#ldy

Solar System series by Jian Guo. 2016.

Jian Guo is an architect, illustrator and designer who lives and works in Shanghai. He describes his own work as “stained glass-style” art, and enjoys creating fanart - his most popular to date is that of the Lord of the Rings series. 

When the Solar System series was first proposed, there was some debate as to whether or not to include Pluto, as it was no longer considered a planet in the traditional sense. However, the series was deemed an homage to the past, Pluto retaining its place by virtue of its established position in classical astronomy.

All images courtesy of the artist.

015B, Ldy- 세븐 브리즈(Seven Breeze)

Released Date: 2020.07.13

Selected works by Tang Wei Min (唐伟民).

Tang Wei Min was born in Yong Zhou, Hunan Province in 1971. He graduated from the Art Department of Hunan Standard College, where he majored in Oil Painting in 1991. Since then he has worked as a professional oil painter.

Tang is inspired by remains - what lives, leaves, and is left behind thereafter. Many of Tang’s works depict beautiful, young women, yet their beauty is unfailingly ornamented - weighed down with the symbols of culture and tradition. The motif of cultural decoration appears to be rooted in Tang’s visit to the Mawangdui Museum in Changsha, China. There, he saw the tomb of a West Han Dynasty princess, and in it, a beautiful mummy, surrounded by finery and the trappings of wealth. According to Tang, her image sparked a revelation that “everything disappears with... death”, and “only the treasury... left is silently telling... [a] story”. Tang’s artistic portfolio is perhaps his own way of establishing the weight of existence - securing a legacy that will outlive him beyond the grave.

Selected Works by Yuanxing Liang (袁星亮).

Yuanxing Liang is a Chinese artist whose works consist primarily of clay sculptures. Influenced by traditional Chinese fables and folklore, Liang’s sculptures meld the natural and the surreal, condensing tales into intricate, fantastical pictures. In coherence with their visual complexity, Liang has revealed that the sculptures require a long process of experimentation, as the design of a sculpture can take up to three months to complete. The sculptures are deceptively small, in addition to being completely handmade and unique - each testament to Liang’s craftsmanship and artistry.  

Photographs courtesy of the artist.

Drinking Tea series by Xue Lei. 2004-2009.

Born in Qingdao, China, Xue studied oil painting in Shandong before moving to Germany, where he has lived since 1999. While Xue’s work spans a wide variety of media, including scroll paintings, watercolours on rice paper, video installation and animated film, he is best known for his porcelain works, among which the Drinking Tea series is the most renowned. 

Xue’s Drinking Tea series consists of sculptures of crushed drink cans hand-painted with Ming dynasty motifs. His process is painstaking and complex - he first creates can-shapes from clay, using them as moulds for the final porcelain product. After several firing stages, Xue paints the designs with a thin brush. Xue’s preoccupation with cans recalls the imagery of Western Pop Art, contributing to an artistic dialogue between East and West.

Images courtesy of the artist.

Letters from a Distance by Peng Wei. 2013. Exhibited in Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.

Currently based in Beijing, Peng was born in 1974 in Chengdu, China. She graduated from the Department of Eastern Culture and Art at the Nankai University with a BFA in Literature and an MFA in Philosophy. She created her first series, Stone, in 2000. In 2007, she became a guest painter at the Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Letters from a Distance, for which she was awarded the Signature Art Prize 2014 at the Singapore Art Museum, incorporates the letters of Western authors and artists. These substitute the traditional inscriptions found on classical Chinese paintings - Peng combines and alters traditional and contemporary materials, cultivating an intersection of culture that is nevertheless close to the heart.

Images courtesy of the artist and Tina Keng Gallery.

Endless Echo Hat by Heidi Lee. 2018.

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Heidi Lee is a New York-based artist who focuses on hats and headwear as a form of conceptual art. She is the recipient of the 2012 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Accessory Design Award. Her work has been featured in Vogue, V, MTV and the New York Times, among other publications. Lee currently runs a fashion brand, H E I D I L E E, while teaching at New York University. 

Endless Echo Hat was created with a 3D printer, from a scan of Lee’s face. Having first appeared a few years ago, Endless Echo Hat has since seen multiple iterations, and is Lee’s most popular work to date.