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Fishing for a Future 一切现状,是我们造成的

February 10, 2020 2020年2月10日
Sea Escape (2018) 231 x 365 cm / oil on canvas 《Sea Escape》(2018) 231 x 365 厘米 / 布面油画

Vibrant colors jostle for attention as overgrown weeds, plastic garbage, and fishermen vie for space in the hectic, discordant compositions of Ronson Culibrina. These oil paintings depict the Filipino artist‘s lakeside hometown, which has been heavily impacted by pollution and overuse.


在一片纷乱的色彩中,杂草丛生,垃圾遍地,渔民们与这片乱象竞相生存,种种不和谐构成了 Ronson Culibrina 的作品。这些油画描绘了他的家乡菲律宾,由于污染和过度开发,那里的风景正在消亡。

Mainland Quest (2018) 122 x 152 cm / oil on canvas 《Mainland Quest》(2018) 122 x 152 厘米 / 布面油画
Vain Aquatic Capital (2018) 122 x 152 cm / oil on canvas 《Vain Aquatic Capital》(2018) 122 x 152 厘米 / 布面油画

Culibrina grew up on an island in Laguna de Baý, a lake east of Metro Manila where a third of the megalopolis’ fish is sourced from. The town primarily earned its livelihood through fishing and trading, but over the years, industrial and agricultural runoff and plastic pollution have choked the waters. In addition, the onset of climate change has brought up droughts that have sped up the growth of algae bloom, which have made the water harmful for humans and animals.

In Culibrina’s paintings, dense clusters of water hyacinths are tangled with piles of bright plastics and fishing wire. Fisherfolks, children, and clean-up crews are shown amidst the colorful chaos. These scenes draw attention to real-life issues faced by his lakeside community and ask viewers to consider the consequences of inaction.


Ronson 在拉古纳德湾的一个岛上长大——作为马尼拉城三分之一的鱼类来源,这个岛镇一向以来主要通过捕鱼和贸易谋生。但随着时间的推移,工农业废水和塑料污染阻滞了这片水域。此外,全球气候变暖导致区域性缺水情况的出现,这也加速了有害海藻的繁衍。

在 Ronson 的画中,密集的水葫芦簇拥着成堆的塑料亮片和钓鱼线。纷乱的景象中,混杂着渔民、孩子和清洁工。这些画面引起了人们对社区现实问题的关注,并呼吁观者思虑不作为的后果。

Sa Palangnoy 1 (2019) 61 x 86 cm / oil on canvas 《Sa Palangnoy 1》(2019) 61 x 86 厘米 / 布面油画
Sa Palangnoy 2 (2019) 61 x 86 cm / oil on canvas 《Sa Palangnoy 2》(2019) 61 x 86 厘米 / 布面油画
Daungan (2019) 61 x 76 cm / oil on canvas 《Daungan》(2019) 61 x 76 厘米 / 布面油画
Sa Pritil (2019) 61 x 76 cm / oil on canvas 《Sa Pritil》(2019) 61 x 76 厘米 / 布面油画

The situation has become so bad that even boats have a hard time navigating through the polluted waters; fish have also become much more difficult to catch and raise. Many locals have left in search of a better life elsewhere, but not everyone is fortunate enough to do so.

In Culibrina’s recent exhibition, Maselang Bahaghari, he highlights the plight of those who are unable to leave by depicting fishing nets covering vast, negative spaces. “It’s an infinite texture, a device of entrapment, just like the current condition of the locals in our island, many are imprisoned and unable to move forward,” he says.


在这片水域,情况已糟糕到甚至船只都很难航行;而捕鱼业也更加难以捕捞和饲养鱼类。许多当地人已经离开,到别处寻找更好的生活,但不是每个人都足够幸运能这样做。

在 Ronson 近期的展览《Maselang Bahaghari》,他用了渔网填满了作品上通常会留白的空间,象征了那些无法离开当地的人们的困境。“这是一种可以无限延展的纹理,它是一种诱捕装置,就像我们岛上当地人的现状一样,许多人被禁锢于此,无法前进。”他说道。

Palaot 1 (2019) 61 x 76 cm / oil on canvas 《Palaot 1》(2019) 61 x 76 厘米 / 布面油画
Daungan 2 (2019) 61 x 76 cm / oil on canvas 《Daungan 2》(2019) 61 x 76 厘米 / 布面油画

The pandemonium of Culibrina’s work is symbolic in itself. “The composition is often a reflection and representation of the tension that has built up between the locals, immigrants, and nature,” he says, referring to climate migrants, which has become an increasingly common phenomenon in the Philippines due to an increase in storm activity. “It’s also a general interpretation of how all of us individuals struggle. Whether at work, as a family, or the environment we’re in.”


Ronson 作品中呈现的混乱本身就带着象征意义。“我的构图往往反映了当地人、移民和自然之间的紧张关系。”对此,他指的是日益普遍的环境移民问题。“无论在工作中,家庭中,还是我们所处的环境中,这种描绘也是对我们每个人如何挣扎的普遍性诠释。”

Salva Vida (2018) 231 x 365 cm / oil on canvas 《Salva Vida》(2018) 231 x 365 厘米 / 布面油画
Littoral Zone (2018) 152 x 152 cm / oil on canvas 《Littoral Zone》(2018) 152 x 152 厘米 / 布面油画
Sea of Change (2018) 152 x 152 cm / oil on canvas 《Sea of Change》(2018) 152 x 152 厘米 / 布面油画
Above Sea Level 2 (2018) 152 x 213 cm / oil on canvas 《Above Sea Level 2》(2018) 152 x 213 厘米 / 布面油画

While Culibrina’s art is based on local environmental issues, he hopes for his work to be viewable in a universal context: “We all have a responsibility to the planet we live in. My works are about the current state of our environment as a whole, not just my hometown.”


虽然 Ronson 的艺术是基于当地环境问题而创作的,但他希望他的作品能呈现更多的普世意义:“我们都对我们所居住的星球负有责任。我的作品是关于我们整个环境的现状,而不仅仅是我的家乡。”

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Website: www.ronsonculibrina.com
Instagram
: @ronsonculibrina

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan


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Website: www.ronsonculibrina.com
Instagram
: @ronsonculibrina

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
中译英: Chen Yuan

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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。

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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

 

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

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。”

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Website: www.jirat.jp
Instagram: @jamesjirat

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li


喜欢我们的故事?欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博微信

 

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


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

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Dead Nature “死去的自然”

January 29, 2020 2020年1月29日

A still life painting doesn’t have to be motionless. The oil paintings of Shannah Orencio are calm and meditative but there’s still a sense of movement in them. Boxes of dried flowers lie in piles, forming intricate patterns and a layered sense of depth. While the flowers are dead, their beauty and life are suspended in timelessness.


谁说静物画一定是静止沉闷的?Shannah Orencio 的油画作品平静而深沉,但仍有一种活力。成叠的干花、复杂的图案和富有层次的深度。花已然枯萎,可它们的美和生命悬于永恒。

These studies in decay—literally images of “dead nature,” as still lifes are known in many other languages—prompt people to question why they dispose of things so quickly. “I want to show that flowers can still be beautiful after they dry out. I don’t understand why people just throw them away,” says Orencio. Her paintings are also memorials to friends and loved ones. “Some of the flowers I paint are gifts from close friends, so I get to remember them while I’m painting. Some of the flowers also remind me of people I care about that passed away recently and are a tribute to them.”


