All posts by banny

The Hand Lettering of Sachin Shah

December 1, 2015 2015年12月1日

Sachin Shah is a calligrapher and a lettering artist from Mumbai, India, who specializes in traditional calligraphy and handwritten typography. By day, he is also a professional computer engineer, who works at a global IT company. “I am very passionate about calligraphy and dabble with different hand types,” he says, “So you can call me an engineer by profession and an artist by passion. “

Purely handwritten without any kind of digital editing, Sachin’s typography work looks beautiful, natural and organic. He likes to study and explore different kinds of traditional letterforms. He tends to create visually appealing lettering on canvas or paper. He also likes to experiment with colors, whether it is with inks or paints, which he often uses for his calligraphy. In the past, he has also created calligraphy works on walls, and has also dabbled sometimes with tattoo designs and drawing logos.

Sachin has been hand drawing letters in sketchbooks ever since he was a child. He didn’t know exactly what calligraphy was until he came across the Speedball Textbook during a visit to the British Council Library about two decades ago. Sachin instantly fell in love with the art form, and since then has started doing his own calligraphy work.  He has even customized his own writing tools, for example, by chipping and grinding fountain pens, and even chiselling ice cream sticks and wooden strips.

He has started teaching calligraphy as well, because he believes that the best way for him to learn actually was to teach others. Sachin also takes on privately commissioned work, such as calligraphed quotes, brand identity work, logos and tattoos. Basically he can work on anything which has letterforms in it and for anyone who really values handwritten typography. For him, the most satisfying designs have usually been artwork that he created for himself, or for his family and friends. He says, “I get my inspiration from everywhere: nature, daily objects, the patterns that they create in subtle ways, from my emotions and state of mind.”

Neocha: Tell us about your explorations in calligraphy.

Sachin: My love and passion for letters drives me to pick up a pen or a brush whenever I can, anywhere I am. I can see letters everywhere around me. Besides wanting to excel at calligraphy, I like to inspire budding artists across the globe and help them to learn this beautiful art. Though there are several master calligraphers in this world, I still think this art is underexplored in this digital world. Every letter created with hand is unique to an individual just like a fingerprint or the retina of the eye. I feel calligraphy is the purest form of typography. The smell of a paper, the color of the inks and the fluent strokes inspire me to write everyday. I have a strong emotional connect with letters and calligraphy to me is the most powerful form of self-expression.

Neocha: Can you describe your process of making calligraphy?

Sachin: Calligraphy is all about thinking through your hand. The ideation and planning takes the most time. Once you know what you have to write, you need to select the right writing surface for that letterform and prepare your nibs and inks. If you are writing long content, it makes sense to plan your layout with a pencil so that you achieve symmetry. You can also draw guidelines on the paper so that all of the letters are sized correctly. The entire process of completing a calligraphy work can take about two to four hours on average. It can take few days if you have to calligraph a wall.

Neocha: Tell us about some of your side projects, and what you have in the works for the near future.

Sachin: Right now I am working on a few tattoo designs for a father who wants to get the names of his two daughters tattooed on each of his arms. I am also working with a greeting card company to create some type designs for them. In the future, I would like to make and release instructional videos on calligraphy and make them available to everyone who wants to learn calligraphy.

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Facebook: ~Sachinspiration
Behance: ~sachinmshah
Instagram: @sachinspiration

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

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ALTER Shanghai

November 26, 2015 2015年11月26日

ALTER is a concept boutique store located in Shanghai. The superstore includes ALTER Showroom, ALTER Cube café, and the Rolling Acid design label. Arguably the most prominent and influential fashion boutique in China today, ALTER was also nominated for FARFETCH’s 2014 Superstore Awards as one of the top six boutiques in the world. In the same year, the Louis Vuitton Shanghai City Guide featured ALTER as being a landmark of Shanghai high fashion.

位于上海的ALTER买手概念店，与ALTER Showroom、ALTER Cube Café和自主品牌Rolling Acid同属ALTER时尚机构。它大概是中国最具有竞争力的买手店，事实上它甚至是本土其他买手店的重要参考目标。2014年，FARFETCH提名它为全球6家最顶尖的超级买手集合店之一。同年，它被《路易·威登之上海GUIDE》收录并获得极高评价，成为必去的上海地标性时尚目的地。

Products in the ALTER concept store are often displayed using touch screens and ambient lighting. In addition, the store features bamboo cube installations, varying in size from three centimeters to three meters wide, as an ode to ALTER founder Long Xiao’s childhood love of wooden blocks. Long Xiao, aka Sonja, is a fashion buyer who studied luxury brand management in Italy and had previously worked at Prada and Versace.

在ALTER买手概念店中，层叠出现大至3米，小至3厘米的CUBE立方体，从灯光布置到高科技触屏板的展示，无不突出每件设计师单品。这个CUBE创意是源自龙霄童年时期对积木的热爱。 龙霄，即Sonja，是一名时尚买手，她就是ALTER时尚机构的创始人。她在意大利学习了奢侈品管理，曾在Prada、Versace做品牌管理与推广方面的工作。

Before opening ALTER in 2010, Long Xiao had already established her position in the luxury fashion world. However, she wanted to create something that would challenge the status quo in the world of fashion. Witnessing the emergence of China’s luxury market, Long Xiao saw an opportunity to serve China’s increasingly fashion-conscious consumer. The idea for ALTER surfaced upon recognition of the market gap between the more established high fashion luxury brands and mass consumer brands.

在2010年建立ALTER概念店之前，集团式传统奢侈品牌的工作已为她打下了坚实的基本功，但其品牌基因过强，很多东西不便打破，而龙霄天生喜欢革新，喜欢突破，她渴望拥有更多挑战，不愿意墨守成规。彼时，在时尚产业尚处萌芽阶段的中国，人们开始慢慢有意识地寻找品质与个性的穿衣方式。龙霄意识到整个市场在昂贵的奢侈品大牌与无创意的低端大众服饰之间存在一个巨大的空白，于是，后来就有了今天的ALTER。

Long Xiao and her buyer team are passionate about showcasing creative design brands that are unfamiliar to the mass market. In choosing brands with potential, she believes that personal intuition is just as important as market research or brand analysis. “We’re leaders, not followers. We always want to surprise. That’s what makes us different from other boutiques.” From introducing brands such as J.W. Anderson, MSGM, and Simon Rocha, to seeing them recognized by global luxury giant LVMH or other fashion leaders, ALTER has witnessed the emergence of many previously unknown brands. Long Xiao says, “Each season we’ll change our brand inventory. This season, popular labels include Seoul’s YOHANIX and PushBUTTON, Ukraine’s ANNA K, London’s S=YZ, Norway’s Norwegian Rain, Holland’s ILJA VISSER, and France’s RISTO, among others. They are all worth paying attention to.”

