Monthly Archives: June 2022

What She Likes 她喜欢的竟是......

June 30, 2022 2022年6月30日

On paper, Ando and Miura are the perfect high school couple. He’s sensitive and introspective, almost to the point of being severe, but not unliked; she’s a loner at school who feigns normality but has cultivated a select circle of friends off campus who share her diehard love of comics, none more than BL—short for “boys’ love,” a unique genre of media, largely by and for women, centered on idealized romance between beautiful young men. While hardly uncommon in contemporary Japan, these stories remain somewhat taboo. Good girls, it’s thought, shouldn’t be spending their free time obsessing over cutesy, and often steamy, depictions of men who love men. Such fans are dubbed fujoshi, rotten women, for their perceived prurient tastes. While Miura and others may reclaim it in private, it’s not exactly the kind of pastime she’s eager to let get out. Hence why, when Ando runs into her buying an erotic volume in a local bookstore, she’s initially mortified, only to discover he’s more understanding than most.

In private, though, Ando scoffs as he thumbs through the borrowed book. “This is pure fantasy,” his companion, a much older married man, says. “It’s not that easy the first time. You took a lot of work.” When Ando returns the book the following day, Miura asks his thoughts. “I felt it had nothing to do with me,” he replies, matter-of-factly. But despite finding the “homos” alien to his experience, he doesn’t shun Miura. In fact, he soon finds himself on a double date of sorts, and, when he’s confessed to on the Ferris wheel, despite his shock and awareness that his best friend is head over heels for this quirky cutie, he does what he’s become accustomed to doing: he lies. So begins the pair’s relationship and a rocky journey of mutual understanding.

表面上，高中生安藤纯和三浦纱枝或许会是一对完美的情侣。他，敏感、内省，有时达到近乎苛刻的程度，在同学间深受欢迎；她，常常在学校里独来独往，平日会假装和其他同学一样，但在校外却有自己的小圈子。他们，都是狂热的漫画爱好者，尤其对 BL（Boy’s Love）题材情有独钟。该题材和受众主要由女性为主，讲述长相俊美的年轻男子之间唯美浪漫爱情故事。这类作品在当代日本并不罕见，但仍然属于难于启齿的亚文化范畴。人们认为，正经女孩不应沉迷于这些过分美化的男男之爱。这些女孩被称为“fujoshi”（腐女），指的是她们过分沉迷男人之间的情色。

三浦纱枝和朋友私下很享受这一爱好，但她并不想让别人知道。某次偶然的机会，安藤纯在书店碰巧遇见她购买情色漫画，她感到无地自容，后来却发现安藤纯比大多数人都更善解人意。

私下里的安藤一边翻阅那本借来的漫画书，一边笑道，“这纯粹是幻想。”他的身旁，一个年龄比他大很多的已婚男人说道：“第一次没那么容易接受，但你也算是个过来人了。” 第二天安藤把书归还给三浦时，三浦问他有什么看法，他冷淡地回答：“这些内容和我毫无关系。” 但在那之后，他也没有回避三浦，还同意和她一起参加聚会。一天，三浦鼓起勇气在摩天轮上向安藤告白，安藤同意了，但他隐瞒了自己的同性恋身份，并对她撒下谎言。两人很快开始了恋爱关系，一段艰难且伴随理解的爱情故事就此展开。

What She Likes (2021) is a film adaptation of an online novella that traces the distance between fantasy and often-painful social realities. A prior series adaptation won a dedicated following before this latest release, and, while the two follow broadly similar trajectories, it’s worth noting some of the ways in which the newer version has been updated. Ando’s older, world-weary lone gay friend isn’t found on an old-school message board in this version but on Twitter. Though their connection is merely digital, this mysterious “Mr. Fahrenheit” is someone Ando looks up to for life advice and musical recommendations (his favorite, as his username suggests, is Queen). An unseen character’s death from AIDS-related complications is scrubbed in this version, probably wisely given that HIV has not been a death sentence for decades now, but a twist concerning the identity of Ando’s online confidant is retained.

电影《她喜欢的是》（彼女が好きなものは，2021）改编自网络小说《她喜欢的是 BL 而不是我》，探讨了幻想与社会现实之间的话题。在此之前，小说曾被改编为同名剧集，斩获大批观众，而此次电影也遵循了大致相同的情节，不过仍有一些令人期待的改动。电影版中，安藤与同性伴侣并非在留言板上相识，而是在社交媒体 Twitter。影片中两人的联络仅限于数字世界，这个网名为“Mr. Fahrenheit”（取自皇后乐队歌曲《现在别阻止我》歌词中的角色）的男人常常为安藤推荐音乐，并提供生活上的建议。原版中还描述了某个神秘角色死于艾滋病并发症的情节，后在影片中得到删减与改动，毕竟艾滋病在几十年前早就不再被视为绝症，让改动看上去合理。

 

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Homophobia in this latest film version is subtler too, reflecting the ways in which growing acceptance has re-couched, but not eliminated, prejudice. While Miura’s friend Kondo, for instance, openly admires the fashion sense of his gay coworkers, his insistence that he can spot a gay person at a glance and his amusement at same-sex cruising giveaways in bathhouses betray his tendency to stereotype these individuals. When Ando objects to his takes with a fierceness that his straight counterpart reads as hostility, the latter replies, “Don’t tell me you’re… homophobic?” He pauses. “No? Keep it quiet if you are,” he advises with a smile. This, indeed, seems to be the dominant social attitude conveyed by the film: a steady mix of fetishization, condescension, repulsion, and misunderstanding.

影片在描述恐同现象时变得更加微妙，反映了社会对同性恋的包容心，同时也指出仍普遍存在的偏见。例如，三浦的朋友隼人一方面表示自己很佩服同性恋同事的时尚品味，另一方面又声称自己可以一眼辨识同性恋者，还有他对澡堂内同性恋的配对行为表示嘲讽，这些都暴露了隼人对同性恋群体的刻板印象。当安藤强烈反对他的观点时，对方却把他的话解读为敌意，并回答说：“别告诉我……你恐同？”他停顿了一下，“真的吗？如果你是，也别声张。”他笑道。而这似乎正是这部电影所传达的社会主流态度：恋物癖、高高在上的态度以及排斥和误解。

It might be easy, given the film’s premise, to assume that What She Likes suggests a false equivalence between the systemic marginalization and legal inequality of queer people and the treatment of niche fan communities. This is not the case, at least not in any straightforward sense. After Ando’s world is shattered by the revelation of his well-guarded desires, he quickly becomes a social pariah. When the other boys refuse to get changed with him before PE and even his usually physically affectionate, happy-go-lucky best friend treats him differently, one of the film’s most chilling moments plays out as Ando relays an enigmatic goodbye to his childhood friend, walks silently across the classroom, opens the window, and steps out. The only sound, as his peers look on, is that of screaming from the school courtyard below.

Ando doesn’t die, and the film doesn’t present this as a magical moment of understanding for his classmates either, but it does make clear that, however much an outcast Miura may feel, an observant viewer shouldn’t conclude their struggles are the same. Instead, what Ando and Miura share is a need for mutual understanding—for “somebody to love” and be loved by. For now, they’re the best they’ve got. Still, the truncated nature of the film relative to the series adaptation means that some of the most moving and illuminating moments from the original are lost, such as when Sae, ever the dreamer, invites Ando early on to see the world through her eyes. Viewed the right way, she explains in the series, anything can take on new meaning; the lightning and earth can be lovers, reunited for just an instant.

《她喜欢的是》的设定很容易令人对其所探讨的观点下定论，例如同性恋群体边缘化、现实法律不公、或是小众群体的不公平对待等等议题。但影片并非如此，影片更多描述了两位主人翁挣扎的过程。当安藤藏在心底的真实欲望被发现，他的世界彻底瓦解，很快沦为学样里被众人排挤的对象。其他男生拒绝在体育课前与他在同一房间内更换衣物，就连那个平时喜欢身体接触的乐天派好友也转变对他的态度。接着就是电影中最令人不寒而栗的场景——安藤向童年好友告别，默默穿过教室，打开窗户，然后跳了出去。而他的同学唯一能听到的声音就是楼下传来的尖叫声。

安藤并没有死，而这件事也没能成为理解的转机，影片清晰地指出，三浦与安藤所面对的境遇是完全不同的。但他们都需要更多的相互理解——“爱”和被爱，他们成了彼此最好的救赎。影片对比原作改编剧集进行了删减，例如改编剧中，三浦邀请安藤从她的角度看世界，她说，换个角度，任何事物都可以呈现出全新的意义；闪电和大地可以成为恋人，那一瞬就是它们短暂的相拥。

In this way, she doesn’t just introduce him to a utopian “BL Planet” where anyone can love anyone under the right circumstances; she also teaches him how to remake this messy world with his imagination. Sadly, Ando and his best friend don’t share the playful chemistry of the original, and this latest version lacks the Queen soundtrack that propels much of that adaptation, while both versions suffer from a tendency to lean too heavily on explanatory dialogue. All the same, What She Likes is an important and, at times, deeply moving case for the importance of friendship, acceptance, and a rich fantasy life that seeks not to deny, but rather remake, reality.

透过这种互换视角的方式，三浦为安藤打开了一个“BL”且乌托邦式的大门，在这个世界，每个人都可以爱上任何人；她还教会他用自己的想象力，重塑这个糟糕的世界。虽然这部影片对原作有过一些改动，例如安藤并没有与好友擦出火花；以及推动剧情的皇后乐队配乐；也难免让观众看到主人翁关于感受、情感的过多解释性对白。无论如何，《她喜欢的是》仍是一部意义深刻且感人至深的影片，讲述了友谊、接纳以及在生活中发挥丰富幻想的重要性——去告诉观众，这样做不是为了否认现实，而是要努力对现实的重塑。

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Contributor: Brandon Kemp
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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供稿人: Brandon Kemp
英译中: Olivia Li

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Leaving a Mark 一笔定乾坤

June 28, 2022 2022年6月28日

Far north in the New Territories of Hong Kong, near the border of Shenzhen, sits an overgrown and abandoned school. Although they don’t teach kids math or science there anymore, places like these can be spots for graffiti writers to experiment and learn. Local artist Panter 13 is no stranger to these sessions, and empty walls like these are convenient spots to flex his art. He specializes in complicated tags, large-scale handstyles that he changes up frequently. You can always expect different structures and new flourishes when he picks up a can. These days, Panter is more widely known for his blackwork tattoos. But the connection between his tags and his crisp, angular calligraphy ink is easily noticeable.

香港新界以北，靠近深圳边界处有一所杂草丛生的废弃学校，如今却成为涂鸦艺术家实验和学习的理想场地，当地艺术家 Panter 13 便是这里的常客。废墟的空墙正是他挥洒艺术创意的绝佳之地。他擅长创作复杂的签名式（Tag）涂鸦和大型 handstyle （handstyle 是涂鸦文化随着字体发展衍生的一种签名涂鸦形式），并且时常变换创新，呈现出不同的结构和细节。目前 Panter 的风格以黑线绣（blackwork）纹身而为人熟识。而他的签名式涂鸦则以利落著称，可以看到与水墨书法艺术之间有着显而易见的联系。

Panter cut his teeth getting up around town under the cover of night. Pull-down gates and empty street corners were his earliest canvases. The Hong Kong-born-and-raised artist started writing in 2010. Last year, he expanded his handstyles to include tattoo art and they’ve taken on a new life of their own. “Bombing got my adrenaline up,” he says. “It was a way to express myself; something everyone needs. I just kept doing it, meeting new writers and learning about the culture. Eventually, it led me to calligraphy and tattoos. I’m still writing words, it’s just on skin now. It’s a very similar skill.”

夜幕下的城市，Panter 驾轻就熟地穿梭于街道。那些铁闸门和空荡的街角都是他早期创作的领地。这位香港艺术家早在 2010 年便开始创作涂鸦。去年，他将自己的 handstyle 创作延续到纹身，带来出别具一格的视觉体验。他说：“就像每个人都需要一个属于自己的窗口，街头涂鸦创作能让我感到刺激，这是我表达自己的一种方式。我不停创作，不断结交新的涂鸦艺术家，去学习和了解更多关于这种文化。后来又渐渐延伸到书法和纹身。纹身不过是在皮肤上创作，但技巧是类似的，这些都属于文字创作范畴。”

His tattoo and tag styles are closely related, but they’ve grown in new directions. Working with clients and on skin requires new skill sets and the tools present different advantages and challenges. “Spray paint on walls and tattoo guns on human flesh are both mediums for me to write and draw with,” he says. “But they both require totally different techniques. They’re so similar and yet so different.”

他将纹身和自己的签名式涂鸦风格紧密地联系在一起，但同时两者又朝着不同的方向发展。在客户皮肤上创作需要一套新技巧，不同的创作器具也面临新的挑战和利弊。他接着说：“虽说喷漆罐和纹身枪对我来说算是类似的创作媒介。”但两者需要完全不同的手上技巧，既有相似之处，又截然不同。

Image Courtesy of Panter13 图片来自 Panter 13
Image Courtesy of Panter13 图片来自 Panter 13
Image Courtesy of Panter13 图片来自 Panter 13
Image Courtesy of Panter13 图片来自 Panter 13

With graffiti, Panter chose to focus more deeply on tags and monochrome palettes instead of expanding into wildstyle pieces, bright color schemes, or characters. He frequently switches up the structure of his letters, fluctuating from skinny and sharp lines to fat and messy flares. One tag might splatter all over, standing several feet tall with squared off corners. Another could loop and swirl with a sense of understated elegance. 