这些对“衰败”主题的思考——它们是实实在在的“静物肖像”(直译为“死去的自然”),就像“静物”在许多其他语言中被熟知的那样——促使人们质疑为什么大家这么快就把它弃之不顾。“我想告诉大家,花干了之后依然可以是美丽的存在。我不明白为什么人们把它们扔掉。” Shannah 说。她的画也是对朋友和亲人的纪念。“我画的一些花是好朋友送的礼物,所以在画画的时候会想起那些朋友。有些花也让我想起了最近去世的我在乎的人,亦是对他们的致敬。”

As the daughter of the well-known painter Jim Orencio and goddaughter to Joven Cuanang, owner of the highly-respected Pinto Museum just outside Metro Manila, she’s art royalty. Her dad bought her lots of sketchbooks and crayons and pencils but never pushed her toward art. “He took me to exhibits and stuff when I was young, but he pretty much let me do my own thing,” she recalls.


她是著名画家 Jim Orencio 的女儿,也是大马尼拉城外备受尊敬的平托博物馆(Pinto Museum)主人 Joven Cuanang 的教女。她爸爸给她买了很多素描本、蜡笔和铅笔,但那从来没有引她走向艺术。“我小的时候,爸爸会带我去看展览什么的,但他几乎都让我做自己的事情。”她回忆说。

Despite that pedigree, Orencio wouldn’t take painting seriously until college, where she learned how to use oil paints in her second year. “I still remember that first time I put the brush to canvas, and the smell of the cheap linseed oil and turpentine.”

One year during holidays, she grabbed a spare canvas from her dad and decided to practice painting Filipiniana, a colonial-era style of art focused on portraits of Filipinas wearing traditional Filipiniana dresses. And although she only finished the face, her take on the traditional style impressed Cuanang. He asked her to finish it and bought it. “It was my second year in college, the first time I ever got paid for something,” she recalls. “It created a domino effect that got me into painting.” Other collectors saw her work hung in Cuanang’s home and commissioned more from her, so she started freelancing on the side while still in school.


尽管是艺术世家,但 Shannah 直到大学才开始认真学习绘画,在大学的第二年她学会了如何使用油画颜料。“我还记得我第一次把画笔放在画布上,还有廉价亚麻油和松节油的味道。”

有一年假期,她从父亲那里拿了一块备用的画布,决定练习“菲律宾人像画”,这是一种殖民时期的艺术风格,专注于当地人穿着传统菲律宾服装的肖像画。虽然她只做完了人脸的部分,但她独特的风格让 Joven Cuanang 深深折服,他让她继续画完全部,然后出资买下了它。“那是我大学的第二年,也是我第一次获得报酬。”她回忆道。“它创造了多米诺效应,让我开始画画。”其他收藏家看到她的作品挂在 Joven Cuanang 的家里之后,开始委托她做更多的作品,所以 Shannah 在上学的时候就开始兼职了。

Orencio has worked in a variety of art styles so far. She painted Filipinianas for a while, incorporating flowers and vintage-style backgrounds. But then her work moved into an unexpected direction: her canvases began to fill up with images of black-and-white garbage bags. These works were the culmination of her concern with today’s environmental issues, and her approach to composition and shapes during this time formed the groundwork for the floral art she creates now.


迄今为止,Shannah 已经尝试过多种艺术风格。她画了一段时间的“菲律宾人像画”,融合了鲜花和复古风格的背景。但后来她的作品进入了一个意想不到的方向:她的画布上开始堆满了黑白垃圾袋的图片。那些作品是她对当今环境问题关注的顶峰时期,在那段时间里,她对构图和形状的处理为她现在创造的花卉艺术奠定了基础。

Considering the constant evolution of Orencio’s visual vocabulary, the connection between her work isn’t often immediately obvious, but everything is linked. For example, the garbage bag and flower series are both focused on the study of decay and ask viewers to reevaluate their relationship with waste. In her art, it’s common for concepts from one series to flow into the next. “As I paint, I’m always thinking about what’s next,” she says. “I like my work to tell a story over time. But I’m not opposed to following inspiration where it takes me either.”


随着 Shannah 视觉表达层面的不断演变,其作品之间的联系也变得日渐疏离,但实际上一切都相互关联。例如,垃圾袋和花卉系列都专注于“腐烂”,并要求观众重新评估他们与废弃物的关系。在她的艺术中,系列之间转变的概念很常见。“当我画画的时候,我总是在思考接下来会发生什么,”她说。“我喜欢我的作品随着时间的推移讲述一个故事。但我也不反对让灵感自由发展。”

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Contributor: Mike Steyels
Photographer: Jilson Tiu

Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan 


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供稿人: Mike Steyels
摄影师: Jilson Tiu

中译英: Chen Yuan 

Street Tacos 法国人 塔可饼 中国字儿

January 21, 2020 2020年1月21日

Graffiti is still rare in China, and it’s even harder to find graffiti written in Chinese. Although graffiti culture went global decades ago, it’s still mainly written with the Latin alphabet, even in countries that use something entirely different. Tacos is working to change that by writing in Chinese characters. But this artist named after a Mexican food isn’t even Chinese, he’s French. So, to clarify, this is a French guy named after a Mexican food who writes in Chinese. (We’ll explain.)


现如今,文字涂鸦在中国依然很少见,你甚至很难在大街上看到汉字文本的涂鸦。尽管这种文化在几十年前就已普及到全球,在不同的国家也有不同的呈现,但涂鸦文化主要仍以拉丁字母为主。来自法国的 Tacos 正在努力通过用汉字书写来改变这样的局面,没错,他的名字取自墨西哥街头美食,在法国街头用汉字创作涂鸦。(详见下文。)

Tacos spent much of his childhood in China, living on the outskirts of Shanghai from 12 to 18, and those were the years when he learned to write graffiti. He went to a French school inside his father’s company compound. “One of my classmates was from Paris and already wrote graffiti, so he introduced me to it.” Together they hunted around the large complex, finding hidden factory walls to paint and experiment on. He picked the name Tacos, because he thought it was funny and it’s a condensed version of Tom Colussi, his real name.


Tacos 的大部分童年时光在中国度过,12 至 18 岁时,上海市郊生活的他开始接触并学习涂鸦。学生时代,Tacos 在父亲公司的大院里长大,“当时班上有一位来自巴黎的同学,那时候他已经开始涂鸦文字了,也是他带我上道的。”后来,他们经常在大型建筑和隐蔽的工厂墙壁附近摸索,寻找可以用来图画和实验的机会。而 Tacos 之所以选择以墨西哥美食为名,是因为他本人觉得很有意思,而且 Tacos 也可以被理解为他真实姓名 Tom Colussi 的简写。

At first, Tacos wanted to paint in Shanghai, but everyone warned him against it, saying there were too many cameras and that he’d get caught. Other than Moganshan Road, a small strip where graffiti is tolerated, there’s not much graffiti to speak of. Occasionally he’d find walls in the city to paint, using the numbers painted by hustlers advertising their plumbing or handyman services as a guide for what he could get away with. But for the most part, he stayed in his satellite suburb. “You have Shanghai, this huge city, with no graffiti at all. Then our small town that’s covered in it. It was pretty cool.” But he was still writing with the Latin alphabet back then.