龙霄带领她的买手团队，探寻尚不被大众所熟知，却又充满巨大潜力和创意的设计师品牌。除了前期对品牌进行专业的调研和数据分析外，龙霄认为依靠与生具来的直觉也非常重要。“我们在引领，而不是在追随。我们总是给人惊喜，我想这就是我们与其他买手店的最大区别。”从引进J.W Anderson、MSGM、Simone Rocha，到这些品牌渐获全球最大奢侈品集团LVMH的肯定，或各位时尚偶像的追捧，ALTER见证一波又一波的设计师成长，也成为了新锐设计师的摇篮。龙霄说: “我们每季品牌都有改变，本季比较受欢迎的有首尔设计师品牌YOHANIX、PushBUTTON, 乌克兰设计师品牌ANNA K, 伦敦品牌S=YZ， 挪威品牌Norwegian Rain, 荷兰品牌ILJA VISSER，法国品牌RISTO 等等，都非常值得关注。”

Long Xiao shares her ideas about the current state of Chinese fashion, design, and consumption: “Chinese fashion designers still have a long road ahead with lots of potential problems. But those designers who come with an international mindset will often surprise us with something quite beautiful. I feel that many new Chinese designers will rise to prominence if they persevere. The Chinese consumer has really come a long way from just blindly following the big brands. Now, they will consider other important factors such as self-expression, wearability, and value for money. People are becoming less and less loyal to brands, which is a good thing, because they’ll actually be able to recognize and cherish good design.”

谈及创办ALTER这些年来她眼中本土的时尚设计现状、人们审美和消费理念，龙霄分享了她的观察: “中国的时尚设计面对很多问题，还有一段路要走。但是一些拥有国际化背景和眼界的新锐设计师却开始时不时地给人惊艳的设计，我觉得只要努力，一定会有更多的中国设计师开始崛起。中国人已经从盲目追随大牌LOGO到寻求个性、实穿、性价比等综合考虑的理性状态了。人们对品牌的忠诚度很低，这样很好，因为任何一个新兴的具有创意的设计，都有可能成为他们下一个心头之爱。”

Work and travel have given Long Xiao a propensity for curiosity, sensitivity, and inspired thought. For her, the best part of the day is getting together with friends to pass time at the cafe. Her definition of true luxury is being able to have free time and fellowship, a notion that then led to the establishment of the ALTER Cube Café. Long Xiao says, “I wanted to share some of these sentiments with our customers, especially with those who recognize quality. I hope that people who visit ALTER will be able to slow down, enjoy time with friends, and relax with art, food, music and fashion.”

在世界各地的旅行和工作，给了龙霄带来对新事物的好奇心和敏锐度，以及源源不断的灵感。繁忙的日常最让她放松的事情，是和朋友们一起在咖啡厅消磨时光。她眼中真正的奢侈，就是时间的陪伴和好友的感情。这就是ALTER Cube Cafe的由来。她说：“我想把这些情怀带给我的客户们，尤其是注重生活品质和情调的客户。我希望来ALTER的人可以慢下节奏，享受一次与好友的聚会，一次慢节奏的艺术、美食、音乐、时尚的心灵放松。”

ALTER won Best New Store at WSGN’s 2012 Global Fashion Awards and has been a favorite of the fashion media ever since. Long Xiao tells us that she plans to continue the development of ALTER Showroom, hoping that it will be a permanent platform to bring even more global brands into China. In addition, she hopes to share ALTER’s design label with the rest of the world.

自2012年在伦敦获得由全球最大的时尚趋势预测机构WSGN颁发的最佳新晋店铺奖之后，ALTER就一直备受时尚媒体的热捧。龙霄告诉我们，目前她准备继续发展ALTER Showroom，并希望可以做成永久性的展厅，为国内带入更多国际品牌；除此之外，她也将努力把新近诞生的ALTER自主品牌推向全球市场。

Address:
Xintiandi Style, Shop L116, 245 Madang Lu,
Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

Website: alterstyle.com
Facebook: ~/Alter-Shanghai

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

地址:
中国上海黄浦区
马当路245号新天地L116

网站: alterstyle.com
脸书: ~/Alter-Shanghai

 

供稿人: Banny Wang

 

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The Street Art of Katun

November 19, 2015 2015年11月19日

Katun is a Malaysian illustrator and graffiti artist. The name Katun comes from his love of drawing and reinterpreting cartoon characters, a passion that he has had ever since he was a kid. He often uses brighter tones and colors to bring more life into his street art. He is also part of a graffiti crew, which includes PHBKLK from Kuala Lumpur, ZNC and PB from Singapore, and DPT and BAMC from Los Angeles.

Katun merupakan seorang pelukis dan artis graffiti. Nama Katun berasal daripada minat beliau dalam melukis dan menginterpretasi watak-watak kartun, minat yang beliau pupuk ketika membesar sebagai seorang kanak-kanak. Beliau kerap menggunakan tona dan warna yang lebih terang untuk menjadikan seni jalanan beliau kelihatan lebih nyata. Beliau juga merupakan sebahagian daripada kru graffiti, yang termasuk PHBKLK dari Kuala Lumpur, ZNC dan PB dari Singapura, dan DPT dan BAMC dari Los Angeles.

Among the many characters you may find in the work of Katun, it’s not surprising that his favorite is the monkey. Its flexibility, agile movements and quick reflexes are all attributes that he admires and closely associates with. This is also how Katun creates his own artwork: fast, agile, and with the flexibility to explore new creative ideas. Like most artists, he believes that each of his pieces represents a part of himself.

Antara watak-watak yang anda akan dapati daripada hasil karya Katun, ia tidak mengejutkan bahawa kegemaran beliau ialah si monyet. Kelincahannya, pergerakan yang tangkas dan reflex yang pantas merupakan ciri-ciri yang beliau kagumi dan sentiasa kaitkan. Inilah caranya Katun mencipta karya seni beliau sendiri: pantas, tangkas dan dengan kelincahan untuk mempelopori idea kreatif yang baharu. Seperti kebanyakan artis, beliau percaya bahawa setiap karya beliau mewakili sebahagian daripada diri beliau.

In high school, Katun fell in love with street art and the energy that street artists bring to their work. Fortunately, he had a friend who introduced him to the street art world, which he quickly dove into and tried to learn as much as he could about it. Starting with graffiti and investigating further into other styles of street art, Katun loved the adrenaline rush that street art gave him.

Ketika zaman sekolah menengah, Katun mula berminat terhadap seni jalanan dan tenaga yang dibawa oleh artis jalanan kepada kerja mereka. Beliau bernasib baik kerana mempunyai seorang rakan yang memperkenalkan beliau ke dunia seni jalanan, yang mana beliau dengan cepatnya melibatkan diri dan cuba mempelajari sebanyak mana yang mungkin mengenainya. Bermula dengan graffiti dan menyiasat dengan lebih lanjut ke dalam gaya-gaya seni jalanan yang lain, Katun menggemari perasaan adrenalin yang dibawa oleh seni jalanan.