涂鸦时，Panter 主要倾向于创作黑白色调的签名式涂鸦，而并非野性涂鸦风格（Wildstyle Graffiti）。他很少运用鲜艳的配色或字体，而是善于变换字体的结构，让文字在干练、利落、粗旷的线条之间流转。有的创作甚至可达几米高，带着方正的边缘和轮廓；有的作品则起伏回旋，别具某种低调的优雅个性。

A lot of Panter’s tattoo work is in Chinese, but when it comes to graffiti he prefers English. His tag is “Panther” without the “H,” with the 13—a number he finds to be particularly auspicious—added for luck. Graffiti’s roots are in English so it’s a natural starting point for writers. He also wanted to connect with more writers, and the scene overwhelmingly revolves around English, despite a small subsection of Chinese language graffiti. Don’t be surprised to see his tags in Chinese sometime in the future, however.

Panter’s style is partly a continuation of what he learned from bombing, something where speed is central. “When you’re painting out in the street, you have to paint quickly,” he reasons. “So I just kept focusing on tags.” But it’s also an aesthetic he prefers. “I like simple and concise things.”

Panter 的很多纹身作品都是以中文为主，涂鸦时，反倒更喜欢用英语创作。关于他的名字 Panter，是英文“Panther”（豹子）少写字母 “H”，并加以数字 “13” 而得来。涂鸦艺术最早起源于英文创作，对于涂鸦艺术家而言是自然的入手点。而圈内创作中文涂鸦的毕竟是少数，绝大多数人都是用英语创作。

受街头涂鸦（Graffti Bombing）的影响，Panter 的创作一向快速。他解释说：“对我来说，街上创作，一定要够快。签名式涂鸦是再合适不过的选择，我也一直专注于此。”不过这或许也与他的审美喜好有关，“也可能我一直比较喜欢简单和简洁的事物。”

As a writer, Panter prefers highly visible spots, places a lot of people will pass by and notice. But low-key spots offer their own benefits, like the ability to spend some extra time and capture the whole scene in a photo or video for the rest of the world to appreciate. He frequently explores sewer systems and forgotten buildings in search of attractive walls with their own aesthetic quality.

He tries out new tag styles on paper, sketching them out a few times before actually painting them. But he sketches every day and draws from a general visual vernacular. “When you have a strong foundation of letters, you can easily freestyle with new effects and styles,” he says. “The spaces between your letters and the sense of your fonts become second nature.” Just because something is minimal and quick doesn’t mean it comes easily or is lacking in substance. It requires confidence to limit oneself and Panter has loads of it.

作为一名涂鸦艺术家，Panter 更希望寻找一些显眼的地点来创作，一些有很多人会路过和注意到的地方。但是不起眼的地点也有其好处，比如他能有充足的时间，用照片或视频记录下现场，分享给世界各地的观众。他经常花大量时间，去探索各种下水道系统和废墟建筑物，寻找独特的墙壁。

上街创作之前，他通常会事先在纸上练习草稿和新的字样，这已经成了他的日常。除此之外，还会从肢体语言中寻找灵感。他说：“只有在扎实的字母创作基础之后，才能更自由地发挥。对于字母之间的间隔和字体风格，你都可以处理得游刃有余。” 虽说这些简单、干练的作品风格通常在很短的时间内完成，却并不意味着缺少内涵、或是创作上的简单；相反，在创作时，你往往需要有足够的自信来自我约束，显然，Panter 对他的创作抱有极大的自信。

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Contributor: Mike Steyels
Photographer: Joey Young
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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供稿人: Mike Steyels
摄影师: Joey Young
英译中: Olivia Li

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Wildest Dreams 荒唐犯罪手册

June 23, 2022 2022年6月23日
Rainbow Six, original acrylic painting on canvas, 55cm x 50cm, 2022 《彩虹六号》(2022)，布面丙烯油画，55厘米 x 50厘米

Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were a form of wish fulfillment, an altered reality designed by the unconscious mind. Despite how absurd that some dreams may be, it’s believed they’re ultimately rooted in truths. The works of Tianjin-based artist Jing Zhiyong treads deep into his personal dreamscapes as he seeks to uncover their deepr meaning. In these visions, a Coca-Cola vending machine sits on the moon; a rifle-wielding man walks beneath the night sky, half of his body engulfed in flames; and a violent spray of blood covers the side of a white barn, yet the blue skies above and the undisturbed snow of the foreground instill a calming quiet. On his canvases, these seemingly paradoxical images come together to evoke a sense of danger, loneliness, and grace all at once.

奥地利心理学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德（Sigmund Freud）认为，梦是人生的奇境，是现实的写照，梦中荒诞不经的、空穴来风的画面绝非毫无意义，它们都是对现实的延伸。现居故乡的天津艺术家荆智勇（Jing Zhiyong）的创作便是围绕梦境、人和各种荒诞的事物展开。月球上的可口可乐自动售卖机、披星戴焰行走在荒野的狩猎者、美景下发生的凶案现场……这些看起来不着边际的画面组合，在结合了古典写实绘法、现实主义绘画风格、以及坦培拉画法（Tempera）之后，勾兑着他的梦境，一个关于独孤、危险却又美丽的矛盾世界。

Dumbness, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2022 《哑巴》(2022)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米
Dazzling white light, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《炫目白光》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米

Much like how the dreams that leave an impression are typically either the sweetest or the most horrific, Jing’s works is a masterclass in contrasts. Take for example, Rainbow Six, an acrylic painting depicting a peaceful countryside vista. The quiet landscape is interrupted by the appearance of a masked gunman escaping on a motorcycle, pistol in hand. In the sidecar, a bedsheet-donning ghost rides shotgun. This type of juxtaposition defines most of Jing’s paintings—an impending threat disturbing the otherwise serene environment.

Jing Zhiyong notes that these contrasts aren’t exactly intentional though. His approach to art making is largely intuitive, an expression of his own emotional states. But this output often shares parallels with his dream states, in both volatility and theatricality.

抛开那些难以在记忆中留下痕迹的梦，印象中能够记得的梦，大都关于噩梦和美梦，这种强烈的对比同样在荆智勇的作品中呈现。与碧蓝色天空相对的是摇摇欲坠的高脚椅、洁白如洗的墙壁上却是四溅的鲜血、白云和草滩上演激情枪击，乍看之下恍惚是视觉舒适的画面，却冥冥之中总有一种危险性；明明是暗藏杀机的故事，却讲述地如此平静。荆智勇承认并未刻意营造这种对比，他认为自己的创作仅仅是一种自我情绪的展现，而这，却又恰恰与梦彼此呼应，充满了随机与戏剧性，永远也无法料到会发生怎样的故事。

Frequency: 2075, original acrylic painting on canvas, 50cm x 50cm, 2020 《频数:2075》(2020)，布面丙烯油画，50厘米 x 50厘米
Dreamland, original acrylic painting on canvas, 55cm x 50cm, 2021 《梦乡》(2021)，布面丙烯油画，55厘米 x 50厘米
Reminiscences, original acrylic painting on canvas, 55cm x 50cm, 2021 《回忆录》(2021)，布面丙烯油画，55厘米 x 50厘米

Another recurring element of Jing’s work is the use of scale. The main characters of his canvases typically appear minute within the scene, resulting in an unmistakable sense of isolation. This feeling of solitude is a theme that Jing relates to his childhood experiences as well as his observations of the current generation.

Growing up, the loss of close family members resulted in feelings of insecurity. Demeanor-less ghosts, firearms, and spectral shadows plagued many of his childhood nightmares—these same motifs now populate his canvases. “They’re not symbols of violence,” Jing explains. “These visual cues are more emotional in nature, tied to my sense of attachment.” The ghostly figures symbolize different matters depending on the context. On certain paintings, they represent his inner self. On others, they represent family members who’ve departed from the mortal coil.

The characters who appear on Jing’s canvases are also almost always turned away from the viewer. Some wear disguises while others cover their faces with items such as books. This is by design, a way of commenting on the powerlessness and silence of people when they’re faced with harsh realities. As Jing sees it, we’re living in an era of estrangement. The online world has caused a fissure between people in our offline existence. “As mankind progresses, the lonelier we become,” he says. “Technology is accelerating this sense of loneliness. The internet is giving people a false of sense of interconnectivity, when in reality, we’re the most divided we’ve ever been.”

Despite this bleak outlook, Jing doesn’t necessarily want his art to project negativity. The isolated characters of his canvases are typically shown in beautiful environments. There’s a sense of hope that prevails above all else.

不过可以确定的是，作品中的主人翁都形态渺小，孤独感四从画中散开来。论其背后的原因，一部分来源于荆智勇童年时期的经历，另一部分则是他对这个时代的理解。或许是年少时经历过多次亲人的离去，荆智勇从小缺乏安全感。蒙面幽灵、枪和孤影等画面时常萦绕在他的儿童梦境之中，这些都成了他长大后的创作线索。他解释道：“这些元素不是暴力的象征，更类似于一种个人情感的寄托。”就好比频繁出现的幽灵，那不是刻意描绘的形象，而代表着他的内心，抑或是远去的家人。人在一些现实面前往往是无力言语、或是无力反抗的，荆智勇用 “X” 来表达相同的寓意。

而对于当下这个人与人线下疏离的时代，他认为：“人类愈发进步，孤独感越发严重，很多科技都加速了人类通往孤独世界的速度。看似无时无刻不在一起的我们，实际上距离感是前所未有的。”他并不希望以创作来传达消极的情绪，人物背后秀色可餐的美景，仿佛在向观众传达一种 “爱与希望” 的旨意。

Summer Dream, acrylic on wood panel, 42cm x 39cm, 2022 《夏日梦》(2022)，木板丙烯油画，42厘米 x 39厘米
My Home, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《我家》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米
Blue Homesickness, original acrylic painting on canvas, 65cm x 55cm, 2021 《思乡蓝》(2021)，布面丙烯油画，65厘米 x 55厘米
Holiday Rhapsody, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《假日狂想曲》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米
Breeze, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《微风》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米

Jing also cites montages, a film-editing technique in which short shots are sliced together, as a source of influence for the non-linear narratives he works with. In some ways, Jing’s canvases remind of the camerawork of cinematic legend Wim Wenders, in how empty scenes can be imbued with meaning. Alfred Hitchcock is also a source of influence, in the ways that Jing plays with suspense. “Whether it’s films or tidbits from my personal dreams, I want my paintings to give these fragmented visuals a more cohesive shape,” he says. “The stories of my work are purposefully non-linear. In fact, they’re malleable—they may change on a whim based on my own thoughts and feelings.”

除了梦的离奇，电影中蒙太奇拍摄手法也是荆智勇的创作灵感来源。画作中的故事并非线性，而往往是故事发生的某一个戳面，引起观众对故事的经过产生联想。通常是维姆·文德斯式空旷的场景、融入希区柯克式扣人心弦的悬疑。他解释说：“电影镜头、或是一些反复在梦中出现的线索，我都希望通过绘画去延伸，这些碎片信息都是我们延展思维边界的另一种方式。而作品中的故事情节不一定都具有线性的发展，因为有时候它会随着我自己的思绪和感受的变化而改变。”

Ignited Memories, acrylic on wood panel, 32cm x 30cm, 2021 《燃情记忆》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，32厘米 x 30厘米
Divination, acrylic on wood panel, 42cm x 39cm, 2022 《占卜》(2022)，木板丙烯油画，42厘米 x 39厘米
Partner, acrylic on wood panel, 28cm x 27cm, 2021 《伙伴》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，28厘米 x 27厘米
The Countdown, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《倒计时》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米
Hiding Place, acrylic on wood panel, 35cm x 32cm, 2021 《藏身地》(2021)，木板丙烯油画，35厘米 x 32厘米

No matter how strange some of Jing’s paintings may appear, there’s comfort and peace to be found. His works captures the fickleness of life and of our unconscious mind, reveling in the beauty that can be found when you keep an open mind and a humorous outlook to it all.

Jing is currently working with G Art Gallery to throw a new exhibition in Hong Kong where 30 to 40 of his paintings will be on display. The show will be open to the public around mid-July; you can learn more about it here.

无论画中的故事再怎么奇情、荒诞，荆智勇的创作总会带给观众舒适的感受，这仿佛在告诉我们，人生在世有太多不可控，没人知道现实会发生什么，但同时，现实也很美好，你还可以转身拥抱鲜艳，收获豁达和美好，这些共构这个矛盾的世界，也恰恰在作品中体现出一抹独特的幽默感。最近，荆智勇正与一些画作收藏家于香港嘉德 G Art 空间筹办一场展览，现场将会有 30～40 幅作品展出，计划于七月中旬进行。

Clue, original acrylic painting on canvas, 60cm x 55cm, 2021 《线索》(2021)，布面丙烯油画，60厘米 x 55厘米

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Contributor: Pete Zhang

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供稿人: Pete Zhang

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Pye Life Pye Life

June 21, 2022 2022年6月21日

“Bish a whole meal, I take you to go / tell me that’s dinner for two / Put ’em on me, that’s all on me / baby that’s vitamin too.” These are the type of lyrics we’ve come to expect from South Korean rapper Lil Cherry. It’s off her recent track “WAMEM,” a standout effort from her latest album, SPACE TALK. She frequently sprinkles her lyrics with food references, whether as a metaphor for sex or just literally about eating—all of which she spits in chirpy tones over big, bouncy tracks like “MUKKBANG!” and “G!” But her new project, alongisde main collaborator and brother GOLDBUUDA, frequently deviates away from the typical rap formula, veering into emo rock, drum ‘n bass, and even Jersey club.