At 18, Tacos moved back to France for college, where he studied typography. He had gotten bored with the old graffiti standards and was looking for something else. A new type of graffiti called anti-style that favored messier, intentionally ugly work was emerging at the time, but he couldn’t get on board with it. “I came from a period that focused on being clean and complicated,” he explains. “I couldn’t abandon can control.”

Instead, he turned to other types of new, digitally inspired graffiti, like calligraffiti and graffuturism, which happened to align with his typography studies. But he was still looking for a better way to stand out. And that’s when he decided to write in Chinese characters.


Tacos 最开始尝试涂鸦的时候,身边朋友都劝阻他不要这么做,因为到处都是监控,他很容易被抓。而在上海普陀区莫干山路的情况虽然不太一样,那条小路已经没有太多可以用来涂鸦的墙面。在城市中,能找到合适的墙面算万幸,好不容易找到一块儿地方,他们还需要伪装成管道维修或家政服务的街头广告人员,避免了一些不必要的麻烦。大部分时候,Tacos 住在市区周边,“上海这么大的城市,一个涂鸦也找不到。而我所居住的小镇到处都是涂鸦,那儿很酷。”那时候的他,还未使用汉字创作。

高中时期,18 岁的 Tacos 回到法国。在那里,他学习了字体设计,但逐渐对守旧的字体标准感到厌倦,想琢磨点新的名堂。当时有一种名为 Anti-Style 的涂鸦样式曾名声狼藉,但这种刻意的 “丑陋” 同样也不是 Tacos 想要的。他说:“我来自一个粗中带细的涂鸦时代,我不能摒弃自己的初衷。”

取而代之的是,Tacos 的步伐朝着 “书法涂鸦”(Calligraffiti)和 “未来涂鸦”(Graffuturism)等一系列受电子技术影响的样式迈进,和他所学的字体设计很好地融合在一起。但当时的他仍在寻找脱颖而出的方式,也是在那个时候,他拿起画笔写起了中国字。

Tacos had seen other writers start adding Chinese signatures to their burners, and he took the next step. About two years ago he started writing almost exclusively in Chinese. “At first I just started writing my name in characters, but there isn’t an exact translation. So I went to Mexican restaurants in Shanghai and looked at their menus,” he says. But soon he wanted to begin writing other words and messages, like Alcohol Is The Devil, Graffiti Monster, and Guacamole. “Chinese and Japanese people here in France seem to like it, but they’re always confused to see me painting it because I’m a white guy. They usually assume I don’t know what I’m writing. Sometimes they stop and read it and smile, because it says something like ‘burrito.’”


Tacos 看到越来越多的涂鸦艺术家开始在作品上签中文名,而他则以更意想不到的方式来做。大约在两年前 Tacos 才开始专门用汉字创作,“最开始用英文 ‘Tacos’ 写我的名字,发现特别确切的中文翻译。于是我来到上海一家墨西哥餐厅,专门看他们的菜单寻找对应的汉字。不久之后,我开始尝试更多汉字,比如 ‘酒精’、‘魔鬼’、‘涂鸦怪兽’、‘鳄梨’ 等等字样。法国的中国和日本人都很喜欢这样的涂鸦,但是当他们看到一个白种人能做出这样的作品,会觉得有些诧异。他们会以为我不知道在写什么,有时候会停下脚步笑着读出墙上的字,因为上面写着 ‘墨西哥卷饼’ 的字样。”

Tacos isn’t the only graffiti artist writing in Chinese. In fact, he says he’s seeing more of it recently, pointing to Chen Shisan as a prime example.  But rather than turning to other artists for inspiration, he mostly looks to local handymen who paint advertisements for their services. “They were basically catching tags, plastering their names everywhere,” he says. “A lot of it was even done with spray paint, and they had lots of can control techniques. They had a lot in common with graffiti and didn’t even realize it.” He’s not the only one to appreciate their work, and HKWalls even invited “The Plumber King” to be a part of their street art festival earlier this year.


Tacos 并不是唯一一位用汉字涂鸦的艺术家。事实上,Tacos 说近来有越来越多的艺术家愿意做这样的尝试,陳拾叁的作品就很有代表性。不过,Tacos 并不喜欢从其他艺术家身上汲取灵感,他最常看的是当地一些家政和维修小广告上的字体,“大街上到处都有他们的标签。那些人有自己的一套,他们甚至会用喷漆制作广告。这和涂鸦有说不清道不明的共通之处。”除了他,还有更多人对街道里的小广告情有独钟,一年一度的街头艺术节 HKWalls 甚至在今年早些时候邀请了渠王(The Plumber King)参加。

Writing in Chinese is a very different experience. Tacos explains that you can’t do wildstyle, because simply adding a dot or one line can change the meaning of some characters entirely. “Some of the characters are already so complex anyway that you don’t need to add anything.” 

Tacos’ work is also a way for him to explore the culture he was raised around and show love to his roots. “I feel like my graffiti is more Chinese than French. We used local paints, dealt with the local circumstances, and didn’t follow the French movements. It’s definitely a shout out to Shanghai.”


用汉字进行涂鸦创作是一种与众不同的体验,Tacos 认为狂野派并不适用于这样的涂鸦方式,哪怕多一个逗号或线条都会改变文字本身的意思。“有些汉字本身已经非常复杂了,再加内容只会多此一举。”

对 Tacos 来说,他的作品探索了成长的经历、文化,追溯着他的根源。“相比于法国,我觉得我的涂鸦更具中国特色。我们因地制宜,而不是照猫画虎。这些作品形式绝对是对上海这座城市的一种呼应。”

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Instagram: @tacosone

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Pete Zhang


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供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Pete Zhang

The Doktor Is In 在墙上开一个血色的玩笑

January 17, 2020 2020年1月17日

It’s no coincidence that the work of Doktor Karayom, the alias of multimedia artist Rasel Trinidad, is all done in blood red. As a fan of horror and gore, his crimson-tinged paintings and sculptures are rife with monsters and amputated body parts. But it’s never meant to shock or disgust—everything is all in good fun and done with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness.


多媒体艺术家 Doktor Karayom(别名 Rasel Trinidad)的作品都是血红色的。而这并非巧合。作为恐怖血腥的爱好者,他笔下赤调的绘画和雕塑充斥着怪物和被截肢的器官。但这绝不是为了使人惊吓或恶心—— Doktor Karayom 的作品充满趣味,而且是以嘲讽的方式呈现出来。

His recent multi-room mural, Hindi Totoo, which in Tagalog means “not real,” is like a comic artist’s fever dream. Creatures and victims writhe in pleasure and agony across every surface possible. The walls, ceiling, and stairs are covered with screaming faces and flames stretch across the ceiling. With each new floor and corner, the mural evolves and transforms.