Every week, Katun took to the streets to practice his artwork. To get the forms and details right, Katun typically sketched out on paper three to four pieces every day. This was a form of discipline that Katun imposed on himself so that he was able to produce work, even if he didn’t have any reference materials. Labeling himself as an “art geek”, Katun believes that only the most dedicated students gain the skills needed to produce high-quality work. He draws inspiration from his friends, who are also talented artists that he admires and often learns new techniques from.

Setiap minggu, Katun turun ke jalanan untuk mempraktikkan karya seni beliau. Untuk memastikan bahawa bentuk dan butir-butirnya tepat, Katun biasanya melakar tiga atau empat helai kertas setiap hari. Ini merupakan bentuk disiplin yang dikenakan oleh Katun kepada dirinya supaya beliau dapat menghasilkan kerja, walaupun beliau tidak mempunyai sebarang bahan rujukan. Melabel dirinya sebagai “nerda seni”, Katun percaya bahawa hanya pelajar yang paling berdedikasi mendapat kemahiran yang diperlukan untuk menghasilkan kerja yang berkualiti tinggi. Beliau mendapat inspirasi daripada rakan-rakan beliau, yang juga merupakan artis berbakat yang beliau kagumi dan pelajari teknik-teknik yang baharu.

Katun is a frequent collaborator with graffiti artists from all over the world. He also loves to travel. He believes “that this is how we get connected, and are able to share our thoughts and the history of our country”. From his collaborations, Katun has made many friends whom he has been able to share the creative process with. He has been able to take on new perspectives on art, which has helped him evolve as an artist.

Katun selalu bekerjasama dengan artis-artis graffiti dari seluruh dunia. Beliau juga gemar mengembara. Beliau percaya “bahawa inilah caranya kami bersambung, dan dapat berkongsi pandangan kami dan sejarah negara kami”. Menerusi kerjasama beliau, Katun telah menjalinkan persahabatan dengan ramai artis yang berkongsi proses kreatif bersama beliau. Beliau telah mempelopori perspektif yang baharu dalam kesenian, yang telah membantu beliau berevolusi sebagai seorang artis.

As a Malaysian graffiti artist, Katun sees the creative environment around him improving a lot. “These days, things are getting better. The government and public have started to accept this kind of art. They look forward to events where they can see and experience it. Interest in street art and graffiti is growing among all the young kids, and in my opinion, we just need more structure and support. There are so many amazing street artists in Malaysia, but what they need is a supportive environment to bring them to the next level.”

Sebagai seorang artis graffiti Malaysia, Katun melihat persekitaran kreatif di sekeliling beliau bertambah baik. “Sekarang ini, semuanya bertambah baik. Kerajaan dan orang ramai telah mula menerima seni seperti ini. Mereka sentiasa menghadiri acara di mana mereka boleh melihat dan mengalaminya. Minat dalam seni jalanan dan graffiti sedang berkembang di kalangan semua kanak-kanak, dan pada pendapat saya, kami cuma memerlukan lebih banyak struktur dan sokongan. Terdapat ramai artis jalanan yang hebat di Malaysia, tetapi apa yang mereka perlukan ialah persekitaran yang menyokong supaya dapat membawa mereka ke peringkat yang seterusnya.”

Katun’s skill and unique style have not gone unnoticed by commercial brands that have recruited him for numerous collaborations. He always looks for partners that trust him to follow his creative instincts, allowing him to experiment and focus on what he is most passionate about. Katun’s collaborations include prints released at galleries, clothing, and more recently, a new project featuring his artwork on watches. Next year, Katun is hoping to continue working on large-scale murals.

Kemahiran dan gaya Katun yang unik dilihat oleh jenama-jenama komersial yang telah merekrut beliau untuk pelbagai kerjasama. Beliau sentiasa mencari rakan yang percaya kepada beliau untuk mengikuti naluri kreatif beliau, membenarkan beliau untuk mengeksperimen dan memfokus kepada apa yang beliau paling minat. Kerjasama Katun termasuklah cetakan yang diterbitkan di galeri, pakaian, dan yang terkini, projek yang memaparkan karya seni beliau pada jam tangan. Tahun depan, Katun berharap dapat terus menghasilkan mural-mural berskala besar.

Behance: ~katun
Instagram: @katun_

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

Behance: ~katun
Instagram: @katun_

 

Penyumbang: Banny Wang

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The Typography of Sabeena Karnik

November 17, 2015 2015年11月17日

Sabeena Karnik is a graphic designer and illustrator from Mumbai, who specializes mainly in paper typography. That is to say, she creates type and letters by hand using only paper, which is the primary thing that sets her work apart from other typographers. She says that this “evokes many reactions from the viewer, especially because it is all handcrafted by me and nothing is done digitally”.

Basically Sabeena creates the visual elements by combining typography and illustration made with paper strips, which she then attaches onto a base. She uses the paper to produce different types of effects with lighting and shadows. It is quite a long process which first starts with a sketch and many days of careful work manipulating the paper by hand. The drawing serves as a guideline for sticking on 5mm or 10mm wide strips of paper. She explains, “The strips are curled, curved, folded, rounded, beautified and then glued on the edges for pasting on the base.”

One illustration can take around 7-10 days to finish, with each day generally lasting 12 hours. The process requires a lot of patience, precision and careful handling of the paper, since it is very delicate and easy to crush. Once the art is ready, Sabeena then takes it to the studio to be photographed. She says, “The effect light produces when it falls on the paper art is quite magical and makes the art complete.” Finally in the end, it materializes as a three-dimensional piece of art.

Her interest in paper typography started three years ago when she started doing an entire series on the alphabet one afternoon. Initially there was no intention to make it a career. While in university, Sabeena studied graphic design with a special focus on typography. During this time, working with paper and hand lettering was always something that she was passionate about. A simple experiment one day led to her attempt to make the entire alphabet. According to her, this whole process gave her immense joy and the outcome was overwhelming. Soon after this, Sabeena started getting assignments and jobs from overseas which all involved paper typography.

She says that her creative inspiration comes from everywhere: “A lot of it is from nature, handicrafts, and impressionist paintings when it comes to usage of colours, architecture, people.” It’s very hard for her to pick a favorite piece of work that she’s made, but one project that has given her immense pride and a great sense of fulfillment was a promotional campaign she did for the Mysore Palace in India for Karnataka tourism. “For that, I had to create a miniature version of the palace with a lot of detailing in my own way using paper,” she says, “It had some typography but the focus was on the illustration. The advertisement was published across billboards and magazines in India and overseas. It still makes me emotional when I reminisce about it.”