 

Listen to select tracks below:

“反正要大吃一顿，吃不了兜着走。宝贝，别和我说这是双人份，全都是维他命，全都要打包带走。” 这是韩国说唱歌手 Lil Cherry 自成一派的耍宝意味风格，来自她最新专辑《SPACE TALK》中一首主打歌《WAMEM》。她喜欢在作品歌词里加入食物元素，有时作为性隐喻，有时只是纯字面意义。《MUKKBANG！》和《G！》以轻快音色演绎令人雀跃的说唱风格；她与 GOLDBUUDA（她的哥哥）推出的新作摆脱传统说唱公式，转向 emo、drum’n’bass，甚至是 Jersey club 音乐。

点击即可试听 :

Photographer: Angella Choe 摄影师: Angella Choe
Photographer: Angella Choe 摄影师: Angella Choe

Most of Cherry’s lyrics are in English, and for a long time, you were as likely to hear one-off lines in Spanish as you were to hear Korean. Sometimes it can be hard to tell, because of the different accents she mixes with artistic flourishes, melodic nimbleness, and rhythmic variety. But even if you can’t understand the lyrics, which are often a lighthearted stream of consciousness or more significant expressions buried in metaphor, listening to Cherry is still a vibe. Just ask her fans in Korea: “I’m really touched when we’re performing at clubs in Seoul and I see the fans rapping along,” she says. “We used to release a lot of songs on Youtube without lyrics, which meant those fans were memorizing them by sound alone. A lot of them don’t even speak English and could still sing along!”

Cherry 的作品大多数为英文歌词为主，偶尔可以听到一两句西班牙语或韩语的混入；有时，她的歌词甚至根本无法分辨，因为她喜欢将自己的发音混合各种艺术修饰、跳跃旋律和多样化节奏。她的歌词往往是一些轻快的意识流形式，穿插各种暗喻。但即使你听不懂歌词，也绝对能感受到 Cherry 音乐的独特感受，这一点韩国本地乐迷对此深有体会，“我们在首尔的俱乐部表演时，看到歌迷一起合唱，真的很感动，”她说道，“我们以前在 Youtube 上发布了很多没有歌词的歌曲，所以歌迷只能单从声音来记下歌曲。他们中很多人甚至不会说英语，却能跟着一起唱！”

 

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Cherry learned to speak English in Miami, where she lived with her family during middle school. Her father was a visiting professor, so they joined him when he moved there briefly. “We only expected to stay in Miami for a year or two to learn English and come back but we fell in love with it,” she says. “My dad actually moved back to Korea way before us. We kept extending our stay.” She ended up living in Florida for seven years. As the only Korean person at her school, it was difficult at first because she couldn’t communicate and had to deal with subtle racism, but she says kids’ television stations like Disney and Nickelodeon helped her learn the language more quickly. “I feel like Spongebob taught me English,” she laughs.

Cherry 曾在迈阿密学过英语，中学时候她随家人到那里生活。她的父亲是一名客座教授，兄妹二人就跟着他在这里短暂生活过一段时间。“我们原本只打算在迈阿密呆一两年，学点英语就回来，但最后却爱上了迈阿密，”她说，“我爸爸比我们还早一点搬回了韩国。我们一直延长在迈阿密生活的时间。”就这样，她在佛罗里达州生活了七年。作为学校里唯一的韩国人，一开始的生活并不容易，除了语言上无法沟通，她还不得不应对微妙的种族歧视。但她表示，迪士尼和 Nickelodeon 等儿童电视台帮助她更快地掌握了这门语言，她笑着说：“我觉得我的英语都是海绵宝宝教的。”

 

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It was in Miami where Cherry first discovered rap music. Rappers performed at her friends’ bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, since she lived in a Jewish community. She also blasted plenty of local radio and whatever her brother would download off LimeWire, all while nurturing her own love for K-pop. 

Eventually, she moved back to Korea and finished high school in Seoul, only to immediately return to the US and study poetry in New York. She wasn’t very interested in making music yet and largely focused on her studies, but soon, she began feeling uninspired and returned to Korea for a hiatus. This is when she discovered music. “My brother had turned his room into a recording studio, and the day I came back he asked me to freestyle over some beats,” she recalls. “I took out my journal with my poems and we made ‘Motorola’ right there, our first song. When I was recording it felt like it wasn’t even me. It was an outer spirit that came into me and wanted to express something.”

Cherry 第一次接触说唱音乐也是在迈阿密。当时她住在一个犹太社区，一些说唱歌手常常在当地酒吧 Mitzvahs 和 Bat Mitzvahs 里表演。她还很喜欢听当地电台播放的音乐，还有她哥哥从 LimeWire 上下载的歌，与此同时，她也逐渐热爱上 K-pop 音乐。

后来，她搬回韩国，在首尔完成了高中学业，随后又立即回到美国，在纽约攻读诗歌专业。当时的她对音乐创作还不是很感兴趣，精力主要放在学习上，但很快，她开始感到兴味索然，又回到韩国休息了一段时间，也是在那个时期，她渐渐发掘了自己对音乐的热情。“哥哥把他的房间改造成录音室，我回来那天，他就让我跟着一些节拍即兴说唱，”她回忆道，“我拿出日记本里写的诗，当场就制作了《Motorola》这首歌，这是我们合作的第一首作品。在录这首歌的时候，我甚至感觉这不是我自己，而是一个外来的灵魂进入我的身体，在表达它所想表达的一些东西。”

Photographer: Angella Choe 摄影师: Angella Choe
Photographer: Angella Choe 摄影师: Angella Choe

They uploaded “Motorola” to Soundcloud but it was the video that caught people’s attention—a syrupy colored visual with lots of 8-bit animation and trippy effects. “When it comes to making a video, I’ll throw out some key ideas, or I’ll find a certain look that I’m trying to rock in the videos. Then the director will take that and it unfolds from there,” Cherry says, adding that they’re heavily involved in the editing process to make sure it matches the music properly. “There’s this Korean phrase about how when something works together, it’s like rice cake because it sticks together perfectly. That’s how we think about the music in our videos.” 

Once the video dropped, other local artists started reaching out and asking them to collaborate. Cherry mentions other female rappers like Jackie Wai and Bryn specifically but says the whole community was very welcoming. They performed together at small underground clubs like Cakeshop, Soap, and Henz where the crowds were an eclectic mix. “A lot of times when it starts getting wild, I see guys sort of pushing to the front and the girls not really joining in on the mosh pits. And then later on my Instagram they’re saying they got stepped on or their shoes got ruined. It got me thinking how can I make everyone feel included.” But coronavirus has limited their live performances with nearly all of their shows happening online in recent times (their recent performance at SXSW one big exception.).  

真正引起乐迷们关注的，是歌曲《Motorola》的MV——整支视频拥有甜美色调，糅合了丰富的8位像素风动画和迷幻视觉特效。“制作之前我喜欢找一些关键词，或者一些视觉上的风格，然后交给导演，以此为基础开始创作，”Lil Cherry 说，同时表示他们会大量参与后期编辑，以确保 MV 与音乐契合。“韩国有句俗语，当某些东西融合得很好，就会说它们像年糕粘在一起。这也是我们对 MV 和音乐的看法。”

MV 发布后，许多当地艺术家纷纷联系他们合作。Cherry 表示整个说唱圈子对他们都蛮感兴趣，其中特别提到了 Jackie Wai 和 Bryn 等女说唱歌手。他们一起在 Cakeshop、Soap 和 Henz 等小型地下俱乐部联合演出，到场的观众形形色色。“很多时候，当气氛开始高涨时，我就会看到男生涌到前面，而女孩却无法加入进 mosh pit 中。后来在我在 Instagram 上看到她们说自己被踩到脚或者鞋子破损之类的话题。我就想，怎样才能让每个人都参与其中。”然而新冠疫情暴发后，演出受到影响，几乎所有表演都是在线上进行（除了最近在 SXSW 上的表演）。

Photographer: Angella Choe 摄影师: Angella Choe

Her online fanbase is from all over the world, Cherry says. 90 percent of her TikTok fans are female and most are from the US. On Instagram, which is where she first found an audience, it’s half Korean and American fans, with a lot from Brazil as well. She considers her appearance on the Dingo Freestyle Korean rap channel as a turning point; marking a new stage in her career and the ability to reach fans whose main language is English. She blew up on TikTok right around the same time as well. “Even though my career started in Korea and this will always be my hometown, they couldn’t always connect on a lyrical level,” she explains. To make up for that, her recent music has included more Korean lines, although it’s still overwhelmingly in English.

One thing Cherry’s Korean fans have been able to bond with her over is the use of the word “pye.” It began when someone said the word “party,” she mistakenly heard it as “pye,” and it quickly became an inside joke from there. She sprinkles the self-coined slang in many of her songs, yells it out at shows, and recently dropped a track called “Pye Life,” a light afrobeats cut produced by Atlanta’s London on da Track. “It’s probably the simplest hook I’ve ever come up with but hopefully the most resonant. We’ve been yelling ‘pye life’ for quite a while,” she says. “It’s the newest replacement for ‘cheese’ or ‘kimchi’. A way to get people smiling. When people see me on the street and they’re too shy to start a conversation, I’ll just say ‘pye’ and they say ‘pye’ back!” 

Cherry 说，她在网上的粉丝来自世界各地。TikTok 粉丝中 90% 为女性，且大多数来自美国。而在她首次引起关注的 Instagram 上，来自韩国和美国的粉丝各占一半，还有很多来自巴西的粉丝。她认为自己在 Dingo Freestyle 韩国说唱频道上的露面是一次转折，标志着她职业生涯进入一个新的阶段，并有机会接触以母语为主要语言的受众群体。同一时间，她在海外版抖音上爆红，“我的职业生涯始于韩国，这里也永远是我的家乡，但在歌词层面，本地歌迷可能无法与歌曲建立联系，”她解释道。为了弥补这一点，她在最近的创作中加入了更多韩语元素。

“pye” 这个词语正是 Cherry 和韩国歌迷建立起的一个联系。这是一个自创词语，最初是她错将“Party”听成“pye”，很快这就有了这么个口头禅。她在许多歌曲中都加入了这个自创的词语，在现场高喊而出，最近还推出了同名作品《Pye Life》，由亚特兰大的 London on da Track 制作，带有轻快的非洲舞曲元素。“我们 ‘pye life’ 已经很长一段时间了。有人在街上看到我时，我们经常会用‘pye’互相打招呼！”

 

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The new level of attention has required Cherry to think more strategically: “I’ve really expanded the business part of my brain, I don’t want to be the type of artist that doesn’t know what’s going on with the team,” she says. “I don’t want to be too up in the clouds, only thinking about things on a poetic level.” But she still plans on remaining true to herself and her stories. Whether that means telling her own personal stories or not is still an open question. “Do we have to reference our own lives or can we build fantasies? At the end of the day it’s up to you.”

面对持续高涨的热度，Cherry 需要有更多权衡：“我已经尽量在挖掘自己在商业方面的能力，但我不想在团队中一无是处，”她说，“我不想只顾着创作，其他都不参与。”但与此同时，她仍然会忠于自己和自己想表达的故事，至于这是否意味着她要讲述自己的个人故事则是一个开放式的问题，“到底是要取材于自己的生活，或是天马行空地幻想，归根结底都取决于你自己。”

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Instagram: @cherryontop

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
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: @cherryontop

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Olivia Li

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Viva la Japona 打东方来的一位 Amigo

June 16, 2022 2022年6月16日

There aren’t a lot of commonalities between Japanese and Mexican culture. In fact, most people would even consider them to be polar opposites, especially when it comes to each country’s art traditions. Just take for example, the preferences towards color. Traditional Mexican art, such as alebrijes sculptures and huichol beads, are defined by bombastic colors. Meanwhile, traditional Japanese art, such as ukiyo-e painting or woodblock prints, colors are much more understated. Despite these glaring differences, the two cultures somehow mesh like old friends in the works of Japanese artist Kenta Torii.

在文化方面，日本和墨西哥两个国家并没有太多的共同点，甚至在大多数人眼中，两者可以说是两个极端，尤其是这两个国家的艺术传统，例如对色彩的偏好。传统墨西哥艺术以浮夸抢眼的色彩为主，如阿莱布里赫（Alebrijes）雕塑和辉哲人（Huichol）串珠；而在日本传统艺术，如浮世绘或木版画，色彩则低调得多。虽然两地的艺术文化有着明显的差异，但在日本艺术家鸟井荒木（Kenta Torii）的作品中，这两种截然不同的文化却出乎意料地融为一体。

In 1999, Torii was interested in art, but it wasn’t his primary passion—instead, he had aspirations of becoming a professional soccer player, and these ambitions took him to Brazil. There, he fell in love with Latin-American art and culture. In 2001, he moved back home to Japan, where he dedicated himself to studying art. However, for such a free spirit, the rigid structure of an academic curriculum just wouldn’t do. He decided to leave Japan in 2005, and experienced the art scene in New York before deciding to head further south, to Mexico, and see how the Latin-American culture that he fell in love with almost half a decade back differed there.

He lived and painted for a full year in Mexico before moving back to Japan again. However, in the place he thought to be home, he felt strangely out of place and creatively stifled. It didn’t take long before he made the decision to move to Mexico for good, and today, Torii has proudly called South America home for over a decade.