他最近的多室墙绘《Hindi Totoo》,在“他加禄语”中的意思是“不真实的”,就像一个漫画艺术家的狂热梦想。画里的生物和被迫害的人在每个层面上都极尽痛苦地扭动着。被尖叫的脸庞覆盖着整个地面和楼梯,火焰在天花板上蔓延……每一层新地板和新角落,墙上的画面都在不断演变。

Many of the characters that appear in the piece are taken from Filipino folklore. You can find the tikbalang, which has the head of a horse with a human body, and aswangs, a term for various shape-shifting beings of legend. Inspiration also came from “Magandang Gabi Bayan,” a news segment he watched as a kid in the 90s. “They had Halloween specials where they told scary stories,” says Karayom. “These stories helped my imagination run free.”


许多出现在 Doktor Karayom 作品中的人物形象,都是从菲律宾民间传说中选出来的。你可以找到马头人身的提巴郎(tikbalang)和变形怪阿斯旺斯(aswangs)。一部分的灵感也来自于“马格丹加比巴扬”(Magandang Gabi Bayan),这是在上世纪 90 年代一个新闻节目里会定期播放的特殊栏目。“他们万圣节会讲恐怖故事,这些故事让我的想象力自由驰骋。”

Hindi Totoo was done at Manila’s De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, a school where many of the country’s creatives gravitate—if they can afford it. Karayom certainly couldn’t. “When I was a little kid I drew anything I saw, but I never thought I’d be an artist,” he recalls. “I wasn’t sure if I’d go to college, because we couldn’t afford tuition.” In any case, art hardly seemed worth studying to his family. “Since this is a third-world country, they wanted me to become a lawyer or doctor. But I asked them to trust me, because this is what I wanted. And my parents supported me.”

He attended the Technological University of the Philippines where he studied fine arts, but it was his experimentations with street art that helped him find his voice as an artist. “Once I started painting strictly with red, I think that’s when people started to notice me,” he recalls.


《Hindi Totoo》这系列是在马尼拉圣贝尼尔德的德拉萨学院创作的,那里是菲律宾许多创意家所吸引的学校(只要他们负担得起学费的话)。但显而易见的是,Doktor Karayom 并不能。他回忆说:“当我还是个小孩的时候,我会画画任何东西,但我从没想过会当艺术家。我不确定我是否会上大学,因为我们负担不起学费。”对他的家人来说艺术似乎都不值得研究。“这还是第三世界国家,他们希望我成为一名律师或医生。但是我要求他们信任我,因为这(艺术)就是我想要的。我的父母最后也很支持我。”

Doktor Karayom 进入了菲律宾科技大学就读美术。在那里,他学习了不同的艺术技巧和风格,但是他对街头艺术的尝试才让他找到了使命所在。“始终用红色绘画,我认为那是人们开始注意到我的时候。”他回忆道。

After graduation, Karayom worked an office job doing graphic design for a few years. While there, he often stole supplies and secretly worked on his own art on the clock. “I was working in the office still, splitting my corporate and artistic mind. So I let myself go and just did what I wanted,” he laughs. “At work I was creating small sculptures under the table, hiding my paints and clay in the desk drawer.”

This insistence on pursuing his own art paid off, and now Karayom is a full-time artist with a number of national awards under his belt. In 2018, he was a recipient of a CCP 13 Artist Award (alongside Archie Oclos, who we covered earlier last year). His stairwell mural at La Salle was part of the exhibit that came along with the award. It took him two weeks to finish, painting twelve hours a day, every day. He was also a part of a group show at the renowned Parisian gallery Palais de Tokyo this year, where he painted as many surfaces as they allowed.


毕业后,Doktor Karayom 有几年坐班工作,从事平面设计。在那里,他经常在上班时间用公司设备和材料偷偷地进行自己的艺术创作。“我仍然在办公室工作,工作和艺术分部进行。所以后来我就放任自己去做我想做的事了。”他大笑道,“工作时,我在桌子下面创作小雕塑,把我的颜料和粘土都藏在抽屉里。”

这种坚持最终得到了回报。现在的 Doktor Karayom 已是一名全职艺术家,拥有多项国家奖项。2018 年,他获得了 CCP 13 艺术家奖 (与我们在去年早些时候报道的 Archie Oclos 一并获奖)。他在德拉萨学院的墙绘是与该奖项同期展览的一部分。他花了两个星期的时间才画完,每天 12 个小时。他也是今年在著名的巴黎画廊东京宫举办的群展的一部分。

Image Courtesy of Doktor Karayom图片由 Doktor Karayom 提供
Image Courtesy of Doktor Karayom图片由 Doktor Karayom 提供

For both shows, one of the most striking works was a life-sized sculpture of José Rizal, a Filipino nationalist who helped inspire a rebellion against Spanish colonists in the late 19th century. Rizal’s story didn’t end on a happy note—he was executed by the Spanish—but his role in helping the country gain its independence has nevertheless made him a beloved national hero.

Karayom’s depiction of Rizal doesn’t quite paint him in a heroic light, however. As in his other macabre works, he opts to show Rizal as a corpse in partial decay, with miniature figures devouring him. He’s not keen on revealing what he thinks it means: he enjoys leaving everything open for interpretation, believing that it’s important for the audience to discover their own meaning in art. “What you see is up to you,” he says with a mischievous grin.


在这两场展览中,最引人注目的作品之一是一个真人大小的 José Rizal 的雕塑,这是位菲律宾民族主义者,在 19 世纪末倡导人们反抗西班牙殖民。José Rizal 的故事并没有愉快的结局,但他在帮助国家获得独立方面所发挥的作用,却使他成为深受爱戴的民族英雄。

可 Doktor Karayom 对 José Rizal 却并没有把他以很光荣的形式呈现。和 Doktor Karayom 的其他作品一样恐怖,他选择将 José Rizal 展示为一具半腐朽的卧尸,微型的小人啃啮着他。Doktor Karayom 并不热衷于揭示其背后的含义,他喜欢让观众自行理解,观众发现自己的艺术意义很重要。“你所看到的取决于你。”他带着狡黠的笑容说。

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Instagram: @doktorkarayom

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Photographer: Jilson Tiu
Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan


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Instagram: @doktorkarayom

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
摄影师: Jilson Tiu
英译中: Chen Yuan

Being Chitrakar 心到自然成

January 15, 2020 2020年1月15日
Kichaa Man Chitrakar working on a new paubha 正在创作的 Kichaa Man Chitrakar

A name can be a potent thing. It can link you to your ancestors and might even shape your future. In Nepal, the surname Chitrakar is laden with significance, for it marks its bearer as a creator of sacred art.

Derived from Sanskrit, the name means “image maker” and designated a caste in Nepal’s Newar community that customarily worked as painters, sculptors, and general artisans, creating religious works in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. They say an icon only comes to life after once a Chitrakar paints its eyes.

Kichaa Man Chitrakar is one of many Chitrakars in the country, and he and his family live up to the name’s legacy. His home studio is in Kathmandu’s Nagarjun Municipality, overlooking dusty vistas of candy-colored houses. The staircases and walls of the family home are lined with paubhas, religious paintings similar to Tibetan thangkas, painted by the Chitrakar family.