Sabeena admits that, to a large extent, her work really reflects who she is as a person. She likes things to be precise and neat when it comes to what she creates, and this applies to her life as well. “Experimentation and taking risks is essential in work and in life,” she says, “There shouldn’t be any restrictions. There are days when I consider myself to be as delicate and fragile as the papers I work with.” After her paper creations are photographed, they are kept, cared for like babies, and stored away in boxes that she also makes herself. Sabeena says, “Someday I hope to exhibit them all under one venue.”

Facebook: ~/SabeenaKarnik
Instagram: @sabeenu
Behance: ~/sabeenu

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

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A Profile of Nod Young

November 13, 2015 2015年11月13日

Nod Young is a Beijing-based designer and artist, who is also currently a partner at Tomeetyou Graphics. Young has a unique minimalist style whose geometric designs, while clean and abstract, also somehow manage to have an emotional resonance. His simple use of lines, shapes and patterns convey a calculated and balanced sense of wholeness, but contrast quite nicely with the looseness of his freeform elements.

Nod Young是居住在北京的设计师、艺术家，目前为吐毛球工作室的合伙人。他用克制的理性，创作具有情绪波动的感性作品。他的作品通常使用最简单最单纯的表达方式，几何为主，几乎不使用任何随意或是具有弹性的线条，以严谨甚至刻板做为限定。

When asked about his current state of mind, Nod replied at length, “I am annoyed by gentleness; I’m very attracted to strength and fierceness, but I’m actually quite gentle. It’s something I can’t change. For example, a lot of people want to have the strong build of a seasoned warrior, but they’re born into a body that is small and frail. That kind of dilemma you can’t resolve with exercise. So I feel that we need to accept our fates and quell some of our inner conflicts, while at the same time learn how to develop our natural skills and innate talents. I am not totally satisfied with the person that I am today, not only in my life but in my art as well. I feel that I’m too mild-mannered and self-restrained, but I hope that within my life’s plan, I’ve picked the right ways to express myself.”

我们在采访过程中问到 Nod 目前的状态，他说: “我其实讨厌温柔，我喜欢生猛，但自己偏偏是个温柔的人，这是没办法的事，是命。举个例子吧，有人希望自己是那种大块头的力士，但生下来他就是个矮小纤瘦的体型，这不是锻炼能解决的问题，这就是命。我们要接受自己的命运，用内心与之抗衡，与此同时还要学会如何去利用自己的先天优势去做得更棒。我的意思是，我对目前的我并不满意，生活中的我和创作中的我并不是我理想的状态，他太温和了，温和限制了我的释放。我没什么可保持的，我在命运规划中选择合适的机会爆发，我希望是这样。”

Neocha: How has abstract art influenced you and your work?

Nod: Most of my work is influenced by abstract art. I come from a background in design, so much of my approach is defined by my observations and experiences from graphic design. A decade ago, I fell madly in love with Swiss design and its clean, cold approach. I emulated this style for a period, but I wasn’t completely satisfied. I wanted to learn more about the essence of the Swiss style, so I began to retrace its history back to the 1930s, the Art Deco movement, and the Industrial Revolution. I’ve found that cleanliness, minimalism, and standardization were all principles that permeated the public consciousness at the time. By tracing history, I could better understand the sentiments of the artists that came later after the Impressionists. I was heavily influenced by Michel Duchamp, and was moved by the cold rationality of his work. I dabbled in various approaches, from researching different color combinations of the Renaissance period, to channeling the legacy of pop art. Although my work doesn’t exactly fit into the realm of abstract art, I’m still fond of and influenced by it.

Neocha: 你的作品中有很多抽象主义表现手法，是否受到这方面的影响？这其中是什么让你着迷？

Nod: 一部分是。我是设计出身，所以我的很多艺术主张来自于平面设计的观察和尝试。十年前，我疯狂的喜欢瑞士的设计，工整、常规、冷静但细节处的小改变让画面充满趣味。我模仿了一阵子，但觉得不过瘾，我想知道他们为什么这么做，这个源头到底在哪里，就这样一步一步向前倒，一直追到30年代，追到Art Deco，追到工业时代的早期，发现人类对工整的、简洁的、制式的需求其实是源于所谓的共同理想和时代标准。在追溯的过程中，我也搞清了印象派之后艺术家们在创作中自我诉求，其中杜尚对我的影响最大，“冷静的趣味”每次都能将我活捉。我参考了很多艺术形式，在配色技巧上我参考了文艺复兴时期的，在画面处理方式上也有波普的影子，我做不到抽象主义中的“顽皮”，但很喜欢。

Neocha: A designer’s role is very different from that of an artist. As someone who embodies both of these roles, do you ever feel conflicted?

Nod: A designer gives answers, while an artist poses questions. But the designer doesn’t have to answer the artist’s questions, and neither does the artist have to pose his questions to the designer. That’s why I think there’s no conflict between these two roles. To me, it’s all about creativity. As a designer, I’m responsible to my clients to provide them with intelligent solutions to their problems. But as an artist, I’m responsible to myself only – I have nobody to rush me with deadlines, and my conscience is the only judge. I can use whatever methods I like to create my work, without the need to resort to quick, clever, or flashy solutions.

Neocha: 设计师和艺术家这两者在创作上是很不同的，你在这两个身份之间有感受到冲突吗？

Nod: 设计师解决问题，艺术家提出问题。但，设计师不是去解决艺术家的问题，艺术家也不是向设计师这个特定人群发问，所以，在我身上，这两者并不冲突。对我来说，都是创作：做为设计师我要向雇主负责，全盘看问题，细致巧妙动脑子，拿出聪明的方案；做为艺术家，我只需要对自己负责，没人催我，我关注内心就足够了，不耍花样，慢慢磨，用最笨的办法来，动了小聪明的念头就立刻停下来。

Neocha: What challenges have you encountered during your commercial projects?

Nod: I want to bring new and visionary design to an even wider audience, but it’s difficult since most people will gravitate towards the familiar, making everything boring and homogenous. It’s not necessarily a problem with the market or clients, but it’s a larger, more universal problem of people not having an openness and willingness to accept the unknown. Those who are comfortable with the unfamiliar are truly rare and remarkable individuals.

The biggest difference between clients is in their attitude towards the designer. Some clients have the brazen attitude of a hospital patient who likes to tell his or her doctor how exactly to perform the operation. That is becoming less and less common as the design profession advances. The clients that we take on now tend to trust us more, and I always try my best to create something that works for the both of us.

