciachiao.tumblr.com

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
中译英: Olivia Li

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INFERNO 你不知道的红灯区

February 4, 2020 2020年2月4日

Bondage slaves, drag queens, and vibrant neons: the paintings of James Jirat Patradoon‘s INFERNO transplants the red-light district into the gallery with a comic-book aesthetic. Bulging male muscles and ballooning breasts are squeezed into leather and latex, Chinese type and luxury brand names sit alongside each other, and latticed borders that call to mind the intricate designs of Chinese-style windows frame the entire composition. These works are intentionally loud and exaggerated, designed to draw parallels between distant cultures.

如果要形容起 James Pirat Patradoon 的绘画系列《INFERNO》，那一定可以这样总结——充满着捆绑奴役、变装皇后和充满活力的霓虹色彩。将红灯区的景象凝成漫画风格搬到画廊展墙之上：肌肉彪悍的猛男、穿着紧身皮革和乳胶衣的性感美女，汉字和奢侈品牌交相辉映，而格纹边框则让人联想到错综复杂的中式窗户，将整个构图融入其中。这些作品刻意而为的抢眼、夸张风格，旨在将不同的文化相联系。

“I spend a bit too much time in strip clubs,” Patradoon laughs. “I find them fascinating. Performers occupy this space where the audience only experiences them as a fiction. The drag queens here in Bangkok are like real buff dudes in regular life. When they perform, they’re like superheroes with a fictional identity.” His art draws on this type of contrast, pulling it to extremes until it becomes something else.

“我好像太常去脱衣舞厅。” James Pirat Patradoon 笑着说，“我觉得那里很有意思。表演者是整个空间的主角，为观众提供一种虚幻的体验。曼谷的变装皇后在平日里都是很健壮的男人，但当他们在舞台表演时，就像变成了一个个有虚构身份的超级英雄。”他的作品借鉴了这种对比，通过极端的演绎，呈现出别样的景象。

Patradoon is Chinese and Thai but grew up in Australia. He’d been based in Sydney until last year when he had the chance to move to Bangkok. With his illustration career at a standstill and the local art scene feeling stagnant, he jumped at the opportunity. “Friends would ask me if Thailand’s nightlife is really as crazy as its reputation, and I couldn’t answer back then,” he says. “It definitely hasn’t disappointed.”

Since moving there, he’s immersed himself in the city’s nightlife, making friends with punk rockers, embedding himself in the local electronic music scene, and getting to know the city’s queer community. Bangkok’s LGBTQ culture especially has had the most impact on him. “Nightlife has been my interest since before I moved and these paintings were based on ideas from before I came, but the energy here motivated me to work and made things much clearer in my mind,” Patradoon says. “You have to experience this stuff first hand and in person. It’s just not the same online.”

INFERNO, which debuted at Superchief Gallery in Los Angeles late last year, is the culmination of his nocturnal escapades in Bangkok. For this series, he began without clear intent, digitally sketching his stream of consciousness. These illustrations were then combined to form his visually dense compositions. The final step was to then paint the finished work on canvas.

James Pirat Patradoon 是中泰混血，但自小在澳大利亚长大。一直生活在悉尼的他，直到去年搬到曼谷。当时正值他插画创作的瓶颈期，加上当地的艺术场景的停滞不前，于是，他选择了搬离。“有朋友会问我，泰国的夜生活是不是像传闻的那样声色犬马，我当时还不知道怎么回答呢。但肯定不会让人失望。” 他说道。

自从搬到曼谷，他就沉浸在这座城市的夜生活，结识朋克歌手，进入当地的电子音乐圈，并接触了这里的酷儿社区。其中曼谷的 LGBTQ 文化对他的影响最大。“在搬到曼谷之前，我就一直很喜欢夜生活，这些画是我根据以前的想法创作的，但这里的能量让我有了创作的欲望，也让我有了更清晰的创作理念。”James Pirat Patradoon 说，“你必须要去亲身体验。这跟网络上的是不一样的。”