1999 年的鸟井虽然也对艺术颇有兴趣，但那时的他更希望成为一名职业足球运动员。怀揣雄心壮志，他来到巴西。在那里，他爱上了拉丁艺术和文化。2001 年回到日本后，他致力于学习艺术。然而，对于生性自由的他，僵化的学术课程并不适合自己。2005 年，他决定离开日本，前往纽约沉浸于当地艺术圈，之后又一路向南，来到墨西哥，想看看他在五年前所热爱的拉美文化在当地会有怎样的不同之处。在墨西哥生活和创作了整整一年后，他再次返回日本。然而在自己的故土，他却感到格格不入，创意灵感戛然而止。没过多久，他就毅然决定移居墨西哥。现在，鸟井已经在南美洲生活了十多年。

 

Torii’s passion for Mexico and Latin-American culture now shines through in his artworks. The vivid colors he employs evoke the bombastic palettes of Mexican folk art, while busy patterns evoke the shapes of papel picado fill the negative spaces of his canvases, and other Mexican cultural nods, such as Aztec headdresses and Day of the Dead sugar skulls, abound his compositions. Not all of these elements may be consciously included but its undeniable that his exposure to Latin-American art has influenced his artistic mindset. “There are many interesting aspects of Mexico, and I want to create art that celebrates them through my own methods—as someone born in Japan and living in Mexico,” he says.

鸟井的作品中洋溢着他对墨西哥和拉美文化的热情。鲜艳的色彩呼应了墨西哥民间艺术的浮夸，纷繁复杂的图案令人想起墨西哥剪纸，除此之外，他的作品中还充满着其他墨西哥文化无素，譬如阿兹特克（Aztec）头饰和亡灵节糖骷髅等等。这些元素并非都是他刻意加持，毋庸置疑，拉美艺术对他的艺术思维有着深刻的影响。他说：“墨西哥有许多有趣的文化，我想以一个在日本出生、在墨西哥生活的人的角度，通过自己的艺术作品来展示这些文化。”

Kenta’s Japanese heritage is also front and center in his art. Motifs such as lion-dogs and samurai armor exist alongside his homages to Latin-America. Take for example, in one piece, a Japanese monkey wears a tengu mask fused with an Aztecan headdress. Though these traditional themes are all presented through a contemporary style defined by pops of neon colors and street art influences, their cultural origins are unmistakable. “I probably don’t know as much about the Japanese art world as I should,” he laughs. “But I respect Japanese artists, and whenever I feel lost, I’ll return to my Japanese roots to discover new direction.”

日本文化根源在鸟井作品中同样占据重要地位。狮子狗和武士等日本特色图案与致敬拉美文化的元素相依而存，譬如在一幅作品中，一只日本猕猴戴着阿兹特克头饰元素的天狗面具。各种传统主题杂糅霓虹灯色彩与街头艺术重新演绎，既当代，又透露着明确无误的文化渊源。他笑着说：“虽然我对日本艺术界的了解不多，但我对日本艺术家十分敬佩。每当我感到迷茫，我就会把目光望回日本，从中寻找新的方向。”

As he sees it though, there are differences between the two country’s art traditions that extend beyond aesthetics alone. Mexican art feel more visceral while Japanese art tend to feel more guided by logic. These differences between Japanese art and Latin-American art make for interesting juxtapositions. Kenta’s unique interpretation of both cultures is proof that when seemingly clashing ideals are given a chance to intersect, magic happens.

然而，在他看来，两国艺术传统之间的差异不只是在美学方面。墨西哥艺术感觉更情真意切，而日本艺术则更遵循理性逻辑。日本艺术与拉美艺术之间的差异组成了有趣的并置。从鸟井对这两种文化的独特演绎中可以看出，看似相互冲突的想法也可以碰撞出奇妙的火花。

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Contributor: David Yen
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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供稿人: David Yen
英译中: Olivia Li

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Step into the River 她想要穿过河流

June 14, 2022 2022年6月14日

 

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In the dead of night, two young girls row a boat through a downpour. A gust of wind blows the hat off of one girl’s head, and she reaches out to grab it, dropping her oar into the river. Looking towards the water, they see a baby emerge from the currents. In the blink of an eye, their boat is surrounded by similar figures. These mysterious newborns swarm the boat, pushing the girls back to their port of departure. Despite the girls’ longing to leave their small village, they find themselves back where they started.

This the most memorable scenes from Step into the River, an animated short by Chinese director Ma Weijia that examines the issue of gender inequality and societal change. Ma, having grown up in a rural village in China, often heard tales of newborns being left in the river. Most Chinese parents at the time hoped for sons, so when their newborn turned out to be a girl, they abandoned them. As an adult, she met a number of Chinese adoptees, a disproportionate number of which, she noticed, were females. These experiences led her to come to a bleak realization: male chauvinism can come in extreme forms. While gender equality has made great strides in the years since, the haunting image of newborn girls being abandoned in the river never left her mind.

下着雨的河面上，水流湍急，一艘小船，两个女孩，桨不小心脱了手沉入了河底。

远处，游来了某具肉体。

一个婴孩，两个婴孩，一群婴孩……她们面目柔和，不见喜怒。这些婴孩的幽灵托着船，将两个女孩送回了出发的岸边——尽管她们想逃离村庄，去往城市。

这是 90 年出生的独立动画导演马维佳在构思《河岸》这部短片时，第一个蹦入脑海的画面。她想起自己小时候，村里流传着有关很多刚生下来的女婴会被丢弃在河里的故事。后来，马维佳又听闻几次身边女孩被抱养的身世，她切身地感受到：这个社会偏爱男孩。这种不公平的倾向甚至可以不惜代价。虽然现在这样的现象基本已不复存在，但那些婴孩沉入水底的画面在马维佳的脑海里萦绕不去。

Step into the River is told through the perspective of Wei and Lu, two young girls living in the Chinese countryside. Wei is a “stay-at-home child,” a term referring to children left behind in the village while their parents pursued better job opportunities in the city.

In the village, Wei befriends Lu, a girl with a distinctive birthmark on her face. Lu was adopted by a fishermen after she was discovered abandoned on the riverbanks as a toddler. The two quickly became close, bonding together over a shared resentment over being abandoned.

Despite the air of melancholy that permeates the narrative, the film’s art style feels gentle and calming, defined by soft palettes that capture the idyllic lifestyle of the quaint village in faithful fidelity. The fluidity of each frame and the gradient colors that have replaced the sky instill a sense of the fantastical, but the story and characters are unmistakably grounded in reality. To Ma, the story is far more important than aesthetics.

Lu and Wei are based on real-life accounts and some of Ma’s own experiences. Even the poster is based on her childhood memories. Ma kept a goldfish as a pet as a child, and looking back, she realized how cruel it was to confine it within a fish bowl. To her, it’s a curious practice even today—people don’t blink an eye at the thought of restricting another animal’s freedom. There are many clear parallels between a goldfish’s existence and the experiences of many Chinese girls, and so, she thought it a fitting motif for the film’s poster. On the poster, a school of fish seems crowds half the frame. Several human hands reach out between what little space each fish has left behind, as if trying to escape from under their suffocating weight. One single fish has squirmed out of the confines of the composition, as if springing out of the water—a lone, lucky survivor.

女孩，金鱼，跃出水面

《河岸》讲述了 Wei 和 Lu 两个女孩的故事。Wei 是留守儿童，自小由奶奶抚养，有一天她得知原来自己是这个家里的第二个孩子——因为哥哥不幸夭折，才有了她；Lu 在出生的时候被父母丢在了河里，由一名船夫捡起收养，她身上有显眼的胎记，因此时常被村里的男孩欺负。两个女孩走到了一起，她们想走出自己“被抛弃”的命运。

动画的叙事和呈现风格细腻而动人，透着水乡独有的柔和色调。画面的衔接上尤为出彩，天马行空又保持着流畅自然。但马维佳看重的是故事本身，它从现实而来。

《河岸》中两个女孩的故事都有真实原型，也有马维佳自己的影子。短片中出现的金鱼是电影海报中的主视觉元素，也是马维佳小时候养过的动物。在那个默许着禁锢与残忍的地方，金鱼是超现实般的明亮与慰藉，它好似是一种呼唤：跳出水面，穿过河流。

Ma was born in Chaohu, a city on the rural outskirts of China’s Anhui province. A small river ran through the city, and some of her fondest childhood memories revolved around that flowing stream. The river even inspired her work prior to Step into the River, though the same motif represented vastly different themes in those works.

In her animated short from 2015, The Same River Twice, Ma presents a touching tale of family and nostalgia, with the river in the film representing the generational divide between family members. In Step into the River, the river can be seen as symbolizing the pain of the past. It’s a pain shared by the two female protagonists, their families, and those newborns who never had the chance to grow up.

河流，时间，共同体

马维佳出生于安徽巢湖，河道和她的生活紧密相连。由生命经验而来，“河流”是马维佳钟爱的元素，在《河岸》之前，她就创作了《父亲与河》这个作品。《父亲与河》呈现的是家庭的记忆，这条“河”在上一代与下一代，在家乡与出走之间顺流而下；《河岸》中，这条“河”承载了特定社会背景下的时代伤痛，它属于那两个女孩和她们的家庭，也属于河流深处那些被剥夺了长大机会的孩子。

“Even though this story isn’t a tragedy, in that the two girls survived and returned to their village, it’s not a particularly happy ending,” Ma says.

The two girls’ lives will go on as it did before their voyage, but their dreams of leaving now feel that much further out of reach. In fact, there is seemingly no escape from their situation. The conclusion of Step into the River is meant to evoke the experiences of girls who grew up during Ma’s generation. Even though they’re survivors, they’ve still been forced to endure their share of unfortunate circumstances. Even less fortunate are the newborns who never got a chance to grow up, and Ma felt that it was important to remember them. “I considered making them into vengeful ghosts, but I decided that I wanted to capture their innocence,” she recalls. “They were pure souls whose lives were snuffed out even though they did nothing wrong. So in the film, they’re depicted as friendly spirits who’re out to protect the girls.”

The river is a silent witness to an ever-evolving world. No matter how the world changes around it, the river remains the same. In that regard, Ma also sees the river as a symbol of time. The river surges in perpetuity, pulling along all that’s caught in its wake. The film’s English title, Step into the River, was conceptualized as a statement towards the inevitability of life. It’s a reminder that no matter who you are, you must step into the river’s eternal currents and be pulled along with everyone else.

“虽然这个故事的结局并不是悲剧，这两个幸存者最后回到了村庄，家里也有挂念和等待她们的家人，但这也不是幸运。她们出走到半当中，然后又回到了原点，好像是有一些成长，好像是应该要继续好好生活，但从另一个角度来说，她们其实逃避不了这个环境。就像我们从那个年代过来，身为女孩，可能就是一个幸存者，但我们也都同时担负着这种幸运和不幸。”在处理对那些婴孩幽灵的呈现时，马维佳也谈及：“其实我也想过是不是要让那些曾经被丢弃的孩子变成某种‘怨灵’，但最后我还想表现出这些生命的无辜。她们本身什么都不知道，什么都没做错，就被扼杀了。反过来，她们会去保护这两个幸存的女孩。”无论是河面上想要划船逃走的女孩，还是被埋在河底的婴灵，或是在这片土地上千千万万个成长的女孩，都是社会强力观念之缚下的命运共同体。

河流见证了多少故事，吞吐了多少变幻，哪怕河岸上的世界物是人非，河流依然在奔。在马维佳看来，“河”就是时间的象征。承载一切，又带走一切，流动成永恒。《河岸》的英文名是“Step into the river”，这个名字透着某种决绝：无论是在什么样环境下成长的个体，都注定要踏进河流，逆流的阻力、顺流的迷惘、看不清的河底、同流合在的幸存者或幽灵……那都是发觉避无可避，身处时代之流时的真实触感。

Step into the River was shortlisted at the 94th Academy Awards for “Best Animated Short Film,” and nominated at the 15th FIRST Youth Film Festival for “Best Dramatic Short Film.” These accolades are well-deserved for Ma and her team, who spent the better part of five years developing and producing the film. Despite how time consuming the project ended up being, the positive feedback has made their efforts worth it. “Animation is all about giving movement to still images, and when you go into it with an experimental spirit, there are infinite methods to go about it,” she says. “If you’re bold enough, you can really push the boundaries, especially in how the story is told, but that’s only one aspect. It’s important for directors to establish their own approach to animation—there’s plenty of room for experimentation, whether it be in the art style or in the ways that frames are sequenced.”

流动起来的故事

《河岸》表现不俗，入围了第 94 届奥斯卡最佳动画短片名单、第 15 届 FIRST 青年电影展最佳剧情短片等多个奖项，这背后是马维佳和团队长达五年的创作成果。动画这种创作形式很耗费时间，但这种消耗交换来的是独一无二的艺术体验。

对于创作者来说，其不受限制的表现方式特别有吸引力。“动画，就是要把画面动起来，从实验性的角度来说它的方法是无限的，它所能够触达的目的也更为丰富，叙事只是其中一种。所以对于导演来说，探索一种独特的动画语言很重要，在视觉风格上，在画面如何去动的设计上，都有很大的空间可以实验。”

Ma believes that animation is a medium that can feel detached from reality, which can be a perk in that it allows for audiences to digest what may otherwise seem overly graphic or repulsive. “For example, if I wanted to show a baby’s lifeless body, that’d feel too much in a normal film,” Ma says. “If the same idea shown in an animation, audiences will be more willing to view it, and in accepting it, they accept the reality that I want to confront them with.”

Ma sees animation as a medium of endless possibilities, but this can be both beneficial and detrimental. Ma believes her films have been received so well because she places a lot of importance on establishing a clear narrative. However, despite her success with more narratively driven works, she’s also keen on treading into unexplored creative territories with animation going forward. This year, she will be releasing an experimental film that blends real footage with animated scenes. The film will be played alongside a live, improvised score.

For Ma, the river stretches forth far into the horizon, and there’s still plenty of sights to soak in as she continues down its waterway. Oar in hand, she’s excited to see where it’ll eventually take her.