有时候,姓名可以是一种非常有力的象征。它能追溯古往、陶造今来。在尼泊尔,姓氏 Chitrakar 具有庄重且深远的意义,它象征着宗教艺术的缔造者(来源于梵文,意为造图人),也是当地古老的纽瓦(Newer)社区里一个特定的社会阶层。使用这种姓氏的人通常是创造传统印度教和佛教的画家、雕刻家以及手艺人。当地曾有人说,一幅作品只有在 Chitrakar 雕磨过后,才方能惟妙。

Kichaa Man Chitrakar 是这片土壤上的 Chitrakars 之一,他与家人共同用血脉续写着这个名字的传奇。家庭的工作室位于尼泊尔首都加德满都市纳伽自治区,在那里可以俯瞰到尘雾飞扬的糖果色房子远景。家中旋转式楼梯的墙壁上排列着许多帕巴画(Paubha,尼泊尔纽瓦人的传统宗教绘画,与西藏的唐卡画类似),这些都是来自  Chitrakar 家族的手笔。

Kichaa Man Chitrakar 家中的帕巴画
Kichaa Man Chitrakar 家中的帕巴画

Traditionally Nepal has only a handful of ‘master artists’ dedicated to paubha painting at any one time, and Kichaa’s family includes two: his great uncle, Manik Man Chitrakar, and his father, Prem Man Chitrakar. Manik Man is known as one who helped shape the modern Newar art renaissance. Prem Man in particular is credited with making Newari art available beyond his family and his caste. “Master artists traditionally taught only within their family and caste. While tradition and upholding the Chitrakar legacy was important to Prem Man, his big heart and desire to share knowledge saw him take him many students outside of his family. This makes him one of Nepal’s most important teachers,” says Rajan Sakya, founder of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MONA).


传统上来讲,尼泊尔历史中可以称得上大师级的帕巴画艺术家为数不多,而 Kichaa 的家族里就占了两位:分别是他的舅舅 Manik Man Chitrakar 和他的父亲 Prem Man Chitrakar。其中,Manik Man 被认为是当代纽瓦艺术复兴的塑造者;父亲 Prem Man 的技艺在整个家族中尤为突出,因而也备受赞誉。尼泊尔艺术博物馆(Museum of Nepali Arts)创建人 Rajan Sakya 说道:传统意义上讲,大师级的艺术家只会在家族和种姓范围内授课。传承,对于 Chitrakar 家族来说尤为重要,而出于宽广的胸襟与对分享知识的热情,让 Prem Man 也曾教授过许多家族以外的学生。这些经历让他成为尼泊尔最德高望重的老师之一。

An old paubha by Manik Man Chitrakar Manik Man Chitrakar 的旧作
A frame from Manik Man Chitrakar's A Buddhist Story 来自 Manik Man Chitrakar 的作品《佛教徒的故事》
A frame from Manik Man Chitrakar's A Buddhist Story 来自 Manik Man Chitrakar 的作品《佛教徒的故事》

Paubha paintings date back to the 11th century, and the first recorded paubha by a Chitrakar is from 1409 by Kesa Raja Chitrakar. More than works of art or historical relics, paubhas are objects of religious devotion believed to be messages from the gods. Their sacred nature means they must follow certain rules, with deities depicted in proper ratios and dimensions; and in their color, hand gestures, and facial attributes. What made Prem Man revolutionary was his fusion of divine tradition with new techniques. “He freed Nepali artists to infuse life into tradition, by using realistic expressions and landscapes in his work. All established paubha artists in Nepal, including former students Samundra Man Singh Shrestha and Raj Prakash Tuladhar, have been influenced by his style,” Sakya explains.


帕巴画的形式最早可以追溯到遥远的十一世纪,史册中记载,第一幅由 Chitrakar 绘制的帕巴画来自 1409  Kesa Raja Chitrakar 完成的作品。帕巴画不仅是艺术和历史遗迹,它更是虔诚的象征,被认为是神灵下传的讯息。其神圣的本质也意味着必须遵循规矩和传统来进行创作,描绘神灵时要在一定的比例和尺寸下完成;甚至颜色、手势以及面部特征都需要仔细地琢磨。Prem Man 将传统的画法与新技术相结合,独具开创性意义。他能将写实绘画融入在创作中,让画中的场景和现实生活联系紧密。这种传统与现代相结合的创作方式,在一众尼泊尔帕巴画艺术家们中开创了先例。那些饶有建树的当地艺术家,包括他的前任徒弟 Samundra Man Singh ShresthaRaj Prakash Tuladhar 等人,都曾受过他很大的影响,” Sakya 说道。

A close-up view of Kesa Raja Chitrakar's paubha from 1409 Kesa Raja Chitrakar 在 1409 年创作的帕巴画(细节图)

Growing up, Kichaa watched his father work almost every day. “Time passed watching my father paint. I learned everything I know from him,” he recalls. His technique is similar to his father’s, with detailed and lifelike deities and an asymmetric yet balanced composition. Creating a paubha is an exacting process that requires attention to the tiniest detail. To look closely at one of these paintings is to see a world of meaning in every brushstroke.


多年以来,父亲没日没夜的创作过程,在 Kichaa 脑海中历历在目。他回忆道:父亲的画作陪伴着我的成长,让我从他身上学会了很多。因此,你会发现 Kichaa 的绘画手法与父亲极为相似,细腻与生动并重,看似不对称的构图方式又在某些方面达到平衡。创作帕巴画的过程是十足的功夫活,你必须全神贯注到最小的细节才行。如果近距离观看帕巴画,你会看到精雕细琢的微型世界。

A collaborative painting by Prem Man Chitrakar and Kichaa Man Chitrakar Prem Man Chitrakar 和 Kichaa Man Chitrakar 合作帕巴画
Bajra Devi by Kichaa Man Chitrakar 《Bajra Devi》,由 Kichaa Man Chitrakar 创作

When Kichaa speaks, he chooses every word deliberately, just as meticulous as each stroke of his brush.“My name means ‘shadow’ and was given to me by my father. He wished for me to live up to the expectations attached to the family tradition,” says Kichaa. A dream of studying animation abroad was thwarted when his father took him to Lumbini, a sacred pilgrimage site said to be Buddha’s birthplace, to work with him in a monastery. “He promised me a good amount of money, which he never entirely paid,” laughs Kichaa. But living and working with senior artists, he developed his own technique.


 Kichaa 讲话时,他的一字一句也变得小心翼翼,就像缜密的笔画一样。Kichaa 在梵语中意思是影子,是多年前父亲帮他取的名字,希望他能继承传统,与父辈们如影随形。一次被父亲带往蓝毗尼修僧的经历(Lumbini,印度边境的佛教发源地与朝圣之地),让 Kichaa 出国学习动画的念头被彻底击碎。当时他承诺付给我一大笔钱,但从未兑现,”Kichaa 笑着说道。之后的许多年里,他与年长的艺术家们一起共事,渐渐地打磨出属于自己的技艺。

A close-up view of Mahakala 《大黑天》细节图

Kichaa is currently finishing up a painting titled Mahakala, which depicts the energy of the male deity Heruka. Heruka’s multiple hands signify power, while his tantric entanglement with the female god Sambhara indicates a harvesting of energy. The union of the two gives rise to Mahakala, a ferocious deity. The gods and goddesses wear garlands of severed heads—often misunderstood as sinners’ heads, notes Kichaa—that signify fearlessness in fighting against the ego and fear of death to attain the soul’s liberation. In reality, he says, one has to achieve enlightenment and live a moral life in one’s own way.


