Shanghai Digital Artists and Their Work

By Keeshawn Nicholson

Before spring break, the opening of the Shanghai, China Digital Art exhibit took place at Champlain College Lakeside, right outside of the Emergent Media Center. The exhibit featured creations with strong messages and outstanding creativity.

In this blog post you will find the masterminds behind each project, some pictures from the opening, and some pointers about their work.

Jingyi Zhu

Jingyi Zhu

“Stereoscopic Ink” Series 2014 is a three-dimensional Chinese classical painting with a medium of heated resins in line. At the flowing mShanghai logo1oments of the heated resins, Jingyi attempts to find balance between coincidence and intention in sculpturing. As  a result, the artworks hold a unique inspirational texture that delicately combines both manmade and nature scenes. It evokes an ethereal feeling, through which the features of resins are fully mobilized and the traditional Chinese ink painting unprecedentedly stands out from the paper. Stereoscopic ink can be found near the café area of Lakeside, right in front of the Maker Lab entrance.

 

Jody Xiong

Jody Xiong is the first Chinese cross-over artist to introduce contemporary art to advJody Xiong Picertising and design and has been working with these forms since 1997. As the Group Creative Director of Ogilvy Shanghai, he is an award-winning creative of China. Jody believes that many issues in the world, such as environment protection, poverty and war, can be solved through art.

“Mind Art” 2014

To bring awareness to the rights and realities of the largest population of individuals with disabilities in the world (According to Human Rights Watch) Jody conducts “Mind Art.”keyboard isolation

16 people living with disabilities volunteered through social media to take part in Mind-art, an art-meets-science feat involving a NeuroSky processing unit and brain-activated paint explosions. The participants each wore a headset connected to a processing unit, which allowed electronic signals from the brain to set off tiny detonators attached to paint-filled balloons. Through deep concentration, the 16 volunteers were able to trigger balloon paint explosions, splattering individually chosen pigments across blank canvases. The outcome – beautifully abstract paintings.

Watch the video here.

“The Keyboard Isolation” 2012

Designed to help raise awareness of the issues, “The Keyboard Isolation” developed from China’s new-found infatuation with the internet. The Family Care for Grassroots Community wanted to communicate to a half-billion Chinese net-citizens how and why families growing more and more dependent on computers, has created alienation in homes. The piece displays thirty-six families, and their members as figurines isolated in glass bubbles, separated into 115 keys as a result of their computer addictions.

Watch the video here.Jody - Ken

“Green Pedestrian Crossing” 2011

To encourage people that walking more creates a greener environment, Jody placed a large canvas with a leafless tree at a busy pedestrian crosswalk. On each side of the road lay sponges soaked in green environmentally-friendly washable and quick dry paint. The pedestrians became the artists, with each green footprint adding leaves to a once leafless tree.

Watch the video here.

 

Lufei Sun Lufei Sun

Lufei uses a projector and LED screen to display her work, a rendering that tells an abstract story of the Persian cat – taken from one of her elaborate paintings. The work narrates a story of a Persian, cat that traveled from current day Iran to the Han Dynasty of ancient China. People in ancient China see the cat as a symbol of good luck. As such, it is the predecessor of the “wealth cat” that is very popular in Asian countries today.Lufei

“My traditional painting inherits expressive techniques developed across time from the Han (202 BC) to the Qing (1644) dynasties. Pursuing traditional forms of expression that are based on respect for Chinese art history. I capture not only the outer appearance of a subject but its inner essence as well – its energy, life force, spirit.” – Lufei Sun

Learn more about Lufei and her artwork here.

 

crowd

The opening was a successful event, a place where all could appreciate the aesthetics of digital art.

 

QINMIN LIU.JPEG Qinmin Liu

“Image of Ink” 2013

“I am an interdisciplinary artist from China. Choreography, performance art, and visual art are my tools to explain an unseen force I sense. After 16 years of dance training and performing, body language becomes an irreplaceable element in my art creating. I have been exploring a new art concept (4A concept) after I discovered my own unique body language. 4A concept describes my creative motivation and inspiration, which represents anywhere, anyone, anything, and anytime.” – Qinmin Liubody ink1

Qinmin uses unrestricted creating styles to describe daily lives and explain modern society’s unspoken problems. She pays attention to public art, reminding us of the connection between artist and audience. The artwork “Image of Ink” can be found near the café area of Lakeside, right in front of the Maker Lab entrance.

 

View more of Liu’s artworks on her website.

 

Ni WeihuaNi Weihua

“Landscape Wall” 2012

With Ni Weihua’s experimental spirit and social criticism he creates beautiful contemporary art. Since 1998, his focus has been on the development and harmony of public views and interactions. “Landscape Wall” is a series of snapshots of billboards and people hurrying down the streets.

“Most of the landscapes in my work are relevant to the real estate development, which indicates China’s rapid capitalization and urbanization process. ” – Ni Weihua

The conspicuous element of luxurious life and the popular strategy of decorating with green ideas in modern life shown in the “Landscape Wall” have revealed the changes and conflictIMG_7876 photographys of social values in urbanization. Nevertheless, viewers will feel anxious when looking at the images of migrant workers and ordinary people that seem embarrassed and unharmonious in front of those “elegant mansions”. “Landscape Wall” seems to trigger people’s query: Will modernization and urbanization bring more happiness to the general public?

View more from Ni here.

 

 

 

Yuchuan PanYuchuan Pan

“Bottle Series” 2013

Most of Pan’s works focus on individuals and their personal relationships with others. “Bottle Series” relates to people’s survival state and lifestyle practices. In “Bottle Series,” some of the “newly-developing Chinese young adult” images are compressed in a bottle that drifts over the urban industrialization.

“I used the way that blended with the “concept”, “behavior” and “installation” to demonstrate the creation of the artistic features.” – Yuchuan Pan

The “Bottle Series” reflects the city and part of its leading role “the newly developing Chinese young adult” in an abstract way.

 

Qiu Anxiong

“Minguo Landscape” 2013

Animation, Ink and Wash Painting

This exhibition of work by emerging artist Qiu Anxioung includes paintings and video art. Qiu’s unique videos are created by stop-motion animation from images of his paintings. Together the paintings and videos in this exhibition offer insight into Qiu’s process; how he creates an image in paint, how it evolves and is recorded, and its final result in video. This process results in an ever-changing series of images which are hauntingly beautiful, and range from mythical stories to urban transformations.

Watch Qiu’s video here.