Neocha: 你为很多客户创作过商业作品。对你个人而言，什么是最具有挑战性的？

Nod: 我想把更有前瞻性的设计投入到更大众的市场中，把“同质化”这个问题干掉，这是最难的，因为大家都总是选择熟悉的东西，从设计角度上看，熟悉就意味着无聊和相似。这个问题不完全是市场问题或是客户问题，我们也有问题，如果我们掌握好非常不一样的体验和莫名其妙的熟悉感，那这个问题就解决了，当然你知道这有多难，基本上谁做到谁就是盖世英雄。

客户间的根本区别在于他们如何看待设计师的专业性，举一个不是很恰当的例子: (有些客户就像) 骄傲的患者正在指点医生如何割开他自己的肚子取出那块结石。这种情况现在很少出现了，主要是因为我们的专业水平高了，找到我们的客户都比较信任我们，所以，我们不太像是乙方，而像是甲方的人。真的，我非常感谢我现在合作的这些客户，跟几年前太不一样了，我们是朋友，是一个战壕里兄弟。我会尽我所能为客户攻下一座座城池，然后大吃大喝，唱歌到天亮。

Neocha: What projects are you currently working on?

Nod: My personal work is still centered around my Where Are You project, which is coming into its second phase. For this phase, I collected 500 childhood photos and picked 30 of the most suitable to create into new works. I can’t really talk about it in detail, but it will be complete sometime next summer. This year, I still have two products that will be released. One is a rug that has already received over 700 pre-orders, and the other is a 2016 calendar collaboration with a snack label, derived from the first phase of my Where Are You project.

Neocha: 近期有什么创作计划？

Nod: 我的个人创作还是Where Are You这个大系列中的第二章，是从我收集的500张志愿者小时候的照片中摘选（不是优选，因为都很好，只是部分更适合）其中30张，然后创作成新的作品。细节不便透露，做好要明年夏天了。今年年底前我还有两个小产品会上：一个是地毯，现在网上预订的人超过700了；另一个是跟加餐面包合作的2016年的年历，是Where Are You第一章的艺术衍生品。

Website: nodyoung.com
Instagram: @nodyoung

Contributor: Banny Wang

网站: nodyoung.com
Instagram: @nodyoung

供稿人: Banny Wang

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The Many Seals of Wang Fanqiao

November 10, 2015 2015年11月10日

Wang Fanqiao, aka Wang xx, is a freelance illustrator who draws seals every day. According to Fanqiao, “When I’m in a bad mood, I draw seals. When I’m in a good mood, it’s the same. I just need to draw seals.” After graduating from the graphic design program at Nanjing University of the Arts, Fanqiao took up a position as an illustrator for COLORS magazine at Benetton’s Fabrica Communication Research Center in Italy from 2012 to 2014. She later lived in London for a time, but early this year returned to Nanjing.

王凡乔，也叫王xx，是一位每天都一定会画海豹的自由职业插画师。用她自己的话说，就是“心情不好的时候必须画海豹。心情好的时候也要画。总之就是要画海豹。”从南京艺术学院平面设计专业毕业后，她于2012年末至2014年末在意大利Fabrica（贝纳通研究传播中心）的COLORS杂志担任插画师，之后旅居伦敦并于今年初返回中国，现在一直居住在南京。

Fanqiao has loved drawing ever since she was a child. When she was in middle school, she became fascinated with Japanese manga, and vowed then to become a comic book illustrator herself. In university, she learned about other forms of illustration before starting her professional career. While working at COLORS in 2013, she started to draw seals in her free time, with her first series consisting of ten hand-drawn works. The seals were inspired by the stuffed toys she had from her childhood, which she would hug every night before falling asleep.

从小喜欢画画的她，自从中学时期喜欢上日本漫画，就立志成为漫画家。大学开始接触并爱上的独立漫画，让她从此走上插画师/漫画家的道路。2013年在杂志工作空余，她开始画起海豹。只因为从小到大，她都是抱着海豹公仔入眠。起初随手画了十余幅，从此便没有停下来过。

Fanqiao says, “There’s no real purpose to it, and I’m not sure where it’s headed. It’s just that when I stop drawing seals I feel lonely, so it’s something I need to do.” For the past two years, she has experimented with some different techniques for drawing seals. After her return to Nanjing, her seals have started to take on more human characteristics. She hopes that other people, in addition to being drawn to her cute aesthetic, will be able to find warmth and comfort in her illustrations.

凡乔说:“没有什么目的性的，也不知道我会走向哪里，只是觉得，不画海豹就会孤单，所以必须画。”从最开始画海豹至今两年，凡乔一直探索最合适的风格。直到她回到南京并开始画自己的生活环境，她的海豹不再只是一只好看的海豹，而是一只有了人格的海豹。她意识到相比表面的好看，她更希望别人可以从海豹身上得到温暖，得到安慰。

The main character in Wang Fanqiao’s illustrations is a white seal, who lives with a grey seal, a manatee, and an octopus. Other characters often appear, including a rabbit, an elephant, and a crocodile. They eat together, get drunk together, read books together, or sometimes they just fall asleep on the couch. It is an ideal life that’s never too busy and never too lonely. Wang Fanqiao tells us that the seal is a part of her own personality, while the other characters are inspired by stuffed animals or friends from her own life.

在她的海豹漫画里，主角海豹和另一只灰色小海豹、海牛以及章鱼住在一起。偶尔在画面中还会出现兔子、大象、鳄鱼等动物。吃东西也好，喝醉也好，看书也好，在沙发上睡着也好……海豹就这样和它的朋友们呆在一起，不喧闹，也并不寂寞。 她告诉我们，漫画中的海豹就是她自己，或者说是自己的一种寄托；灰色小海豹、海牛和章鱼都是现实生活中凡乔的玩具公仔；而其他动物则大多是她的朋友。

Although Fanqiao’s digital illustrations are simple, they also convey a genuine sense of warmth and gentleness. She doesn’t need to try too hard to make them cute, because she believes that the world is naturally cute. While her commercial projects are more serious and tend to have some restrictions, her own personal projects allow her to have fun and to express herself freely. According to Fanqiao, her time spent as a magazine illustrator has given her an aptitude for thinking and working quickly, which has also influenced her personal work. She is inspired by the minimalist style of American artist Ellsworth Kelly, as well as the artistic philosophy of Marcel Duchamp.

凡乔的作品，寥寥数笔的画面，却有一种温柔和温暖的力量。她喜爱将事物卡通化，无关刻意，她认为世界原本就这般可爱。商业作品上略为写实的约束让她的个人创作成为一种放松的行为。她说，杂志插画师的工作让她形成了迅速思考、迅速作画的习惯。这种习惯之后也很好地延续到个人创作中。此外，Ellsworth Kelly对她这种简约画风的形成也产生了很大影响。而杜尚那种活着就是艺术的态度让她极为倾心。

Living and working abroad has taught Fanqiao that life can sometimes be difficult. “We’re very fortunate when we have enough to eat, enough to wear, and a place to work and live. These are things that we should all learn to be grateful for,” she says. Fanqiao feels a sense of gratitude towards every person that she encounters, from her family and friends to her clients and colleagues. For her, seals are a great model for those who want to keep a positive attitude in life: “Seals are pure. They always maintain an innocent attitude towards the world.”

