New Character: NPC with a Fan

This is a minor non-playable character from the video game Gujianqitan. This painting is closely based on the original design of the  character.

watercolor, white gouache

In this painting, she is also wearing the qixiong-ruqun (chest-level skirt with a short garment). The outer skirt is slightly shorter than the under skirt, and it allows the latter layer to show through. This design is commonly used in the making of some modern hanfu.

A similar qixiong-ruqun from an ancient painting by Zhoufang

The hairstyle is called luo-ji （literal meaning：shell-like bun; 螺髻), because its shape resembles a seashell.

From an unknown book about ancient Chinese hairstyle

Hybrid Media Exercise: Two Important Terms

Note: this blog entry was supposed to be posted during the researching phase of the project. Because I had absolutely no clue what to do at the time, and I needed to connect these terms to the actual work (which was very open-ended), I decided to post them when the video was done.


Immersion (immersive virtual reality):

Immersion is a mental state in which the participants are unaware of their body or physical self, as if they are lost within another environment which is often artificial. Immersion is an important aspect of many artistic installations and video games. For example, when they are playing video games, the players are often lost in the virtual reality, and become unaware of their physical surroundings and time. In fact, some of the game developers are aiming for this effect, such as by using the first-person viewing angle in the games (one good example will be a recently released game called "Dear Esther").

Retrieved from IGN <http://www.ign.com/images/games/dear-esther-pc-100307/3589955>

In addition, immersion was one of the essential objective of my work "Flow." In my personal case, I tired to create an immersive atmosphere by juxtaposing highly contrasting visual and audio elements.


Haptic Visuality

In short, haptic visuality is the touch of eyes. For example, in a tactile blind contour drawing exercise, the artist is drawing down the objects without looking at the actual drawing, as he/she is trying to touch and feel the contour of the objects with his/her eyes, and then he/she translate this sensory information onto the paper. Moreover, during such exercises, any optical illusory information such as tonal shadow is omitted, because it is not attained by the sense of touching.

The reason I put this term  here is because haptic visuality is originally part of my work. I was going to incorporate parts of the blind contour drawings in the video, and thus it will adds to the hybridity of the work. However, due to the fact that the video was already quiet long, I decided to leave certain things out.

Artist Statement for "Flow"

The central theme of "Flow" is juxtaposition and paradox. By juxtaposing different visual and audio elements that I collected from different sources, I allow these contrasting elements to react together, in order to generate an emotional, mysterious atmosphere and immersion.

Furthermore, the title itself is referring to the way in which this work is constructed. In particular, I had started this work by brainstorming on a blank piece of paper, because I got nothing in mind when I received the topic. During the making of the video, I placed those elements on top of a feature footage according to the natural flow of ideas. As a result, narration is generally not important for the piece.

(a bibliography will be posted later)

Hybrid Media Update v1.0: Mac and PC don't get along.

I had finished filming the hybrid footage yesterday, and I was planning to work on my actual video today. Unfortunately, I realized that my flash drive couldn't to be read on Mac, because it was formatted for PC.

Guess I will need an extension because I really want this video to be great. Furthermore, the footage I had taken looks surprisingly interesting, I honestly don't want to waste them.

Anyways, the video shooting was actually a lot of fun, although the editing process was frustrating from time to time. The reactions between the pigments, ink, and water were very magical and breath taking. I am actually very excited for this project now.

I had tried out different  methods to shoot it.

Below is one of the methods of shooting.(Thank you for the custodians who had rearranged the studio)

Method 2: with the three most important equipments

What a mess!

One of the results (.gif animation, click to play)

Interior Drawing Statement

My work explores the relationship between everyday life and traditions. In particular, the space depicted in the drawing is a place used to store personal, everyday items, and thus it serves as the collector and the storage of memories, personal interests, and the fragments of daily life. Moreover, in the second section of the work, the rearrangement of objects reinforces the personal connection I have with the space. The replacement of particular objects denotes the notion of adapting traditions into everyday life. I believed that attitude is the key to achieve the authentic fusion between traditions and life. Specifically, we need to accept traditions as part of our life in our heart, and to find them appropriate positions in our life. On the other hand, the means of changing the appearance of tradition is temporary and superficial.

Part I

Part II

Works Cited:

(see the avatar of the author)

Chen, Eric Chengyang. Got to Remember. 2011.

Luo-meisheng. “a Standing Figurine”. Photograph. Baidu Tieba. N.p., 15 Nov. 2007. Web. 29 Jan, 2012.

(Note: this figurine is at least 2000 years old, and thus its author is unknown. The name shown above is the username of the contributor who posted the photograph.)