而对于观众来说，马维佳觉得动画赋予了观众更为夸张的观看体验，同时为观众拉开一段安全的接受距离，“就比如我的短片里有婴孩尸体的画面，如果是实拍，可能就拍不出来；但如果是动画处理过了，观众就能接受那样的画面，同时接受那样的现实性。”

动画这种形式所赋予的创作容量极为庞大，对于马维佳这样倾向于叙事型动画的导演来说，关键便是在这“无限可能”中找到清晰的作者路径，使得故事能够紧密而灵活地流动起来。她也在一边创作着新的作品，一边探索着更多动画形式上的可能，试图找出一种更利于独立创作的低成本方式。今年夏天，她结合了实拍与动画的实验影像将和即兴音乐融合在一起，在由杨浦大剧院变身的 Young 剧场上演——更多的创作实验在等着马维佳，面对她的河流，那是她手中的桨。

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Contributor: Cheng Li

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供稿人: Cheng Li

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Grains & Grams 入木五分

June 12, 2022 2022年6月12日
Designs by Pichan Sujaritsatit 来自 Pichan Sujaritsatit 设计的木制家具

From teak wood furniture to entire houses and temples, Thai woodwork tradition traces back to time immemorial, and it was virtually widespread until recently. “In our grandparents’ time, everyone lived in wooden houses with wooden furniture; cartwheels, tools, utensils—they made everything out of wood,” says Bangkok-based maker Nanu Youttananukorn. He’s the founder of Grains & Grams, a collective of Thai makers drawing from this tradition to create stylish and modern wood pieces that blend art and functionality.

Grains & Grams was officially born in 2017, but some makers were already close-knit and collaborated on occasional projects before that. Youttananukorn was the one to make it official and give it a name and a rough structure. Since then, the group has come together in biannual exhibitions—one always part of Bangkok Design Week, Thailand’s biggest creative event.

从柚木家具到整幢房屋和寺庙，泰国木工传统可追溯到古老的年代，但直到最近，这股热潮才真正蔓延开来。“在我们祖父母那个年代，人人住在摆满木制家具的木屋内：车轮、工具和各种器皿，一切都是木制的，”曼谷匠人 Nanu Youttananukorn 说。他是泰国匠人艺术家团体 Grains & Grams 的创始人，该团体旨在从传统木工中汲取灵感，打造融合艺术与功能性的现代木制品。

Grains & Grams 正式成立于 2017 年，但在此之前，几位匠人艺术家早已建立了往来，偶尔一起合作项目。Nanu 正式成立该团体，由他为团体命名并大致制定了团体的方向。从那时起，团体每年会合作举办两次展览，该展览也是泰国最大型的创意活动——曼谷设计周的一部分。

A collection of designs by Grains & Grams from the 12 Camels project 来自 Grains & Grams 团队项目“12 Camels”的十二件作品中的一件
A collection of designs by Grains & Grams from the 12 Camels project 来自 Grains & Grams 团队项目“12 Camels”

As Youttananukorn explains, the unspoken, positive peer pressure within the group drives each maker to develop their craft further and find their unique artistic stand. “Everyone has a different style, and they are known for doing one specific thing,” he says. “When this group dynamic happens, we get to know different ideas, and our decisions become clearer. Each of us knows where we should go, which makes everyone else’s work more pronounced.” 

Each member of Grains & Grams has a unique and distinct style, but their practices still converge because they all share a common reverence for nature and the material. There’s also something else that binds most of them: at some point in their lives, they felt unhappy with their careers and found in wood a new path forward.

We talked to five of these makers to understand their trajectory, how they relate to the material, and to know what woodworking means to them.

正如 Nanu 所说，团队内部有一种同伴之间正向的压力，驱使每位艺术家进一步提升自己的手艺，并找寻自己独特的艺术风格。他说：“每个人的风格都各不相同，每个人都有自己的擅长之处。团队中的这种动态力量有助我们了解不同的创意，决策也会变得更加清晰。每个人都知道我们的方向，这也使得每个人的作品更具有鲜明特色。”

Grains & Grams 的每位成员风格各异，但又异曲同工，因为他们对自然和材料有着共同的敬畏之心。除此之外，他们中大多数人还有一个共同点：他们都曾在人生某个时刻，不满于自己的事业，然后在木工中找到新的前进动力。

我们与其中五位匠人艺术家聊了聊，以了解他们的故事、他们与材料的关系以及木工对他们的意义。

 

Nucharin Wangphongsawasd 

Drawn to principles of good design, Nucharin Wangphongsawasd pursued her bachelor’s degree in architecture in industrial design. However, her experience working in the industry was nerve-wracking, to say the least. “It drove me a bit insane,” she confesses. “And I felt something was missing, something more that I longed for.”

Eager to find the missing piece, Wangphongsawasd enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, specializing in fine woodworking and furniture design. 

After her time in the United States, she carried her appreciation for American wood back to Thailand. Wangphongsawasd still works with ash, poplar cherry, and white oak. “These are the wood species from when I began my training in the US. They comfort me and make me feel at home,” she says. These are also the most suitable species of wood for bending and twisting, a technique she commonly uses to form exquisite curved shapes in her furniture and sculpture pieces. 

 “My philosophy is simple: I want to keep doing what I do and be consistent and self-disciplined. I’m strict with myself when I need to be self-critical, but I’m also kind, especially when I’m not in the right state of mind,” Wangphongsawasd shares. Her practice carries profoundly personal meanings, feelings, and memories that reflect her life experiences, all of which she wants to share with the audience through her work.

Nucharin Wangphongsawasd

出于对优秀设计原则的兴趣，Nucharin Wangphongsawasd 曾攻读工业建筑设计学士。然而，在这个行业工作的经历令她感觉很郁闷，“这份工作让我难以忍受，”她坦白道，“我总是惘然若失，感觉有其他更向往的东西。”

为了填补失落感，Nucharin 入读了纽约罗切斯特著名的罗切斯特理工学院，攻读美术硕士课程，专业是精细木工和家具设计。

完成美国的学业后，她带着美国木工文化回到了泰国。一直以来，Nucharin 喜欢以白蜡木、杨木、樱桃木和白橡木来创作，“这些是我开始在美国学习时所用的木材品种。使用这些木材能让我感到平静自在，有一种回家的安定感，”她说。另外，这些木材也是最适合弯曲和扭曲的木材品种，这也是她在制作家具和雕塑作品时需要用到的工艺。

“我的理念很简单：我想继续做现在所做的事情，保持一致和自律。当我需要自我批评时，我对自己会很严格；但我有时也会对自己温柔一点，特别是当我心态不太好时，”Nucharin 分享道。她的创作承载着深刻的个人意义、感受和记忆，反映着她的生活经历，而所有这一切正是她希望通过自己的作品与观众所分享的。

Pichan Sujaritsatit

Holding a degree in photography, Pichan Sujaritsatit worked for a magazine for about five years, taking photos and running its general artistic direction. During his time in the publication, he had the chance to interview and photograph several creatives—many of whom were makers. This was when he became interested in craftsmanship. “I liked the idea of making things with your own hands and turning them into something useful. It’s a good practice of self-reliance,” he says, adding that when he took matters into his own hands, literally speaking, “even fixing a tap was a cool thing.”

Sujaritsatit became a maker in 2014, and he developed his practice by working across several materials other than wood, such as ceramics, terrazzo, and brass casting. “Not everything has to be made of wood. Each material is suitable for something specific. If you have to force it into something, it does not come out naturally,” he says.

Sujaritsatit commonly uses a wood-turning machine to create his pieces. He makes table lamps, plates, trays, and tiny vases, among other objects, always keeping the character and the grain patterns of the wood, which gives each piece a unique personality.

He draws much of his inspiration from traditional Thai woodwork, especially from the minor details he observes in the different techniques from various parts of Thailand. “When I travel to other provinces, I like to notice the wooden houses and the different methods used by local artisans. It’s like reading a history book—the history of good craftsmanship,” he says. 

Sujaritsatit feels that, by observing local artisans closely, he can perceive revealing patterns in their work, such as how diligent they are and how much attention they pay to details. “I enjoy watching a village artisan working. Their work often looks simple. Even if it has joinery, it’s not complicated. You could even call it naïve,” he says, and he points out that, compared to Japanese carpentry, for instance, Thai carpentry is not as solemn; much on the contrary, it’s simple, and laid back, just as Thai people are.

Pichan Sujaritsatit

Pichan Sujaritsatit 拥有摄影学位，曾在一家杂志工作了大约五年，负责拍摄照片和艺术指导。在出版行业工作期间，他有机会采访和拍摄了多位创意人，其中包括多位手工匠人，从那时起便对手工艺产生了兴趣。他说：“我喜欢亲手制作物品，让不同材料物有所用。这是一种自力更生的好习惯。”接着，他又表示，自己动手的时候，“即使是修理水龙头也变成一件很酷的事。”

Pichan 在 2014 年如愿成为一名手工匠人，除了使用木材，他还会用到其他几种材料，如陶瓷、水磨石和黄铜铸件。“不是什么都非得用木头来做，每种材料都有其适合的用途。如果强行将它变成某种物件，效果反而不自然，”他说。

Pichan 通常使用木材车削机来打造作品。他所制作的台灯、盘子、托盘和小花瓶等物品会保留木材的特色和纹理图案，因此，每件作品都有各自的风格。

他从传统的泰国木制品中汲取了许多灵感，特别是在泰国各地的不同工艺中，他所观察到的各种小细节。他说：“去其他省份旅行时，我喜欢去观察木屋和当地工匠使用的不同工艺，就像是在阅读一本关于优秀手工艺的历史书。”

Pichan 认为，通过仔细观察当地工匠，他可以从他们的作业过程中发现一些规律，勤奋、和注重细节是匠人必不可少的基本素质。他说：“我喜欢观察乡村工匠作业。他们的工作通常看起来简单。即使涉及细木工作，也并不复杂，甚至可以说作品还很不成熟。”他指出，与日本的木作工艺相比，泰国木工没有那么严谨；相反，它更简单，更随心所欲，正如泰国人的性格一样。

Phakphoom Wittayaworakan

A little over ten years ago, Phakphoom Wittayaworakan left his business as a vet in Bangkok and moved to quieter Isan, Northeastern Thailand. His goal was to start a new life based on the principles of self-sufficiency and sustainability. His interest in woodwork came naturally, a practical need of his alternative lifestyle, but his intimacy with the material grew with time. Today, wood is an essential part of Wittayaworakan’s life. “It’s a religion, food for the soul, and mental therapy,” he says.

Wittayaworakan often makes everyday utensils, such as plates and trays, cutlery, and cutting boards. He shapes them with hand carving tools, giving them an organic, folkish aspect. Another prominent characteristic of his work is that he often finishes his pieces with a burning technique, giving them unique textures, black as coal. 

He sources most of his wood from his surroundings in Isan. The region has a long dry season and is known for its deciduous trees with robust hardwood, but there’s something beyond the material’s intrinsic qualities that also attracts him. “Working with local wood allows me to understand how local people relate to wood in another dimension. I often source wood from people who live out of lumber to burn charcoal; sometimes, I get wood from villagers that had to cut down trees to grow their farming areas,” Wittayaworakan says. 

What fascinates him the most about his practice is observing the long-standing connection between trees, wood, and people. “Wood is a material so close to us that we feel familiar and connected to it. We love to touch it and use it intimately in many aspects of life,” he says. “I’m happy that I can understand the true nature of wood. Deep down, it also helps me to understand my own nature.”

Phakphoom Wittayaworakan

 

十多年前，Phakphoom Wittayaworakan 辞掉在曼谷的兽医工作，搬到了泰国东北部的伊桑。他的目标是在这里开始一种自给自足的低碳新生活。他之所以对木工产生兴趣也很顺理成章，毕竟对于他这种另类的生活方式，这是很实际的需求；但随着时间推移，他与木材之间的关系也日益亲密。如今，木材已成为 Phakphoom 生活中必不可少的一部分。“它是一种信仰，是灵魂的食粮，也有治愈心灵的作用，”他说。

Phakphoom 大部分作品都是日常用具，例如盘子和托盘、餐具和砧板。他的作品通常纯手工打造，赋予作品一种有机、质朴的风格。此外，他经常采用烤烧工艺来处理成品，赋予作品独特的质感，让部分外表黑若焦炭。

他所用的大部分木材都来自他在伊桑住所的周边地区。当地有漫长的旱季，以落叶树及其坚固硬木而闻名，但这种材料还有其他吸引他的地方。“使用当地木材使我能够从另一维度了解当地人与木材的关系。我采购木材时，发现很多人靠燃烧木材以制成木炭为生，还有的村民不得不砍伐树木来开垦农地，”Phakphoom 说。

这种手工艺最让他着迷的是观察树木、木材和人之间长久的联系。“木材是一种离我们生活很近的材料，这种关系很亲密。我们喜欢触摸木材，在生活很多方面都会用到木材，”他说，“我很开心能够理解木材的真正本质。在内心深处，木材也帮助我了解自己。”

Charnon Nakornsang

Trained as a graphic designer, Charnon Nakornsang worked in corporate jobs for ten years before realizing a life behind the computer screen wasn’t for him. Interestingly, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby was what kindled his interest in woodwork. The design of Nick Carraway’s cottage in the film fascinated Nakornsang because of the abundance of beautiful wood details it displayed, all simple yet sophisticated.

With some research, Nakornsang discovered the works of George Nakashima and James Krenov, both acclaimed woodworkers who had an influence over him. Nakornsang was fascinated by them, from the tools they used to their joinery methods, but mainly how they cherished the natural expression of the material and often kept it as a prominent visual asset in the piece.

Nakornsang’s practice is primarily functional. His pieces are mainly born from his own daily needs, and we can see most of them neatly displayed in his living room, which sometimes doubles as a showroom. “I always start from the function, thinking of how it will serve the body, then of scale and structure, and then about the joinery, shape, and form,” he says. “It’s a simple step-by-step.” 