Kichaa 最近正在完成一幅名为《Mahākāla》(大黑天)的作品,描绘着男佛陀赫鲁嘎(Heruka)的磅礴之气。赫鲁嘎的多幅手臂象征力量,身上的女神 Sambhara 以宗密的方式缠绕,隐喻能量正在不断积蓄。两者的结合,更赋予画面的汹汹气势。他们脖子上悬挂一圈人头,以示面对自我与死亡的无所畏惧、以及出世和超脱灵魂的理想,经常会被人误认为是有罪之人的头颅,”Kichaa 补充道,现实中,一个人需要获得般若与领悟,故能以自己的方式过上理性的生活。

A paubha of White Tara, the Mother of all Buddhas, by Prem Man Chitrakar 由 Prem Man Chitrakar 绘画的佛母
A paubha of White Tara, the "Mother of all Buddhas," by Kichaa Man Chitrakar 由 Kichaa Man Chitrakar 绘画的佛母

In confluence with Kichaa’s artistic journey was a personal reckoning that brought him closer to art. In Nepali society which is bound by close social bonds, Kichaa underwent a time of unwanted media attention, leading to the breakdown of personal relationships at a time when Prem Man’s health also started deteriorating. Reconciling this emotional and social turmoil led to healing, which was a “necessary process to get back to art. The greatest obstacle to creation is one’s own state of mind,” says Kichaa.


Kichaa 塑造技艺的过程,像是一场对心内的追问,让他更接近于艺术本身。但在尼泊尔,人们通常被紧密的社会纽带所约束。随着父亲 Prem Man 健康状况的不断走低,Kichaa 正在经历一场不必要的媒体热议,宗族的联系似乎正在被舆论瓦解。面对这样的社会压力,唯一的解决方式就是把所以心思回归在艺术上面,Kichaa 说:创作的最大障碍无外乎一个人的心境。

A close-up of an unfinished paubha by Kichaa Man Chitrakar Kichaa Man Chitrakar 未完成作品

Paubhas teach philosophy through art, and their method is a form of meditation. This type of devotion has assisted Kichaa on his journey as a person and artist. As he’s made peace with the past, he hopes to dedicate his life to creating and conserving Chitrakar art for future generations. His next project is producing a documentary series exploring the origins and history of Chitrakar and paubha art. The first stop will be the ruins of Nalanda, an Indian monastery founded in the fifth century, where many Buddhist scholars who later settled in Kathmandu are believed to have studied. 

Kichaa reflects: “These life lessons have been a harsh learning process but made me more patient and forgiving. Those [traits] are some of the most important virtues of being a paubha artist. When you break into many pieces, you are given the chance to reshape yourself—now, the creation and preservation of art is how I can touch lives in a positive manner. I like that.”


帕巴画通过艺术的形式承载宗教学问,艺术家们也往往通过对宗教内涵的冥想来进行创作。这样的方式,帮助 Kichaa 在创作道路上成就了艺术家身份。在与过去和平相处的同时,他希望倾尽一生来继承 Chitrakar 艺术。他的下一个项目是关于 Chitrakar 历史及根源的系列纪录片。拍摄的第一站将定于那烂陀寺废墟(Nalanda,一栋始建于五世纪的印度修道院),据信许多后来定居在加德满都的佛教学者都曾在此学习。

Kichaa 说道:生活中的学习是一个严苛的过程,但能让人变得具有耐心、懂得宽容。而这也是成为一名帕巴画艺术家最重要的美德。当心境变得支离破碎,你也同时获得了重塑自己的机会。现在,艺术的创造与传承是我触及美好生活的方式。以一种正面的方式来打动他人,就是我喜欢做的事。

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Contributor: Yvonne Lau
Chinese Translation: Pete Zhang
Images Courtesy of Kichaa Man Chitrakar, Prem Man Chitrakar, and Rajan Sakya


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供稿人与摄影师: Yvonne Lau
英译中: Pete Zhang 
图片有 Kichaa Man Chitrakar、Prem Man Chitrakar 与 Rajan Sakya提供

Unconventional Beauty 美就是把______的东西撕开

January 13, 2020 2020年1月13日
Window Shopping (2018) 200 x 240 cm / oil on canvas 《橱窗购物》(2018) 200 x 240 厘米 / 布面油画

It’s hard to describe Zhang Zipiao’s art as beautiful, at least in the conventional sense. There’s an anatomical precision to the way her subjects are often sliced and examined against backdrops of unexpected colors. With close scrutiny, her purple bananas begin to resemble fingers, and pumpkin seeds seem to turn into blood vessels floating in a pool of crimson. The paintings mesmerize and challenge the viewer: “What is beauty?” the artist asks. “Does it always have to be so clean and perfect?”


张子飘的艺术很难被称为“美”,至少在传统意义上如是。她的创作对象通常会被切成片,且在意想不到的颜色背景下进行精确“解剖”。细细端详,画里的紫色香蕉慢慢变成了手指,而南瓜籽似乎变成了血管,漂浮在深红色的一汪水潭里。这些画作令观者着迷,并向他们发出视觉上的挑战:“什么是美?”艺术家问道,“难道它必须得一直那么干净和完美吗?”

Banana (2019) 175 x 140 cm / oil on canvas 《香蕉》(2019) 175 x 140 厘米 / 布面油画
Torso 01 (2019) 175 x 140 cm / oil on canvas 《躯干 01》(2019) 175 x 140 厘米 / 布面油画

Zhang is among four Chinese artists recognized by 2019’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia. Like many of her millennial peers, she expresses an individualism born out of a booming economy at home and a global perspective gained from studying abroad. Artists of her generation are at the forefront of China’s flourishing art scene, and a newfound freedom has enabled them to pursue topics of personal fascination. For Zhang, these have been beauty in the social media age and, more recently, power dynamics in relationships.


在 2019 年福布斯榜上 30 位亚洲 30 岁以下艺术家中,张子飘是其中之一。像许多千禧一代的同龄人一样,她的作品表达了一种个人主义,这种个人主义得益于从国内经济的蓬勃发展和海外留学的经历中获得的全球视野。她这一代的艺术家站在中国崛起的艺术舞台的最前沿,一种新的自由使他们能够追求自己感兴趣的话题。而对于张子飘来说,她想探索的就是“美”如何在社交媒体时代定义与人际关系间的权力动态。

A natural instinct for colors and composition led Zhang to challenge notions of conventional beauty at a young age. Her classmates and teachers used to mock her paintings because students were expected to conform to a realistic style in order to be accepted into Chinese art colleges. Though Zhang’s free-spiritedness played a role in pushing against these standards, she also credits her father, who taught animation at Tsinghua University, as a key figure in her artistic growth. “He told me to ignore them and paint whatever I wanted, and this encouraged me a lot to paint freely and not be framed by the rigid system,” she recalls. Zhang eventually left the system altogether to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.