曾经的工作生活和长时间一个人居住的经历，让她明白生活的不易。“吃饱、穿暖、有工作、有住宅，都不容易，人要知足常乐”。因此，她对身边的亲朋好友、客户同事和海豹的每一位读者都充满感激。她觉得，“海豹就是永远天真、永远单纯 、永远温柔地对待这个世界”，而那正是她想成为，并努力成为的人。

Wang Fanqiao’s time is now mostly divided between submitting to commercial publications and drawing seals. In addition, she continues to draw comics and is currently working on a comic book about the heart. In the future, she hopes that she will be able to publish a collection of her seals, and perhaps make them into a toy collection.

 

现在的凡乔，除了商业约稿就是画海豹了。当然除了海豹，她也创作一些短篇漫画故事，近期她就正准备出一本关于心的漫画。同时，她希望未来可以出版她的海豹漫画，并制作相应的周边玩具。

Website: fanqiaowang.com
Tumblr: somanyseals.tumblr.com
Douban: ~wangxxno1

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

网站: fanqiaowang.com
Tumblr: somanyseals.tumblr.com
豆瓣: ~wangxxno1

 

供稿人: Banny Wang

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The 8-bit Art of Toyoya

November 5, 2015 2015年11月5日

Toyoya Li, who was born and brought up in Beijing, first started to work as an interactive designer and a freelance animator after graduating from the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication. He later joined Fox ADHD as a guest GIF artist, and now he’s also part of Feina Qi, an independent group of local GIF animators. In addition to making his own animations, he also likes to do some personal research into 8-bit pixel art. Toyoya typically likes to put some humor and things about everyday life into his delightfully strange artwork. His works include the short animation Eat Something (2012), the 8-bit illustration Rabbit God Go to East (2012), the animated GIF “Looop” (2014), among many others.

Toyoya Li，土生土长于北京，从北京印刷学院设计系毕业后，做过互动设计师，自由动画师。曾加入Fox ADHD任guest GIF artist，现为本土GIF独立动画创组小组“费纳奇”成员，专注像素动画的研究和创作。他喜欢结合生活中的小事物、小幽默，创作怪诞又可爱的作品。其主要作品有《Eat Something》(2012，动画短片)、《Rabbit God Go to East》(2012，像素&矢量插画) 以及《Looop》(2014，像素GIF) 等等。

Toyoya first became involved with digital pixel art while he was in college, when he discovered some 8-bit games on the Symbian OS. At around that time, he was influenced by emoticons and avatars from the 8-bit community, and from then on, he also started making some pixel art. It was then when Toyoya first came across the work of eBoy, the British illustrator Jack Teagle, the Belgian artist Jangojim, and the Australian animation artist Ivan Dixon, which opened up a new world for him and this further inspired his pixel creations.

Toyoya刚开始接触到数码像素艺术是在大学期间，后因受到Symbian手机系统下的像素游戏以及当时很多表情和社区avatar形象的影响，开始画像素画。当时，eBoy艺术团体、英国插画师Jack Teagle、比利时艺术家Jangojim以及澳大利亚动画艺术家Ivan Dixon的作品，让他看到一个美好的世界，并激发了他的创作。

In 2012, he quit his job and devoted himself fully to making pixel art. Prior to this, Toyoya had always worked in large ad agencies as an animator and interactive designer. In his opinion, doing commercial work required being fully dedicated to a client’s brief and “using his own inspiration to do things for other people”. On the other hand, working on his own personal projects allowed him to play and experiment as he pleased, and to “use his own inspiration to do his own thing”. His own work would have a lot more of his own personality in it.

在2012年辞职全心投入像素动画创作之前，Toyoya一直供职于大广告公司，从事动画、互动设计。在他看来，做商业作品需要充分考虑到客户的产品表现，是“用自己的灵感做别人的东西”；而做自己的作品，能够充分发挥主观能动性，是“用自己的灵感创作自己的东西”，作品也具有更强烈的个人特色。

When talking about how he manages to stay inspired to make his own work while also working on commercial projects, he says that, “Everyone has their own ways of staying creative and keeping their creative momentum. I try to be sensitive and aware of things around me every day, because for me, life is full of inspiration. It can be something as small as the motions I use when I brush my teeth, or even the direction that the water flows when I wash my face. All those small things from life can inspire me. If something is really interesting, I record it in my sketchbook. I’m an introverted person, and every day I like to contemplate and think. Most of my creative ideas and animations come to me from a moment of quiet introspection.”

谈及如何在长期商业创作之余仍然保持个人创作的灵感时，他是这么说的: “每个人都有自己的创作方法和惯性。我会时常保持敏感，因为生活就是一个大的灵感发动机。刷牙时，牙刷的节奏；洗脸时，水流的走向……都能激发出我创作的灵感，再把发现的有趣东西画在本子里记录下来。我是一个比较内向的人，但我会每天在内心做很多思考，与自己交流，我的很多创意和好玩的动画都是从自己安静的思考中得来的。”

Once he finds something that he wants to draw, Toyoya will start to make a sketch, then he adds color to make an illustration, sometimes this 8-bit drawing becomes a design for a t-shirt, a mobile phone case, a laptop computer bag, or other kinds of products. What he enjoys most is sitting in front of the computer very focused on creating something, fully immersed in the world of pixels.

一旦找到自己想画的东西，Toyoya便开始画成线稿，着色生成动画，有时也会将自己的像素画做成T恤、手机壳、电脑包等衍生产品。他最享受有了创意之后，坐在电脑前的潜心制作，游刃有余地沉浸在像素世界中。

Toyoya enjoys collaborating with and having a free exchange of ideas with the local Chinese animation community. In 2012, he and a friend worked together and made an animated short called Eat Something. Not only is this his favorite work, but the piece also gave him “special unforgettable memories.” He says that being “around like-minded friends and being able to create something special together is a very wonderful process. From this, you can meet many interesting people and learn a lot about the process of collaboration. For me, it is also a process of self-growth.” Toyoya hopes that more people will join the Chinese animation industry, and that both he and the Chinese film industry alike can get more investments and creative opportunities in the future.

Toyoya喜欢通过合作、集体创作等形式，和中国动画社区保持联系和交流。2012年时他和朋友合作的动画短片《Eat Something》，不仅是他最喜欢的作品，也给他带来“一次特别难忘的记忆”。他说: ”和身边志同道合的朋友一起创作，共同完成一件事情，这个过程很美妙。你可以从中认识很多有趣的人，学到很多东西。合作的过程，对我来说也是一个自我成长的过程。“ 关于中国动画，Toyoya希望有更多人投身这个行业，期望这个行业可以和中国电影一样，得到足够的投资，让动画人有更多创作机会。

Recently, because of the increasing interest in WeChat and QQ stickers, he’s also started making some fun stickers in his characteristic 8-bit style. At the same time, he also intends to put some of his previous work out there as stickers too. In the future, he wants to explore new directions and create more pixel animations. He is hoping to produce a three-dimensional pixel work, and wants to collaborate with more friends on new projects. Practically speaking, he also wants to put together an exhibition and get even more people to appreciate pixel art.