He avoids nails as much as he can. Instead, he prefers to use tight-fit joinery reinforced with glue, which is like the resin of a tree to him. It’s his way of replicating the natural structure of the tree. Nakornsang also keeps the imperfections, lines, grains, and wood texture in everything he creates, balancing them out for an aesthetically pleasing result.

“If you cut the tree, you can see the annual rings. They are seasonal; they grow and stop during winter or grow differently according to light conditions or the drought it experiences. They also have specific colors and pigments. All this together expresses the life of a tree,” Nakornsang says.

Charnon Nakornsang

Charnon Nakornsang 有过平面设计专业背景，曾在一家平面公司工作了十年，直到他意识到，坐在电脑屏幕前的生活并不适合自己。有趣的是，激发他对木工兴趣的是巴兹·鲁赫曼（Baz Luhrmann）导演的电影《了不起的盖茨比》(The Great Gatsby)。影片中，尼克的木屋有着大量漂亮的木工细节，简单而不失精致，这些画面深深吸引了 Charnon。

一番研究之后，Charnon 发现了 George Nakashima 和 James Krenov 的作品，这两位都是对他影响颇深的著名木匠师。Charnon 对二人极为崇拜，从他们使用的工具到他们的细木工工艺，以及他们如何保留材料的自然表达，并将其变成作品中突出的视觉元素。

Charnon 的创作以功能导向，其作品主要源于自己的日常需求。“我总是从功能开始，思考它将如何为人服务，然后才是大小和结构，最后是细木工、形状和形式，”他说，“这是一个循序渐进的思考过程。”

他尽可能避免使用钉子，更喜欢木材之间斗榫合缝的连接，再用胶水加固。对他来说，胶水如同树脂。Charnon 还喜欢在作品中保留材料的瑕疵、线条、纹理和木材质感，并通过平衡处理，呈现出令人身心愉悦的美学效果。

“砍树的时候，你可以看到树的年轮。年轮有季节性，在冬季会停止生长，或根据光照条件或干旱情况而以不同的方式生长，而且还具有特定的颜色。所有这些都体现了大树的生命，”Charnon说。

Nanu Youttananukorn

Before founding Grains & Grams, Youttananukorn also worked in an office as a graphic designer. However, at age 29, anguished by the routine, he chose to take a different path in his life and moved to The Netherlands for a master’s in social design at the Design Academy of Eindhoven, where he specialized in construction methods and materials.

Back in Bangkok, he experimented with several materials, but wood was the one that caught him. Youttananukorn learned most of what he knows today by spending time in the studios of more senior artisans. “It was like being in an anatomy class. The more I saw wood, the more I liked it,” he remembers. 

Like Wittayaworakan, Youttananukorn is drawn to local Thai wood and the unprocessed way it’s presented and sold in wood markets. “In Europe, you get a lot of processed wood, but the natural form is often kept in Thailand. We can see what it looks like when it gets old and the grains it exposes.”

Youttananukorn mainly works with raw, freshly cut slabs or old reclaimed pieces of wood from Thai houses, boats, and other objects. The essence of his work lies in the juxtaposition of the natural expression of wood and his minimal intervention over it. “I don’t want to overcome the natural voice of the material with my own,” he says.

Youttananukorn believes that each piece of wood carries history and that his reclaimed parts connect him to other people—that’s what he loves the most about his practice. The simple act of removing old nails and screws from an old piece of wood sets his mind on imaginary journeys. “I think about the person who banged those nails. It’s almost as if you are getting into another person’s life,” he says.

Nanu Youttananukorn

在创立 Grains & Grams 之前，Nanu 曾在一家公司里担任平面设计师。然而在 29 岁那年，千篇一律的工作令他深感痛苦，最终选择走上另一条不同的人生道路，并移居荷兰，进入埃因霍温设计学院攻读社会设计硕士学位，专门研究建筑方法和材料。

回到曼谷后，他尝试过用多种材料进行创作，最终选定了木材。Nanu 所掌握的大部分知识都是他在资深工匠工作室中学到的。“感觉就像在上解剖学课一样。对于木材，我看得越多，就越喜欢，”他回忆道。

和 Phakphoom 一样，Nanu 很喜欢泰国当地木材及其在木材市场上未经加工的原始感。“欧洲大部分都是加工木材，但泰国这边更喜欢保留木材的原貌。我们可以看到木材老化的样子以及表面的纹理。”

Nanu主要使用未加工、新鲜砍伐的板材，或是从泰国房屋、船只和其他物件中回收的旧木材。其作品精髓在于糅合木材的自然表达与对木材的加工。他说：“我不想让自己的加工盖过材料本身的自然本质。”

Nanu 认为，每一块木材都承载一段历史，所回收的木材能将作品和他人联系起来，这也是他在创作中最喜欢的部分。从旧木头上拆掉旧钉子和螺丝这些简单的举动，也能让他在脑海里开始一段想象的旅程，“我会想到了当初敲钉子的人，感觉自己仿佛进入了另一个人的生活中，”他说。

 

In his unofficial position as a community leader of Grains & Grams, Youttananukorn likes to distinguish their shows from standard furniture showrooms by coming up with themes that invite personal reflection.For their latest show, part of Bangkok Design Week 2022, he drew inspiration from the notion that in design, as in life, you’re often subject to external factors, things you have no control over. That’s how he arrived at the concept of 12 Camels.

“A camel is a horse designed by a committee,” Youttananukorn says, quoting Alec Issigonis, the British designer of the Mini Cooper. According to Issigonis, contrasting with the anatomically perfect horse, the camel, a weirdly shaped animal with humps on its back, curved neck, and disproportionately long legs, is equivalent to the result of too many conflicting opinions and inexperienced inputs in any design process.

12 Camels didn’t only challenge the members’ woodworking skills but their ingenuity as makers on a broader scope.  Their task was to create a stool—possibly the most elementary piece of furniture there is—using only reclaimed objects randomly distributed amongst them. 

The 12 makers had to pick up the objects themselves. Most of them chose strange things like shovels, plastic bones, empty egg cartons, and popsicle sticks, among many other seemingly useless objects. They had no limitations of material or shape. The only requirement was to select four pieces: three legs and a seat.

 

作为团队里非正式领袖，Nanu 喜欢为团队的项目和 Grains & Grams 的展览加入一些充满挑战的元素，“否则，你的生活只能原地踏步，”他笑着说，“创作上的挑战让我们的展览区别于普通的家具展览，而且艺术家自己也可以摆脱客户委托作品的条条框框。”

团体最新的展览参加了 2022 年曼谷设计周，这场展览的灵感源于一个概念，即设计和生活一样，往往要受到外部因素的影响，一些你无法控制的事情。“12 Camels”（十二匹骆驼）系列的概念也由此诞生。

“骆驼是设计师眼中的马，”Nanu 引述 Mini Cooper 的英国设计师 Alec Issigonis 的话说道。Alec 认为，与解剖学意义上完美的马相比，骆驼是一种形状独特的动物——背部凸起的驼峰、弯曲的脖子和不成比例的长腿，就像是设计过程中由于有太多相互矛盾的意见和缺乏经验导致的结果。

“12 Camels” 给成员带来的挑战不仅是其木作工艺，也挑战了他们作为匠人的创作独创性。他们的任务是制作一张凳子，虽然是很基本的家具，但他们只能使用随机散落在身边的回收物品作为创作素材。

From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一

Once they selected their objects, the makers handed them to Youttananukorn, who redistributed them, with each maker receiving four new parts. He used a computer allocation software to guarantee that the project relied on fairness or, better yet, the unfairness of life. Some makers were lucky, receiving parts with rather obvious functionalities, but others had it worse. “What can you make with plastic cups and bone parts?” Youttananukorn laughs.

Again, positive pressure played a role, but this time, the pressure also came from outside the group, from the many people who crossed Bangkok Design Week’s exhibition halls, Thailand’s biggest creative event. “It’s their name on the line, after all. I can imagine myself getting some of these tough pieces. I would throw them on the wall, kick them or something. But life is not fair. Things are set up for you, and you can’t choose,” Youttananukorn says.

The makers had roughly a month to create their stools out of the materials they received. They could bring in additional parts to compose them if needed, and they could do whatever they wanted, as long as the stool would stand by itself in the end. To Youttananukorn, the algorithm allocated the rim of a bicycle wheel, two wooden sticks, and a metal tray. “In the beginning, I thought I wasn’t so lucky to get the wheel. But then I threw it somewhere, and it started to wobble. Then I thought that’s it: I’m making a rocking chair,” he says. 

Youttananukorn split one stick in half and, together with the other one, made the three legs of the stool, connecting them to the wheel as a base. The metal tray became the framework for the seat. Youttananukorn only had to add a cushion to it, which he got from a motorbike shop. His stool is strong enough to sit and rock a little.

A cow bone he picked up from a butcher shop was among his contributions to the cluster of disconnected items. It ended up with Sujaritsatit, who also cut the bone in two and used them as feet for his stool. To them, he welded a fire extinguisher stand, another of his allocated items, making the primary structure for his stool. He made his seat of thin wooden pieces using the Japanese Kumiko technique and giving it a highly decorative pattern.

每位艺术家选好要用的物品后，就把它们交给 Nanu，再由 Nanu 重新分配，这样每个艺术家最后都会收到四个新的零件。Nanu 使用电脑分配软件来保证该项目的“公平”。有的艺术家比较幸运，收到了有着明显功能性的零件，而有的艺术家则没那么幸运，“你能用塑料杯和骨头做什么？”Nanu 笑着说道。

正向压力再次发挥作用，不过这一次，他们的压力也来自团队之外，来自众多前往曼谷设计周展厅的人，这可是泰国当地最大型的创意盛事。“毕竟，他们的名字会印在上面。我可以想象，假如自己分配到那些比较有挑战性的物品，我大概会气得把它们扔到墙上，用力踢几下。但生活本来就是不公平的。很多事情都是生活早已为你准备好的，你别无选择，”Nanu 说。

每位艺术家有大约一个月的时间用收到的物品来制作凳子。如果有需要，他们可以加入其他物品，并且他们可以自由发挥，只要最后凳子能独立摆放着就行。Nanu 被分配到一个自行车轮圈、两根木棍和一个金属托盘。“一开始，我觉得拿到轮圈是一件挺倒霉的事。直到有一次在移走轮圈时，看到它在摇晃，我突然灵光一闪：就做一把摇椅吧，”他说。

Nanu 将三根棍子组成三脚凳，轮圈被用来制作凳子底座，金属托盘用作凳子框架。这样制成的凳子很坚固，无论怎么摇晃也不会垮塌。

这些毫不相干的制作材料，还包括一块他从肉店捡到的牛骨头。这块牛骨头被分配给 Pichan。他也把骨头切成两半，用作凳脚。然后焊接上他另外分配到的一个灭火器支架，制成凳子的主要结构。他运用日本的“组子”(Kumiko) 工艺，并融入了装饰性图案。

From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
One of the custom designs from the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一
From the 12 Camels project “12 Camels” 项目作品之一

There were many other ingenious creations, including a stool made of a wood slab and a stone disk, balanced out with hanging chopsticks by jeweler maker Rudee Tancharoen, and even a stool with an additional side table by designer duo Jutamas Buranajade and Piti Amraranga. Interestingly, they used only their allocated objects to make their two pieces; an old copper vase, which they split in half, an acrylic board, which they bent, a cane, and a wooden stick.

Together, the 12 stools compose a creative and humorous display of modern Thai craftsmanship. They remind of Michael Wolf’s Bastard Chairs and Martino Gamper’s 100 chairs and evoke the inventive makeshift designs we often see in the streets everywhere in Thailand—particularly when it comes to informal sitting arrangements, chairs, and stools. 12 Camels has recently traveled to Chiang Mai to showcase the original stools at Kalm Village. In early May, the show’s name changed to 24 Camels since it incorporated the stools of twelve new makers—all of whom have equally racked their brains with their allocated parts.

其他作品也充满巧妙创意。珠宝工匠 Rudee Tancharoen 用木板和石盘制成凳子，最后加上悬挂的筷子作为平衡；设计师二人组 Jutamas Buranajade 和 Piti Amraranga 制作的凳子还带有边桌，他们的作品只使用了分配到的物品，包括一个一分为二的老旧铜制花瓶、一块弯曲的亚克力板、一根手杖和一根木棍，成品十分有趣。

这 12 张凳子组成了一场充满创意与幽默的当代泰式工艺展览，令人想起了 Michael Wolf 的《Bastard Chair》（交椅）和 Martino Gamper 的《100 chairs》（100 把椅子)，以及泰国街道上经常看到的那些创意十足、且简陋的“临时座位”。最近，“12 Camels” 将前往清迈的 Kalm Village 展示这些新颖独特的作品。从五月开始，将有另外 12 位匠人艺术家的作品加入该展览。而现在，这 12 位艺术家正绞尽脑汁，用被分配到的物品打造独一无二的作品。

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Contributors: Tomas Pinheiro, Lucas Tinoco
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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Instagram:
@grainsandgrams
@nucharin_w
@sujaritsatit
@meanwhile_woodwork
@nakornsang.studio
@nanu_youtti

 

供稿人: Tomas Pinheiro, Lucas Tinoco
英译中: Olivia Li

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Femme Fatale 肉体判罚

June 9, 2022 2022年6月9日

In the world of ero-guro art, often the artwork is sometimes too cartoonish or too over the top in its violence.  The sense of artistry can almost feel secondary to shock value. With Tokyo-based painter Meimaro‘s work, fine art and offal are paired together with graceful synergy. Much like a horror film in which cinematography and composition must work with grotesque special effects in order to maximize the impact of a particular scene, so do the paintings of Meimaro, which often feature graphic disfigurations.