对色彩和构图的自然本能,使张子飘在年轻时就开始挑战传统美的观念。因为通常想要被中国艺术学院录取的学生都是创作现实风格的作品,张子飘的同学和老师过去常常嘲笑她的画。但张子飘随心所欲的性格,却让她抛开这些过时的理念。而在清华大学教动画的父亲,也是她艺术成长的关键人物,“他告诉我要无视那些说法,想画什么就画什么。这鼓励了我自由绘画,而不是被僵化的体系所束缚。”她回忆道。最终,张子飘离开了国内的艺术体系,到芝加哥艺术学院学习。

Mothers (2017) 130 x 145 cm / oil on canvas 《日历》(2017) 130 x 145 厘米 / 布面油画
Passion Fruit (2018) 175 x 140 cm / oil on canvas 《百香果》(2018) 175 x 140 厘米 / 布面油画
Bathing Woman (2019) 172 x 140 cm / oil on canvas 《Bathing Woman》(2019) 172 x 140 厘米 / 布面油画

In Chicago, social media was becoming a ubiquitous part of everyday life. Zhang was intrigued by the way people and objects were presented on these platforms, in a manner that she believed was too simple. “The beauty most people think about can be too one-sided,” she says. “The fruits I paint are often cut; this conveys a sense of revealing the truth underneath whatever the skin is—whether it be of a human or something else.” Her painting process is one of discovery; she continuously shapes her pieces in search of a form that surprises or satisfies her.

Zhang’s fascination with objects can be traced back to her upbringing. “Your childhood can have a lifetime of an impact,” she says. She explains that her fixation on material objects is rooted in a “lack of belonging” she experienced as a child, when she lived apart from her father and moved from rental to rental with her mother. Throughout this instability, she found solace in familiar objects. “I liked anything that had my mom’s smell first, like her clothes or her side of the bed,” she says. “I liked to linger in the smell and chew on it, sleep with it, or hold it—every method you could imagine.”


在芝加哥,社交媒体正成为日常生活中无处不在的一部分。张子飘对人们和物品在这些平台上被展示的方式很感兴趣,她认为这种方式太过简单。“大多数人认为美过于片面。”她说,“我画的水果经常是被切割的,这传达了一种在肌理之下揭示真相的感觉——不管它是人类还是其他什么东西。”她的绘画过程是一个发现的过程,张子飘不断地塑造她的作品,以寻找一种惊喜或满足她的形式。

张子飘对物品的迷恋可以追溯到她的成经历。“你的童年可以影响一生。”她说,她对物质物品的执着根植于她小时候经历的一种“缺乏归属感”,当时她与父亲分居,跟着母亲四处搬家。在这种不稳定的情况下,她从那些熟悉的物品中找到了慰借。“我喜欢任何先闻到我妈味道的东西,比如她的衣服或者床的一侧。我喜欢流连和沉浸在气味中,和它一起睡觉,或者拥抱它。”张子飘补充道,“极尽一切你能想到的方法。”

Cry Me A River (2018) 120 x 190 cm / oil on canvas 《Cry Me A River》(2018) 120 x 190 厘米 / 布面油画
Chocolate (2018) 145 x 175 cm / oil on canvas 《巧克力》(2018) 145 x 175 厘米 / 布面油画
Meat Mate (2018) 139.5 x 175.5 cm / oil on canvas 《鲜肉伙伴》(2018) 139.5 x 175.5 厘米 / 布面油画
Netflix and Chill? (2017) 120 x 172 cm / oil on canvas 《Netflix and Chill?》(2017) 120 x 172 厘米 / 布面油画

Zhang’s recent work on relationships builds off of her previous exploration of beauty and the connections we can have with objects. Just as she sees beauty as encompassing more than our conventional ideas, she hopes to challenge our understanding of relationships. “There is no absolute equality in any relationship,” she says. She sees relationships as constantly evolving balances of power, and sex as one form of expressing this dynamic. “Sex is never just about sex itself,” she says. Just as beauty can be found in imperfections and underlying meanings, the subtle expressions of power and vulnerability in sex are rife for examining what a harmonious relationship can or should look like.


张子飘最近的作品,是建立在她之前对美的探索和我们与物品之间的联系上,对人际关系方面的研究。正如她认为美不仅仅是传统观念,她也希望挑战我们对人际关系的理解。“在任何关系中都不存在绝对的平等,”她说。她认为这是不断演变的力量平衡,性爱是表达这种动态的一种形式。“性爱从来不只是性爱本身。”正如美丽可以在不完美和潜在的意义中找到新的定义一样,一段和谐的情感关系,也可以透过性爱中的力量和脆弱的微妙感来得以了解。

Pomegranate 02 (2018) 145 x 130 cm / oil on canvas 《石榴 02》(2018) 145 x 130 厘米 / 布面油画
Surfing Man (2019) 145 x 130 cm / oil on canvas 《冲浪者》(2019) 145 x 130 厘米 / 布面油画

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Contributor: Eugene Lee
Images Courtesy of White Space Beijing
Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan


喜欢我们的故事?欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博微信

 

供稿人: Eugene Lee
图片由 White Space Beijing 提供
英译中: Chen Yuan

 

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Evening Sitdown Vision RUBUR:无眠的梦里,你出没

January 8, 2020 2020年1月8日

The musical genre called ‘shoegaze’, which emerged in the UK and Ireland during the late 1980s, has enjoyed something of a second wind lately, at times in the unlikeliest of places. In the Chinese-speaking world, where it is known as zi shang (or “self-appreciation”), the form has inflected the musical landscapes of cities as diverse as Taipei, Beijing, Xi’an, Hong Kong, and Shaoxing with the genre’s hallmark mix of indistinct vocals, ethereal guitar distortion, noisy dissonance, and effervescent melodies.

For Shanghai-based band RUBUR—now two albums deep with a third on the way—the genre continues to offer a creative outlet for exploring a range of cultural influences and big ideas. Their self-released first album, True Bypass, garnered praise from fans and critics alike as well as added a certain layer of art school aesthetic to the Shanghai shoegaze scene. The video for the song “Every Me,” for example, is a trippy slow burn replete with sumptuous sonic textures, gossamer-like vocals, and copious amounts of gold glitter.


20 世纪 80 年代末,在英国和爱尔兰出现的一种名为盯鞋的音乐流派,最近又掀起了一股新风——且在最不可能出现的地方。在以自赏着称的华语世界里,这种形式把台北、北京、西安、香港和绍兴等城市的音乐景观,混合了模糊的人声、空灵的吉他、嘈杂的不和谐音和欢快明亮的旋律。

来自上海的乐队 RUBUR——目前发行了两张专辑,第三张即将面世——盯鞋提供了创造性的见解,以继续探索一系列文化影响和思想。RUBUR 自主发行的第一张专辑《True Bypass》(中译《平行直通》)获得了粉丝和评论家的一致好评,也为上海的盯鞋迷增添了一定的艺术审美层次。例如,歌曲《Every Me》的视频呈现了缓慢燃烧的华丽声纹,薄如蝉翼,又金光闪闪。

Their latest offering, 2019’s Evening Sitdown Vision (the title comes from a line in Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Sunflower Sutra”), sees the band confidently navigating their first full-length album, with brooding reverb and searching lyrics rubbing shoulders with sun-soaked guitars and pop melodies over the course of ten tracks. From stratospheric heights to subterranean depths, it is a harrowing journey of Jekyll-and-Hyde proportions that leaves listeners reborn to the thrilling pleasures of “sinogaze.”