最近，源于对微信/QQ表情的兴趣，他开始创作一些有趣又有自己风格的像素表情，同时打算将自己以前的有趣作品应用进去。 对于未来，他将尝试用像素动画进行更多领域的探索和创作，希望能做出立体的像素作品，并希望可以跟更多的朋友做一些好玩的互动，再搬到现实中，做一些有趣的展，让更多的人喜欢上像素。

Website: toyoyali.com
Tumblr: toyoyali.tumblr.com

 

Contributors: Banny Wang, Winnie Chi

 

网站: toyoyali.com
Tumblr: toyoyali.tumblr.com

 

供稿人: Banny Wang, Winnie Chi

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The Art of Sky Goodies

November 1, 2015 2015年11月1日

Based in Mumbai, India, Sky Goodies was founded and is owned by Misha and Amit Gudibanda. The duo, who admit they are obsessed with art and design, produce pre-cut and pre-creased paper DIY kits, as well as other paper products such as notebooks, calendars, gift boxes, and decorative objects. The products are for all ages to play with and enjoy, while the colors, textures, and beautifully detailed patterns that decorate the surfaces of their products are infused with a slice of India.

Misha and Amit were first trained at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India, in graphic design and industrial design respectively.  While their other business – a design and technology services firm which they had also founded together, was doing well and growing dramatically, they yearned to do something that created something of more tangible value for people and would be fun for them to do too. Drawing inspiration from paper and hand-painted art – two things that they both love, Misha and Amit started to create their first paper DIY kits.

Using paper as the sole material, Sky Goodies makes art both approachable and affordable. Their DIY kits and colorful handmade gifts can evoke feelings of joy and love. Misha tells us that, like the name of their DIY collection, their goal is just to “make people happy”. Read below for more in our interview with Misha and Amit.

Neocha: You’ve said that the biggest inspiration for you is India, and that some of your products are “decorated in the style of Indian Pop Art and Street Art.” Could you tell us what this particular style means to you?

Sky Goodies: Traditionally film posters and walls were hand-painted. Indian street artists did not restrict themselves to realistic renditions and colors, but explored the full color palette in all its glory with intricate detail. An example: a film hero’s face would have shades of colour from blue to purple to skin tones and fluorescent hues, to create a unique colorful aesthetic. In similar ways matchboxes would have colorful graphics completely unrelated to the product being sold, and quite quirky and bizarre. They sometimes combine a viewpoint of an artist who is of rural origin with limited world view, interpreting new objects and situations in their own unique way. We love the colour, humour and madness in Indian street art, and also the level of detail. 

Neocha: What do you want people to know about India through your work?

Sky Goodies: India is so full of colour and wild contrasts, and of emotion; we want to bring the same happy colours and emotions to our work. The street art in India has a unique charm and was traditionally hand-painted on walls, vehicles, low-end products and public spaces. Now it is being replaced by stickers with far less aesthetic appeal. If this art was appreciated it may help keep it alive and bring some focus on street artists.  

Neocha: Which are the most popular pieces in the shop? And which are your favorite pieces? 

Sky Goodies: The most popular piece by far is the DIY Typewriter Calendar, and sell equally well in India and internationally. I have had customers shriek with delight on seeing them for the first time!

All of them are close to our heart as so much love has been put into them. Our favourites are the DIY Peace Tank pen holder and container, and the DIY typewriter calendar. The DIY Peace Tank is an army tank vandalized by art, carrying the message “Make Happy Not War”. It makes a pen holder, which symbolizes dialogue to dissolve differences. It also has three small boxes to store office clips, pins, rubber bands, and other small things. It is a slightly challenging DIY, but a treat for paper crafters.

Neocha: What do you have in the works for the near future?

Sky Goodies: A whole new collection of products of a different kind, both physical and digital, for parties and events. We are also working on a host of gifting accessories. All ultimately aim to make gifts more special and to make people happier during celebrations.

Website: skygoodies.co
Facebook: ~/skygoodies.co

 

Contributor: Banny Wang

 

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Zowoo

October 30, 2015 2015年10月30日

What must it have been like to have lived elsewhere in a different time? People from long ago used to build their own houses and make their own furniture. If you didn’t make it yourself, you would find yourself a carpenter. But in today’s world of assembly lines, mass-produced goods, and living in modern cities – especially in a very big and populous Chinese city, it may be difficult to imagine such a thing. And so, many of us nowadays may start to yearn for the past and a more traditional way of life.

生活在别处。过去的人，搭建房子做家具，不自己动手，也会请来木工做。而在生产流水线化的今天，居住于都市，特别是人口众多的中国都市，几乎很难接触到这样的场面了。于是大家开始向往起这些传统的生活方式。

Such was the case with Zhu Li and Chen Lei-Yu, who had been friends since they were kids. When they grew up, one had opened a shop in Hangzhou, while the other one worked a conventional nine to five in Shanghai. One day, Li sent Lei-Yu some woodwork photos, and coincidentally this was something that his friend was also doing. Some time later, they teamed up and opened a carpentry workshop called Zowoo. During their normal hours of operation, Zowoo is Zhu Li and Chen Lei-Yu’s creative workspace; while on the weekends, Zowoo also offers woodwork classes to teach carpentry enthusiasts and hobbyists how to make some small things out of wood.

朱力和陈雷雨这两个发小也不例外。长大后的他们，一个在杭州经营着一家网络商店，一个在上海朝九晚五。有一天朱力给对方发了一张做木工的照片，巧的是对方也在做一样的事。后来他们就一起开设了这间叫做作物的木工坊。工作日时，作物是朱力和陈雷雨的创作空间；周末时，作物开设木工课程，帮助爱好者们学习制作一些小物件。

Zhu Li studied design at first, before opening a small business in Hangzhou that sold original works by young designers, trying to help them find more creative freedom in the commercial marketplace. But perhaps because he is an introvert by nature, Zhu Li soon realized that there was a gap between reality and his idealism for creative freedom. Soon after selling the shop, he went to the countryside to find a house in a village, bought some equipment, and started playing around at home with woodworking, simply because it was something that one person could accomplish, and it felt worthwhile just to be able to work with his own hands.

学过设计的朱力，之前在杭州经营年轻设计师的原创作品，帮助他们在商业化市场中保持一些自由的创作。然而生性内向的他意识到现实和他自由创作的理想状态的差距。于是卖了店，去乡下找了间农民房，置办了点设备，开始玩起木工，只因为这是一种一个人能完成的东西，并且能以实体的方式记录时间。

Chen Lei-Yu, on the other hand, seemed destined for white-collar management work. It was five or six years ago when he just wanted to buy a simple wood coffee table. When he looked online, he started to become interested in woodworking and carpentry, and later continued studying how to make things by hand. Moving away from his management job to become an art director of woodworking at Shanghai Disneyland, he later eventually founded Zowoo with his friend. Lei-Yu believes that compared to the past when one had to spend three to five years to learn the whole craft, modern woodworking is much more simplified because it is already mostly mechanized. Just about anyone and everyone could take part now, even people in big cities.