情色猎奇（ero-guro）艺术作品往往要么过于卡通化，要么过于暴力。视觉冲击似乎比艺术感更重要。而在东京画家 Meimaro 的作品里，美学与血腥达成了优雅的平衡。正如恐怖片中，摄影和构图必须配合怪诞的特效才能最大限度地呈现出特定场景的效果，Meimaro 的画作同样如此，经常充斥着细致描绘的毁损面容。 

“I have always loved horrific, grotesque, and dark art as far as I can remember, but I never drew these forms myself because I thought they were something that should not be publicly displayed,” Meimaro recalls. “When I came to know Takato Yamamoto’s paintings, however, that feeling was gone. The atrocious world depicted by the perfectly arranged and detailed lines and colors seems more truly beautiful than ever before. It made me realize that ‘whatever the theme or motif, it can be made beautiful by the artist.’” 

Meiraro’s art shares some similarities with Yamamoto’s—whether it be the use of negative space, the deliberate line work, or the pale flesh of the human form undergoing variations of mutation or disfigurement.

 “我一直都喜欢恐怖、怪诞和黑暗的艺术，但我以前从来不会画这类作品，因为我总觉得这不是能公开展示的，”Meimaro 回忆道，“直到我看到山本高远的作品，我才改变了想法。他完美排列的线条与色彩，描绘出无与伦比的惊悚世界。这让我意识到，无论作品的主题是什么，都可以藉由艺术家将其美化。”

Meiraro 的作品与日本插画家山本高远的作品有一些相似之处——包括画面的留白、精雕细琢的线条，以及畸形或残缺的苍白肉体。

Subject matter that most consider to be ugly, such as blood and exposed human organs, became a source of inspiration for Meimaro. To her, these elements are the ideal vessels to express the cruelty of humans. These motifs can give physical shape to feelings of grudge, jealousy, and hatred. Though unsightly, these aspects of human nature are still a part of existence, and she believes they need to be faced head on. Her gruesome art forces viewers to do just that.

淋漓的鲜血，暴露的人体器官——这些令大多数人不堪入目的元素成为 Meimaro 的灵感来源。对她来说，这些元素是表达人性残酷的理想载体，能具体形象地表达怨恨、嫉妒和仇恨的情绪。她认为，虽然这些丑陋的人类本性难登大雅之堂，却是真实存在，人们应该坦诚面对，而看上去触目惊心的作品也是在强迫观众直面这一点。

Meimaro’s work caught the attention of metal bands from Japan and beyond who have commissioned her for album covers and the odd piece of apparel. Japanese metal band Mayhem Fancy was the first to commission a piece from Meimaro for their album Spritzen, “I consciously used dark and muddy colors to express the weight of slamming death metal,” she recalls. The album art depicted a gory murder scene with a female victim’s entrails being pulled out. She included the band in the creative process as well by having the band members decide the words on the grave in the picture. “My illustrations usually depict a masochistic nude woman at the center of it all,” she says.

Meimaro 的作品引起了日本及其他地区的金属乐队的关注，并委托她制作专辑封面和服装。Mayhem Fancy 是第一支找上门来的乐队，邀请她担任其专辑《Spritzen》封面的制作，她回忆道：“我故意用黑暗和污浊色调来表达死亡金属的厚重。”专辑封面描绘了一个血腥的谋杀场景，画面上，凶手抽出女性的内脏。她还邀请了乐队成员参与创作，让他们构想画上墓碑的文字。她指出：“我的插画作品通常会描绘一个受虐的裸体女性。”

Album art for May Fancy's Spritzen May Fancy 乐队专辑《Spritzen》封面设计

Meimaro herself being a metal fan has made her album art that much more true to the genre’s roots. She says of her initial getting into metal, “Originally, I listened to Queen and Billy Joel. I first heard about metal music when I was a college student,” she says. “I found out about it on a message board and bought the CD recommended there (Evil Warning by Angra). It really hit the spot. I blasted it every night before going to bed for several weeks. After that, I started researching, buying jackets, and immersing myself more and more into the world of heavy metal.”

Meimaro 本人也是一名金属乐迷，这使得她所创作的专辑封面能更忠实再现这种音乐流派的精髓。谈到开始接触金属乐的契机，她说：“我以前都听皇后乐队和 Billy Joel，第一次听说重金属音乐是在大学的时候。我在学校的公告板上看到宣传，还买了推荐的 CD（Angra的《Evil Warning》），一听就觉得很上头。连续好几个星期，我每天晚上睡前都要听。之后，我开始深入了解这种音乐风格，购买夹克，把更多精力投入进重金属世界中。”

She eventually got into the local metal scene, and became friends with members of Ayakashi Kagura and Urobilinemia—bands that she also created album art for.  “These bands often went out for dinner with me and talked about their music. They appreciate my own art besides the album covers I do,” she says. “For Urobilinemia, at first, I was planning to draw an original illustration for them, however, they liked the work I had exhibited in the past, so I remade an existing piece into the current design. Something like the upper and lower thorns is a symbol of their musical aggression, and the blue background is the image color.”

后来，她混入当地金属圈子，与 Ayakashi Kagura 和 Urobilinemia 乐队成员打成一片，同样也为乐队的专辑封面带来帮助。她说：“我们经常厮混在一起，一起吃饭、一起听歌聊音乐。除了我设计的专辑封面之外，他们也很喜欢我的其他创作。Urobilinemia 十分中意我之前展出过的一幅作品，后来这幅作品成了他们专辑的封面，画面顶端和底端的荆棘细节代表了他们在音乐上的激进。”

Album art for Illuminati'sInvisible Illuminati 乐队专辑《Invisible》封面设计
Album art for Ayakasi Kagura's Kiotoshi Meshi Tamae Ayakasi Kagura 乐队专辑《Kiotoshi Meshi Tamae》封面设计

While Meimaro is blazing her own path with album covers that are unlike anything seen by her contemporaries in the field, she remains inspired by other artists and their album art. “I consider Osaka based artist Toshihiro Egawa (Cryptopsy, Deeds of Flesh, Devourment, Mortician) as one of the artists who established death metal art,” she says. “I admired his cover art that delicately depicts the unique sludgy world of death metal with a profound touch. I tried to imitate it for a while, but… it made me realize that the pictures I like and the pictures I want to draw are two different things. After all these experiences, I have settled on my current style of painting.”

Meimaro 正以专辑封面设计开辟自己的道路，虽然她的作品不同于同时代的其他专辑封面设计，但她仍然会从其他艺术家及其专辑设计获得启发，她说：“我觉得大阪艺术家江川敏弘（曾为 Cryptopsy、Deeds of Flesh、Devourment、Mortician 等乐队设计）是引领死亡金属艺术的艺术家之一。我很喜欢他的封面设计，其中细致描绘了死亡金属独特的污浊世界，充满深刻寓意。我有段时间试图模仿他的风格，但后来发现，自己喜欢的作品和想画的作品是两码事。经历了这些之后，我最终确定了现在的绘画风格。”

Back cover art for Urobilinemia's Wriggling Chrysalis Of Metaphysical Grudge Urobilinemia 乐队专辑《Wriggling Chrysalis Of Metaphysical Grudge》封面设计
Back cover art for Urobilinemia's Wriggling Chrysalis Of Metaphysical Grudge Urobilinemia 乐队专辑《Wriggling Chrysalis Of Metaphysical Grudge》封底设计

The relationship between the music on an album, the logo and the album art is not to be discredited. When thinking of Metallica’s Master of Puppets, it is impossible to not think of tombstones and puppet strings. Establishing a relationship between the sonic and the visual is essential for Meimaro. “When I first listen to a CD I bought, I like to look at the cover illustration and compare it to the lyrics and music. The cover art makes a strong first impression on the listener. It is probably the first thing most people mention when describing a CD they have in mind. Even if the cover art is blank, the music gives it meaning. My goal is to create cover art that tells a deeper story about the music.”

Concerning her creative process of making album art, when Meimaro receives requests, she normally asks the client to send her a demo and lyrics to help the creative process. She believes in the synergy of a band and artist working together to create the precise mood of what the album should be, musically and visually. After listening to a demo several times, she gets an image of what the album is trying to convey and gets to work. “Heavy metal, in particular, may be easy for me to imagine because the atmosphere of the illustration or logo is somewhat fixed depending on the genre. At times like this, I am glad that I like heavy metal.”

一张专辑中的音乐、标识和专辑封面之间的关系也很重要，譬如提起 Metallica 乐队的《Master of Puppets》，就不可能不想到墓碑和木偶的提线。Meimaro 很注重在声音和视觉之间建立关系。“买新 CD 回来听的时候，我喜欢先看封面，将其与歌词和音乐进行比较。封面设计会给听众留下很强烈的第一印象。大多数人提起一张 CD 时，首先想到的可能就是封面。即使封面设计是空白一片，音乐也会赋予它意义。我的目标是通过封面设计，讲述出关于音乐更深层次的故事。”

关于她的专辑封面创作过程，当 Meimaro 接到邀请时，她通常会要求客户把 demo 和歌词发给她，以便在创作过程中参考。她认为乐队与封面设计师要共同合作和参与，才能精准传递出一张专辑在音乐和视觉方面要传达的内容。在听了几次 demo 后，她了解了专辑试图传达的画面，然后才开始下笔创作。“对我来说，重金属音乐专辑的封面相对而言更易于构思，因为不同音乐流派的封面或标识的风格基本是固定的。在这种时候，我就会特别庆幸，自己喜欢的是重金属音乐。”

Album art for Esophagogastroduodenoscopy's The Rotted Plinth of Sachiel Esophagogastroduodenoscopy 乐队专辑《The Rotted Plinth of Sachiel》封面设计

Meimaro has created album art for half a dozen metal bands as of now, including Putrid Pile and Vulvodynia from the US, and she still hopes to work with more in the future. “My first choice is and always will be Angra; I especially admire Andre Matos, their first vocalist, and I have listened to him for a long time.” she grins. “Some other bands include Sonata Arctica, Gamma Ray, Arch Enemy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Napalm Death, Mayhem, etc. But this is just a small part of the list! In Japan, I am a big fan of SEIKIMA-II and MUCC. I also can’t leave out Chthonic and OTEP, whose worldviews I love so much.”

到目前为止，Meimaro 已经为六支金属乐队创作了专辑封面，包括来自美国的 Putrid Pile和 Vulvodynia 等乐队，她希望未来能继续和更多乐队合作。“Angra 永远都是我的第一选择。我特别喜欢他们的第一位主唱 Andre Matos，我听他的歌很长时间了，”她笑着说道，“其他乐队包括 Sonata Arctica、Gamma Ray、Arch Enemy、Fleshgod Apocalypse、Napalm Death、Mayhem等，但这只是其中一小部分！在日本，我特别喜欢 SEIKIMA-II和 MUCC。另外当然还有 Chthonic 和 OTEP，我非常喜欢他们的世界观。”

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Website: www.meimaro-art.com

 

Contributor: Ryan Dyer
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

網站: www.meimaro-art.com

 

Contributor: Ryan Dyer
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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In Kimi We Trust 上百种怪诞的自己

June 9, 2022 2022年6月9日
Close up of Kimi XI, Ad Finem Lacrimosa 《基米 拾肆：直到泪的尽头》细节图

The canvases of Morgan Martinito are epics told in oil paints, populated with heroes and villains engaged in battle and travel. Recurring characters weave through dense settings full of absurd and personal iconography. Floating serpents and fiery landscapes are colored in earthy tones and rendered with comical shapes. His paintings are packed with deep meaning and playful banter. A costumed cast covered in theatrical make-up frolics and hides among vast fields, while snakes slither in the trees of bare forests and reptiles lurk in murky waters. 

菲律宾艺术家 Morgan Martinito 的油画拥有史诗级作品的魅力。大量英雄和反派角色现身于他的画作，无不是在战场，或是探险的路上。这些人物与眼花缭乱的视觉元素交织在一起，由大地色系着彩，呈现荒谬不羁的风格。Morgan 让角色们换上戏袍，任凭他们在一片辽阔的田野中嬉闹；蛇和爬行动物纠缠在一起，时而漂浮于丛林，时而潜伏在一片浑水之中。这些看似不着边际的画面，其背后却充满深意和戏谑

KIMI I (2020) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 24" x 30" 《基米 壹》(2020) / 布面油画与胶合板 24" x 30"
KIMI II, The Help From Above (2020) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 24" x 30" 《基米 贰：来自上天的救助》(2020) / 布面油画与胶合板 24" x 30"

Martinito was raised and educated in the northern cities of Metro Manila by a mother who sold fish paste in the dense street markets of Divisoria. The 32 year old wavered between fine arts and advertising during university, taking nearly a decade to graduate due to personal circumstances. He ultimately settled  on a major in painting. After graduation, he experimented with clay sculptures, abstract painting, and even ran a tattoo parlor for a few years—but it would be his surrealist pop paintings that would define his creative trajectory.

Morgan 在马尼拉大都会北部的几个城市（北部共六个城市，该区域拥有优质教学资源，同时相较南部金融中心房租低廉）长大，当时母亲在 Divisoria（马尼拉的一个商业中心，该地以集市闻名）的街市上售卖鱼浆和鱼滑来补贴家用。如今 32 岁的 Morgan 曾在大学期间于艺术和广告专业之间徘徊不决，并最终决定了绘画。由于个人境遇，他花了将近十年才毕业。毕业后，他先后尝试了黏土雕塑、抽象画创作，甚至还运营了几年纹身店。直到后来，自己的创作方向才最终落在了超现实主义波普绘画上面。

Kimi VI: Love Is More Terror Than Terror Itself II (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 12" x 18" 《基米 陆：爱远比恐惧本身更令人恐惧 2》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 12" x 18"
KIMI VIII, I Love You (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 24" x 36" 《基米 捌：我爱你》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 24" x 36"
Kimi XI: Ad Finem Lacrimosa (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 11" x 16" 《基米 拾肆：直到泪的尽头》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 11" x 16"
Kimi XII: Memento Mori (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 11" x 16" 《基米 柒：死的象征》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 11" x 16"

After stumbling across 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights on Friendster, Martinito became enamored with his style of surrealist renaissance paintings, which eventually led him to the work and lives of other Western old masters.

