#week 155

Thank you so much @clarkegriffins for giving us the opportunity to share your beautiful work this week! 

If you enjoyed their work, check out their blog and give them a follow! 

Also, if you would like us to share your original creations, please tag us with #spncreatorsdaily so we can reblog your posts this weekend.

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng (吳志麗). 2017.

Born in Hong Kong, Jeannette Ng is a British fantasy and science fiction writer, winner of the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018 British Fantasy Awards as well as the 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. 

Her debut novel, Under the Pendulum Sun, is a dark Gothic fantasy inspired by her background in medieval theology, following the adventures of two Victorian missionaries as they find themselves in the perilous and sinister lands of the Fae.

Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon (彩云追月) arranged by Wang Jianzhong (王建中) performed by Li Yundi (李云迪). 1975.

Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon has its origins in the Qing Dynasty as a Cantonese style folk song. In 1935, it was arranged into a piece for Chinese orchestra by Nie Er  (聂耳) and Ren Guang (任光), and then later in 1975 arranged for piano. The melody of this piece flows smoothly and almost has a spiritual quality to it. 

Wang Jianzhong (1933-2016) was a Chinese composer. He graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and later became known for composing many piano pieces inspired by Chinese folk songs, such as this one.

Selected Works. Lui Liu (刘溢). Oil paintings. 2009-2013.

Lui Liu is an artist from Northern China and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. Starting as a street painter for posters, Lui was educated at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Working primarily with oil paintings, Lui’s dual position provides the possibility for them to “stand alone facing east and west, as he chooses”. 

Lui’s work uses a mix of traditional western oil painting techniques to depict Chinese subjects - in ways that work between both the EAst and West in their construction. With surreal images and exaggerated caricatures, it serves the mission “to paint the ever-lasting mythopoetic images of our time as they come out of the past and move into the future”.

Wishing Pavilion by Stanley Siu and Daydreams Design. 2019.

Commissioned by Hong Kong government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department for the 2019 Mid-Autumn Festival, Daydreams Design’s Wishing Pavillion is a temporary exhibit in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Composed of 5,000 bricks, all made with recycled plastic, the Wishing Pavilion is reminiscent of traditional Cantonese and Chinese customs of both tower-burning and lantern lighting. Bringing a modern, eco-friendly twist to both of these, the central tower’s LED lanterns illuminate at visitors’ touch, an electronic “flame” in the structure’s center appearing to carry their wishes up into the heavens.

Simon Says (大風吹) by No Party for Cao Dong (草東沒有派對). 2016.

No Party for Cao Dang (NPCD) is a Taiwanese post-rock band that emerged in Taiwan’s indie rock scene in 2015. Lead by lead vocalist Du Wu, bassist Xuan Shi, drummer Fan Fan and guitarist Zhuzhu, the band achieved overwhelming success with their debut album The Servile in Taiwan as independent artists. Mixing post-rock, indie and metal influences, the lyrics of NPCD reflect a deep sense of hopelessness that emerges is “a reaction to being at the brunt end of a financial meltdown” which has shaped the consciousness of young Taiwanese people. Their work is also considered to be linked to contemporary grassroots movements in Taiwan and South-East Asia.

In Simon Says, we see the poetic turn with which NPCD interprets the political moment. Touching on childhood nostalgia, the song plays on the image of the child searching for the next new thing as the symbol of disillusionment in the face of economic downtown.