《INFERNO》系列于去年年底在洛杉矶的 Superchief 画廊首次亮相，是他对曼谷夜生活的写照。这个系列开始时并没有明确的初衷，James Pirat Patradoon 只是用电脑描画出脑海的想法，然后将这些插图合并成在视觉上复杂紧凑的作品，最后在画布上完成画作。

Life in Thailand has actually made Patradoon identify more as a Westerner and more as an Australian. In Sydney, he always felt out of place because of racism. But in Bangkok, although he’s surrounded by other Thais, he still feels like an outsider. “All I have to do is open my mouth, and it’s obvious I’m an ‘other,'” he says. “But it’s to my advantage because I can ask questions about anything since they’re more forgiving with me as an outsider.”

在泰国生活实际上让 James Pirat Patradoon 更强烈地感觉到自己作为西方人，作为澳大利亚人的身份。在悉尼，因为当地的种族歧视，他总是觉得格格不入。但在曼谷，虽然他身边都是与他相同国籍的泰国人，但他仍觉得自己身在局外。“我只要一说话，就很明显是个‘外国人’。”他说，“但这也是我的优势，因为我可以问任何问题，毕竟他们对外国人比较宽容。”

“These reflections on race and identity have also led him to explore issues of gender and sexuality.  He’s straight, but in Bangkok he’s often perceived as gay. It’s a challenge he hadn’t encountered very often before. “I don’t have a problem with it, but in the West, you don’t necessarily have to label yourself and can live in a grey area if you want,” he says. That freedom is a foundation of Patradoon’s work, mixing everything together without really trying to define it. “It’s not necessarily about being one or another, but that a lot can be true at the same time.”

这些关于种族和身份的思考也促使他去探索性别和性取向的问题。他是直男，但在曼谷他常被以为是同性恋，这是他以前很少遇到过的问题。他说：“我其实不介意，但在欧美国家，你不一定要给自己贴上标签，如果你愿意，也可以选择留在灰色地带。”这种自由是 James Pirat Patradoon 创作的基础，将各种元素融合在一起，又不需要去做任何定义。“世事不一定是非此即彼，有很多东西是可以同时并存的。”

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Website: www.jirat.jp
Instagram: @jamesjirat

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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Website: www.jirat.jp
Instagram: @jamesjirat

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
中译英: Olivia Li

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Sugarcoated Darkness 救救她们！

February 2, 2020 2020年2月2日

The clay sculptures of Naomi Mendoza at first glance appear fragile and traditionally feminine. She creates pieces of fine china, flowers, and candy—delicate items to be treated with care, painted in soft colors like pinks and baby blues. Upon closer inspection, an edgier side reveals itself, filled with trauma, anger, and desire. Hands reach out for help as if from a drowning body. Messages like “help me” are written discreetly across the surface. These cheery little clay figures clearly come from a very dark place.

乍看之下，Naomi Mendoza 泥塑作品精致得有点脆弱，带着一股传统女性的柔弱气息。她创作的精美的瓷器、鲜花、糖果，各种精致的小玩意，涂上粉色和淡蓝色这些柔和的色彩，让人想要小心呵护。但走近细看，这些泥塑作品又显露出其不安的一面，似在诉说创伤、愤怒和欲望。那些伸出的双手仿佛是溺水的人在求救，“help me”（救救我）几个字写满了雕塑表面。这些外表活泼可爱的小泥塑，显然背负着沉重的创作理念。

Mendoza grew up in Quezon City, near an art district filled with galleries and shops. Her parents were artists, yet their strict Catholicism meant Mendoza had a sheltered childhood: she wasn’t allowed to explore the city alone or freely pursue her artistic interests. “I liked to draw anatomy, but I never would have been able to freely show off an image of a vagina like I do now,” she says with a laugh. Only when she went to college did she meet other artists and discover the gallery scene in Metro Manila. “I’m very competitive, so it was great being surrounded by artists. I got so much better than I ever would have without it.”