Much like the old masters, Martinito’s work is closely tied to Christianity, particularly Catholicism. His Kimi series is paired with poems that resemble catechisms and proverbs with direct references to Biblical characters and stories. One typical passage, appended to Kimi III: The Birth of Time,​​ reads: “Gabriel said, We don’t have Time, the Judicator has come, wield the fire and brimstone. Kimi answered, It’s an inevitable catastrophe but we still have Time. O water my most faithful mirror unleash the wrath upon this fiend. And then suddenly flames licked the earth as it burns like a star from afar. And Time began…” Like many Filipinos, he was raised in a strict Catholic family, although he strayed from his faith in his younger years. “But life has its own surprising way of connecting us to God once again,” he says.

当多年前 Morgan 第一次在 Friendster（21 世纪初创建的社交媒体平台，后在东南亚地区大受欢迎）上看到 15 世纪荷兰画家耶罗尼米斯·博斯（Hieronymus Bosch）的画作《人间乐园》（Garden of Earthly Delights）时，他便迷上了超现实主义文艺复兴绘画风格。自那之后，他开始不知疲倦地翻阅起西方古典大师的作品和生平故事。

与许多西方古典绘画的主题类似，Morgan 也围绕基督教展开创作，这其中天主教元素尤为突出。Morgan 在一个严苛的菲律宾天主教家庭中长大，即使他在年轻的时候偏离过信仰，但他说，“生活总有它出人意料的方式，让我们与上帝再次相连。”《基米》（Kimi）系列中，作品往往配有类似宗教问答式的诗歌，以及《圣经》中的宗教人物典故。

“Gabriel：‘我们并不拥有时间，审判者已经到来，它挥舞着火焰和硫磺’；Kimi：‘灾难不可避免，但我们仍拥有时间，水啊，我最忠实的镜子，向这恶魔释放愤怒吧。’ 突然间，火焰如流星从天而降，在大地熊熊燃烧起来……”，摘自作品《基米 叁：时间的诞生》（Kimi III: The Birth of Time）配文。

KIMI IV: Better Left Undiscovered (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 24" x 30" 《基米 肆：悄然离去》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 24" x 30"
KIMI V: She Who Has No Equal at The End of The Sea (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 24" x 30" 《基米 伍：无与伦比的她在大海尽头》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 24" x 30"

The meanings embedded in Martinito’s work cover a range of topics, most of which revolve around introspection and family. The Kimi character at the center of his work is the embodiment of his real-life romantic partner and was first introduced in a painting titled Kimi, The Pinnacle of Happiness. In it, Kimi sits at the center of the composition like the enigmatic Mona Lisa. “Kimi is my partner in life, my confidant,” he says. “She who has no equal, she who always listens, she who wept with me, and endured with me. She aided me to change into the person that I aim to be. Through her, God smiled at me once again.”

Martinito explains that the series is a reimagining of the experiences he went through when he left his home after the death of his mother in 2019. For example, the burning pelican carrying an ouroboros in its talons symbolizes the delivery of a rebirth. Other iconography in the Kimi series includes horns, antennas, and spikes that reference his Taurus zodiac sign; houses, which speak to his internal thoughts and desires; and chrysanthemum flowers, which represent love, longevity, and joy. He also appeals to his sister, trying to win over her appreciation with the frequent use of hearts, which are her favorite shape.

此外，Morgan 在作品还包涵了诸多具有深度的议题，大部分关乎内省和家庭。他将作品核心人物基米（Kimi）视作是现实生活中形影不离的伴侣，向观众抛开一个又一个话题。在关于该人物的第一幅作品《基米：幸福之巅》（Kimi, The Pinnacle of Happiness）中，基米就坐在构图中心，如同蒙娜丽莎一般神秘。

Morgan 说：“基米是我的生活伴侣、我的知己，她懂得倾听。我们感同身受，一起承受着周遭。在她的帮助下，我成就了绘画上的造诣；也是通过她，上帝再次向我微笑。”

Morgan 进一步阐释人物基米的由来：2019 年母亲去世后，他漂泊在外。正是籍由这个创作中虚构的人物，让 Morgan 一点点拾起过去的记忆，一点点在创作中剖析自己。渐渐地，他在画中融入自己的个性，他用鹈鹕抓蛇的场景，象征重生和降临；以犄角、天线和尖刺，意象自己的金牛座属性；用菊花代表爱情、长寿和欢乐；房子，坦述思想和欲望；以妹妹最爱的心形图案，实现作品与家人的对话。这些共构他对于世界的理解，编绘关于自己的图腾。

Kimi: The Pinnacle of Happiness (2020) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 36" x 44" 《基米：幸福之巅》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 36" x 44"

There are numerous references to his name, including the birds (Martinito translates into “small bird”) and bodies of water (Morgan means “at the end of the sea” or “sea-born”). His self portrait appears regularly as well. The drifter in Kimi V, She Who Has No Equal at the End of the Sea represents him leaving home with only a few of his belongings.  He’s depicted as an orange man with a bag at the end of a stick, hobo style. His self portrait also appears throughout the series as the recurring villain, which is his way of embracing his own failings as a person: “I came across a quote that says, ‘As a child we admire heroes, but as adults we understand villains,’” he explains. “All the trials that I have experienced shaped the core of my existence.”

Morgan 还将自己名字的衍生出意象运用在作品中。他的姓氏 “Martinito” 在当地是“鸟”的意思；而名字 “Morgan” 则与海水息息相关，表达 “在大海尽头” 或 “来自海洋” 的意思，这些统统在作品中体现出来。

他的自画像也经常出现在作品中。作品《基米 伍：无与伦比的她在大海尽头》（Kimi V, She Who Has No Equal at the End of the Sea）中流浪汉的形象，映射母亲去世后那段背井离乡的经历。画面中的他是一个挑着扁担的橙色男人，一副潦倒囧态。有时，他又以坏蛋的形象出现在画中，以自嘲的姿态来揭示生活中失败的事实。他说，“我曾看到过这样一句话：小孩子崇拜英雄，成年人则能理解反派。人活在世上，就是要不断地去尝试，去寻找存在的价值。”

Kimi XIII: Supervillain vs. The 4th Seal (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 11" x 16" 《基米 拾叁：超级大反派 VS 第四印灰马》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 11" x 16"
Kimi IX: The Hell Is Loose (2021) / Oil on canvas with plywood, 18" x 24" 《基米 玖：地狱在松动》(2021) / 布面油画与胶合板 18" x 24"

For Martinito, none of this context need to be fully understood by the viewer. He knows his iconography-packed canvases might seem absurd for audiences and could be interpreted in different way. But he hopes it still has a universal appeal due to the work’s vibrancy and sense of humor. “​​I find joy in creating something far from reality, something absurd. But colors and shapes are universal.”

对于 Morgan 本人来说，观众无需理解这些创作背景，他们或许觉得荒谬滑稽，或许对作品有着全然不同的理解。不过 Morgan 还是希望通过作品中的活力和幽默，呈现出一种普世的魅力：“颜色和形状是世界共同的语言，而真正让我乐在其中的则是超现实、荒谬的绘画方式。”

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Instagram: @theunnaturalselectionofmorgan

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Yang Young

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Instagram: @theunnaturalselectionofmorgan

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Yang Young

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From the Roots 足下生根

June 5, 2022 2022年6月5日

Kosuke Sugimot loves sneakers. And he loves plants. It was only natural that he’d find a way to combine these two passions. In a project titled Shoetree, he transforms used trainers into eco-art sculptures. For one piece, green moss wraps around the contours of a Nike Air More Uptempo, while a colorful vine plant seems to crawl out from within the sneaker. In another piece, a tropical houseplant extends skywards from an Air Jordan 5 Retro. With this project, Kosuke subverts sneaker culture’s affiliation with mindless consumption, renewing an appreciation for shoewear in a different light.

Kosuke Sugimot 喜欢球鞋和绿植。他结合这两种元素，打造了一个名为 Shoetree 的艺术项目，其旨在利用回收来的二手运动鞋，完成数件环保主题的雕塑作品。一幅作品中，耐克 Air More Uptempo 的球鞋表面被苔藓覆盖，植物枝叶从鞋里野蛮生长；另一幅作品里，热带植物化作飞人，从复刻版乔丹 5 代里一跃而出。这些作品打破了运动鞋文化与非理性消费之间的联系，也让人以另一种眼光看待球鞋。

The 37-year-old artist, born and raised in Tokyo, got his start at university studying graphic design, but he valued the opportunity to network and socialize more than he did his actual studies. “I tended to skip,” Sugimot laughs. He was working as a florist and a clothes maker when the idea of Shoetree clicked for him in 2016. He was walking around the city and noticed a deteriorating wall covered in moss and found it captivating. The way that nature reclaimed its space on a man-made structure was a sight of beauty. Although he doesn’t explicitly make any statements about the environment, it’s inherent in his work—it’s difficult not to think about recycling, waste, and the natural world when looking at one of his pieces. 

这位如今 37 岁的艺术家在东京出生和长大，大学时修读平面设计。但比起课堂学习，他更看重社交。“我经常逃课，” Kosuke 笑着说道。2016 年，在从事花店和服装设计期间，突然间有了创作 Shoetree 系列的想法。那是一次在街上闲逛的经历，他偶然被一面长满青苔的墙壁深深吸引。他意识到，这是大自然在重新夺回一度被人类占据的空间，极具美感。虽然 Kosuke 没有明确地表达自己对环境问题的看法，但当你看到他的作品时，很难不联想到关于回收、浪费和大自然的话题。

By 2017, Sugimot was able to turn Shoetree into a business, and he now works out of a tiny shop named Moku, which is tucked away on a tight Tokyo side street. It’s owned by another company that sells house plants and orchids, but he uses it as a studio and office. His sneaker plant pots and other plant works are on display and for sale there as well. 

 2017 年，Kosuke 成功将 Shoetree 商业化。现在，他在一家名为 Moku 的小店内工作。这家店藏匿于东京一条狭窄的小巷里，隶属于另一家专注室内植物和兰花的公司。也是在这里，他开设了自己的工作室，展示并售卖自己的运动鞋花盆和其他植物作品。

The majority of Sugimot’s sneakers are Nikes, but he occasionally uses other brands as well. “Nike is the best, it’s enough to use only Nike.” He says the brand is supportive of his work and they even held an event together in Shanghai a couple years ago, which he was honored to participate in. Most of his customers are sneakerheads, but more recently, his work has been capturing the attention of people without a prior interest in sneakers or plants. 

For shoes, Sugimot works with a range of styles. One piece may feature earthy browns and dark, olive greens that blend seamlessly with plant and moss. But another can be the exact opposite, such as one with hologram panels contrasting sharply with the green adornments. But whichever he uses, the sneakers are always pristine and immaculately repaired.

大多数 Kosuke 二次创作的运动鞋都是耐克，“我超爱耐克的，对我来说，耐克球鞋无论从做工还是设计都是最好的，创作用耐克就够了，”他说。品牌方也很欣赏他的创作，几年前，耐克曾与他合作，在上海举办活动。他的大多数客户本身就是运动鞋发烧友，但最近，他的作品吸引了更多原本对球鞋或植物不太感兴趣的人。

他的作品风格多样。有的主打大地色调，以棕色和深橄榄绿，与植物和青苔无缝衔合；有的则以丰富的鞋面颜色，与绿色装饰相互映衬。但无论哪种风格，他都会对运动鞋进行完美修复，呈现其原貌。

Sugimot first cleans and fixes the sneakers he intends on using. Once it’s restored, he pastes particulate dry moss along specific parts of its exterior. In order to keep the moss from falling apart, he layers it on twice. The two-fold process is more about protection than decoration. Since the moss is dried, it doesn’t grow but can fade from strong ultraviolet rays if not cared for properly.

创作过程中，Kosuke 首先要对球鞋进行清洁和修复，然后沿着鞋面仔细粘贴青苔。为了防止掉落，他通常会叠两层青苔。所用的青苔都经过干燥处理，因此不必担心青苔的肆意蔓延；但如果维护不当，这些青苔装饰可能会在紫外线下褪色。在他看来，制作的过程中，维护的工作量要比装饰大的多。

For the potted plants that are added as the final touch, he prefers vine plants that are easily accessible, such as pachira, ficus microcarpa, and dracena plants. Sugimot believes that the mundanity of his plant choices makes them more accessible. Pivoting from the sense of rarity or exclusivity that’s a big part of sneaker culture, he wants his work to feel within reach of ordinary people. He wants it to be available for as many interested collectors as possible and to reach audiences from all walks of life.

对于在球鞋里栽种的植物，他偏爱生活中常见的藤蔓植物，例如发财树、细叶榕和龙血树。Kosuke 认为选择这些植物，更易于与大众产生共鸣。他希望一改运动鞋文化所追求的“物以稀为贵”的风气，让球鞋平易近人，这样会有越来越多的人想把它们带回家收藏起来，吸引更多来自各行各业的人。

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Website: www.shoetree.tokyo
Instagram: @shoetree_2016

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

网站: www.shoetree.tokyo
Instagram: @shoetree_2016

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Olivia Li

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