2019 年,他们的最新作名为《Evening Sitdown Vision》(中译《日落景象》,专辑名来自艾伦·金斯堡的诗作《向日葵箴言》中的一句诗),在这首张长专辑中,RUBUR 游刃有余地进行十首歌曲的创作,让带着沉思的混响、犀利的歌词,与明朗的吉他声和朗朗上口的旋律相互融合。宛如从平流层的高度到地下深处,这是一个可怕的“变身之旅”,让听众在惊心动魄的国产盯鞋(即“sinogaze”)中获得重生。

“Betenden Hande,” the album’s propulsive opener, is a kaleidoscope of moods and textures, alternating between shimmering chords, a swirling baseline, and an almost preternatural belief in music’s power to resurrect the past. Its title also alludes to sixteenth-century German artist Albrecht Dürer’s famous drawing “Betende Hände” (or “Praying Hands”).

“The song tells a different story from the original artwork,” says bassist Guagua. “The drawing relates to Dürer’s brother, who couldn’t pursue the same artistic path, but the song is more about a kind of metaphysical longing and a delayed response that might never come.”


这张专辑的开篇第一曲《Betenden Hande》像是一个情绪和质感的万花筒,在闪烁的和弦之间交替着,一个旋转的基线,以及对音乐复兴之力的、近乎不可思议的信仰。曲名还暗指 16 世纪德国艺术家丢勒(Albrecht Dürer)的名画《祈祷之手》。

贝斯手挂挂说:这首歌讲述了与原作不同的故事。这幅画与丢勒的哥哥有关,丢勒不可能追求同样的艺术道路,但这首歌更多的是关于一种抽象的渴望,和遥遥无期的回应。

Listen to select tracks from Evening Sitdown Vision below:


点击即可试听几首来自《Evening Sitdown Vision》的精选歌曲::

Originally formed in 2014, the band coalesced around Shanghai. Although it was recorded in October 2017, Evening Sitdown Vision took another year and a half to be released, partly due to a line-up change (their drummer Xiaosa left). Current drummer Anran joined at the beginning of 2018, with Guagua, Shanghai guitarist Xiaoxue and Maojia on guitar and vocals rounding out the quartet.

According to RUBUR, Evening Sitdown Vision is built around the concept of eternity in an instant, a moment in which the ephemeral and the eternal co-exist, merging past, present, and future. Citing things such as a sunset or a phantasm, they draw inspiration from poetry and philosophy, which inform their approaches to both musical composition and songwriting.

The lyrics for “Luo Ge Si” (alternatively titled as “Logos”) are inspired by lines from pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, Guagua reveals. With a plaintive melody and discordant guitars backed by Guagua’s spoken and sung vocals, it is also one of the album’s most urgent tracks.


乐队最初成立于 2014 年,在上海相聚。《日落景象》这张专辑虽然是在 2017 年 10 月录制的,但又花了一年半的时间才得以发行,部分原因是他们的鼓手小萨离开了。2018 年初,现任鼓手岸然加入了乐队,挂挂、上海吉他手薛昊阳、猫加则负责演奏吉他和人声四重奏。

据 RUBUR 说,《日落景象》建立在“瞬间即永恒”的概念上,在这个瞬间,短暂和永恒共存,融合了过去、现在和未来。他们从诗歌和哲学中汲取灵感,以赋予音乐和歌曲的创作。

挂挂表示,《逻各斯》(《Logos》)的歌词灵感来自前苏格拉底哲学家赫拉克利特的诗句。伴随着哀怨的旋律和不和谐的吉他,挂挂的口语唱腔,这也是这张专辑最紧俏的曲目之一。

In “Talking Bread” and “Wu Mian De Meng” (alternatively titled as “Sleepless Dream”), the mood lightens considerably. Backed by jangly guitars and breezy drumming, Maojia sings in Chinese:

In hazy dreams, we float like melodies
The summer wind caresses us like strands of silk
With the coming dawn, we can’t hide from these converging dreams
In this moment, our dark thoughts are quieted, not much else to say

Elsewhere, a sense of ephemerality returns, as on “Huiyou” (alternatively titled as “Migrate”), a song more spoken than sung in words more poetic than prosaic.

Envelopes unravel like rivers, but they dry within the year
In my reflection, I see someone else
Pour one for the night sky and let the stars come crashing down
Drink it down but don’t forget your face


在《Talking Bread》和《无眠的梦》中,情绪变得更轻快了。猫加在吉他和轻柔的鼓声中吟唱道:

迷蒙入梦 无心的游舫如歌
夏夜的风 是俘获你我的丝帛
晨曦已破 梦醒交错 怎么躲
此时尘落 念影稀薄 如何说

在其他曲目中,这种转瞬即逝之感一如既往,就像在《洄游》中一样,这是一首用文字表达的歌,而不是用平淡词句堆砌的曲子。

展开的信成河 休止在岁末
对镜 成另个我
把夜空斟满 有星云会坠落
饮下 须有轮廓

And a few minutes into the mesmerizing, eight-minute closing track “Intentionally Blank,” the band ask searchingly: “Will every prayer be accepted? / Will every wish be resigned?” But the song slows to an abrupt halt. A soliloquy sampled from Paolo Sorrentino’s TV series The Young Pope can be heard, a spiritual intercession of sorts, before the music flares up and burns out as the album ends where it began, lost in a circle of illusion and longing as white noise fades into silence.

RUBUR’s ability to absorb different cultural undercurrents is one of the band’s real strengths, and their openness to a range of influences will continue to draw listeners into a world without clear borders and a future intentionally left blank.


而在几分钟的迷幻过后,在持续 8 分钟的结束曲《Intentionally Blank》中,乐队尖锐地发问:“每个祈祷都会被接受吗?每个祝愿都会被听从吗?”但它缓缓地收尾了。可以听到《年轻的教皇》中的一段独白,就像是一种精神上的代祷,在专辑结束时,音乐爆发一空且燃烧殆尽,它的起始之处,消失在幻想和渴望的圆圈里,而白色的噪音,则渐渐被寂静吞没。

RUBUR 吸收不同文化潜流的能力是乐队真正的强项之一,他们对各种文化影响的开放态度,将继续吸引听者进入一个没有明确界线的世界,和故意留白的未来。

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Weibo: ~/RUBURband
Bandcamp: rubur.bandcamp.com

 

Contributor: Brian Haman
Photographers: Yulu, Jerry, and Oscar

Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan
Images Courtesy of RUBUR


喜欢我们的故事?欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博微信

 

微博: ~/RUBURband
Bandcamp: rubur.bandcamp.com

 

供稿人: Brian Haman
摄影师: Yulu, Jerry, and Oscar

中译英: Chen Yuan
图片由 RUBUR 提供

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