Her first professional experience with sculptures came from a student job making customized bobblehead figurines. “The job was so boring,” she says. “But it helped me develop my skills. I used their process and materials for my own ideas.”

Naomi 从小在菲律宾的奎松城长大，生活在一个画廊和商店林立的艺术区。她的父母都是艺术家，但他们都是严格的天主教徒，所以从不让 Naomi 一个人去城市外面，也不让她自由地培养自己的艺术兴趣。“我喜欢画人体解剖图，但我永远都不可能像现在这样，能够自由地展示我画的阴道图像。”她笑着说道。直到上了大学，她才有机会认识其他艺术家，真正去探索马尼拉的艺术圈子。“我好胜心很强，所以能和那么多艺术家一样，我觉得特别棒，如果不是这样，我也不可能像现在进步这么大。”

她第一次认真做雕塑源自她学生时的一份兼职，当时她要帮忙制作各种定制的摇头玩偶。“这份工作很无聊。”她说，“但它帮助我提升了自己的技术。我可以按照他们的工艺，用他们的材料来创作我自己的想法。”

Mendoza now works in her bedroom, sitting on a plush rug on the floor, kneading and molding the pieces by hand. She uses a toothpick-shaped bamboo stick to carve small details and paints the pieces with a makeup kit. Then she bakes them in a mini-oven and adds a matte gloss. She works without thinking too much in advance, molding a collection of shapes until an idea comes to her. “It’s very therapeutic,” she says of the process. Although the work is intuitive and she doesn’t set out to create dark or sexual sculptures, her work is an expression of her feelings. Vaginas peek discreetly out of pink flower petals, hiding in plain sight. What appears to be popsicles have cactus-like spines.

现在，Naomi 就在自己的卧室里创作，坐在地板的毛绒地毯上，用手揉捏和按压出一件件泥塑作品。她先用一根牙签状的竹子来雕刻细节，再用化妆刷来上色。然后，把泥塑放到一个小烤箱内烤制，以增加表面的哑光亮泽。她在创作前不会考虑太多，一般都是先雕刻出一个个泥塑，然后才突然有了想法。她说：“这个过程特别能让我放松。”她全凭直觉来创作，一开始也没打算创作黑暗风格或性有关的雕塑作品，尽管如此，她的作品却呈现了她的内心所感。阴道藏匿于粉红花瓣中，像是在众目睽睽下试图躲藏；看似是冰棍的作品，又布满仙人掌那样的尖刺。

These elements in Mendoza’s work are signs of trauma. As she explains, she’s had to leave home due to her father’s physical abuse. Her uncles stepped in to help pay for school, but the trauma is still with her. “I’m very shy, but I definitely have an aggressive side. People who know me personally easily recognize that part of me in my work.”

这些作品的细节部分透露出 Naomi 创伤的痕迹。她说因为父亲的家暴，她不得不离家而去。她的叔叔帮她支付了学费，但这种创伤的阴影挥之不去。“我很害羞，但我也有大胆的一面。认识我的人看到我的作品就能看出这一点来。”

Learning to freely express oneself after years of tamping down desires and feelings takes time, and for many people, visual art is a valuable nonverbal outlet. For Mendoza, it’s a way to give difficult feelings a physical form. The size of her sculptures forces viewers to look closely and think about what it might mean. “I actually love creating very small works, because people have to get up close to really get a look,” she says. “It’s much more personal that way.”

经历多年压抑欲望和感觉之后，要学会自由表达自己是需要时间的。对于许多人来说，视觉艺术是一种珍贵的非语言输出，而对于 Naomi 来说，这让她得以通过有形的物品来表达心中的痛苦。精致的雕塑尺寸，使观众不得不仔细观察，思考其中的含义。她说：“我很喜欢创作小巧的作品，因为这样观众在看的时候就要走得特别近，让这个过程变得更私人。”

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Instagram: @naomiwmeow

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Photographer: Jilson Tiu
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @naomiwmeow

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
摄影师: Jilson Tiu
英译中: Olivia Li

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