做管理出身的陈雷雨，则是五六年前因为想购买一个很简单的原木茶几却不得，开始在网络上关注起木工，继而自己动手学习制作，就一直持续下来。从做管理到上海迪士尼乐园的木制品艺术指导，再到和好友创办作物，他认为相比过去要学个三五年才能出师，现代木工已经因为机械化简单很多，人人都可以参与其中，即便在大城市。

Zowoo, for Zhu Li and Chen Lei-Yu, is about having a balance of practical living and pursuing one’s own personal goals. “At the beginning when we started this space, our first hope was that this was a place where everyone was willing to stay for a while. Secondly it needed to be a thing of beauty. We wanted others to see that it wasn’t a rigid or austere way of living – and perhaps it could inspire others, to pursue the kind of lives that they wanted to lead.”

作物对于他们来说，是一种现实生活与个人追求的平衡。“当初做这样一个空间的时候，第一希望这是个大家愿意呆的地方，第二希望他是个美的东西。我们想让别人看到一个不是那么一成不变的社会生活，也许可以激发他们的一些想法，追求他们自己想要的生活。”

Zowoo believe that woodworking and making things by hand can give people a certain kind of pleasure. For them, they do not think of what they do as an act of “creation”, but rather more simply as “playing”. The ideal scenario for them is a group of like-minded people coming together at the workshop, making things, chatting and conversing.  In addition to the sense of accomplishment that one may get from woodworking, it is more important that in that very moment of creating something by hand, one’s heart is set wholly in this act. “The whole process and act (of woodworking) may help you to relax, and it can also allow you to use your imagination, like a child making clay figures all afternoon. It’s that simple.”

作物认为，木作具有一种肢体带来的乐趣。所以他们在做的，“不叫创作，就是玩”。相同爱好的人聚集一起，做一做东西，聊一聊天，这是作物最理想的状态。除了制作出作品带来的成就感，更重要的是，认真动手制作的时候，那一刻心里只有你在做的东西。木作，“通过一个动作让你安下心来，又可以让你发挥想象力，就像小时候捏泥人，一捏就一下午，就这么简单。”

Two good friends, one carpentry workshop. There really is no better kind of life.

两位好朋友，一间木工坊。生活不在别处。

Address:
258 West Songxing Road, Building No. 9, 2nd Floor
1919 Creative Park
Baoshan District, Shanghai
People’s Republic of China

WeChat: Zowoolife
Weibo: @作物zowoo

 

Contributor & Photographer: Banny Wang

地址:
中国上海市宝山区
淞兴西路258号
半岛1919创意园区9号楼2楼

微信：Zowoolife
微博：@作物zowoo

 

供稿人与摄影师：Banny Wang

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Clothing Project by Shi Jin-Hua

October 27, 2015 2015年10月27日

“Clothing Project”, exhibited in September at this year’s Photo Shanghai, is a work created by one of Taiwan’s very few conceptual performance artists, Shi Jin-Hua. This project was originally conceived when he was an artist in residence at MoMA PS1 in New York, to measure the perimeter of the art institute’s building.

《穿量計劃》是今年9月于上海藝術影像展上展出的作品，由台灣極少數的觀念行爲藝術創作者之一——石晉華創作。這件作品是他在紐約MoMA PS1當代藝術中心駐村期間，以身上穿著的衣服測量PS1當代藝術中心的周長。

During the first phase of the project, he collected clothes donated from some of PS1’s staff and other visiting artists. He then numbered and tagged each article of clothing and put everything on one article at a time, photographing every step of the whole process: 77 photos for 77 pieces of clothing. In the second stage, he cut the cloth from all the clothing into strips, and stitched together a very long “cloth tape measure”. In the third stage, he used this fabric “tape measure” to measure the perimeter of PS1, which turned out to be 21 pieces of clothing.

作品的第一階段，他收集了PS1員工以及駐村藝術家们捐贈的衣物，逐一編號、穿著、拍照，77件衣物，77張照片；在第二階段，他將這些衣物剪成布條，拼接成一大卷“布尺”；第三階段，他用這個“布尺”測量PS1的周長，並得出其周長爲21件衣服的長度。

Clearly, for Shi Jin-Hua, the importance of this measurement isn’t in an abstract mathematical figure or hasn’t any kind of academic purpose. Jin-Hua has instead transformed the act of measuring into a corporeal sensation and an expressive, artistic act. His rather unique methodology isn’t limited only to “Clothing Project”, but often recurs in a lot of his other works, such as “Hugging Project”, “Pencil Walking”, “Searching Center and Boundary”, and so on.

顯然，在石晉華這裏，度量不再是數學上抽象的數字和學術單位，他將它轉化爲一個身體感受的數量。這一特別的方式，不僅是《穿量計劃》，更是貫穿了他多數的作品，例如《擁抱計劃》、《走筆》、《尋找中心與邊界》等等。

Born in 1964, Shi Jin-Hua now lives and works as an artist in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. When he was 17 years old, he started taking insulin injections to control his blood glucose level. Usually when one is first introduced to an artist’s work, his or her medical condition isn’t usually discussed. But when it comes to Shi Jin-Hua, one cannot fail to mention his diabetic condition. Because his life has been inseparable from the “body”, and the daily acts of “documenting” and “measuring”, much of the work he has made as an artist has centered around these three key words.

這位出生于1964年，現生活工作于高雄的台灣藝術家，17歲開始便注射胰島素並長時間使用血糖機紀錄血糖值。當我們介紹一位藝術家的時候，通常不會將其病例也列出來。但談到石晉華的時候，卻不能不提到他的先天性糖尿病。他的生命因此離不開“身體”、“紀錄”和“測量”這三個關鍵詞。他人生至今的諸多藝術作品也是圍繞這三個關鍵詞創作。

As a diabetic who regularly needs to keep a log of his body’s glucose levels every day, Shi Jin-Hua has also applied the idea of measuring data to try to interpret some of the other things he encounters in life. Through a medical condition, which also gave birth to his art, he has found an opportunity to share something of great personal value and meaning from his own life into his work.

一個要不停紀錄自己身體數據的糖尿病患者，用這種測量的方式維持自己的方式，也用這種測量方式诠釋生命與事物的意義。疾病帶來痛苦，也催生了他的藝術，讓他找到自己賦予自己生命意義與價值的機會。

Website: shijinhua.com.tw

 

Contributor: Banny Wang
Images Courtesy of Mind Set Art Center

网站: shijinhua.com.tw

 

拱稿人: Banny Wang
图片由MSAC安卓艺术提供

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