Zhan Qi詹琦 – Touched by Color

Artist

Interview via email and millennial WeChat exhanges (thanks Angela)

KL: What’s your artistic background? How did you get into art?

ZQ: I started drawing in university out of loneliness, in a way that’s very similar to writing in a diary. I’d find a quiet corner and sketch out my emotions and my understanding of my life and the world. Through drawing and art, I get to escape some aspects of my “real life”.

My insight and sensitivity have always been around, but I got to embrace them again in school, where loneliness gave me abundant time to reflect and gather my thoughts.

KL:你的艺术背景是怎样的？你是怎样开始接触艺术的？

詹琦：在大学里因为孤独开始画画，一开始把绘画当作写日记一般，可以自己找到一个安静的角落开始绘画。绘画的过程就是描绘我的心，我的情绪，我对生活以及世界的表达。绘画中，艺术帮助我逃脱一部分的“现实生活”。

对生活的洞察力和敏感的心理一直存在于我的生活成长中，只不过恰好大学生活中的一大部分因孤独而产生独处的我重新开始拥抱“它”了。

KL：Using markers gives your work a primary school quality, is the contrast between medium and (sometimes) graphic content an important part of what you’re expressing with your art?

ZQ：“Innocence” and “purity” encapsulate my love for the world. I love to draw - I experience the world and express “myself” and my art through color and paper. I don’t care about technique or material, perhaps because I don’t really have any skill. Thus, the only thing that touches me when it comes to the medium is color. This is also why I experienced a surge of creativity when I first encountered colored markers.

KL: 你用马克笔作画的方式让你的作品有一点儿小学生的感觉。你的作画方式和你作品的内容的对比对你的表达起到了什么作用？

詹琦：“天真”、“纯洁”是我对世界的爱，我爱绘画，在绘画中我感受世界，表达“我”以及我的艺术——“色彩” 我不在乎材料以及技术的使用，可能也是我根本没有（不会）绘画技艺，所以绘画材料对我的唯一感动便是“色彩”，这也是我一开始接触颜色水彩笔带给我更多的一些创造力。

KL: Have you always mainly used marker (some of your work is done in paint or pastel) or is it something you discovered was your medium of choice after dabbling in others.

ZQ: No. My family (my mom) lived in strained circumstances. I bought my first box of colored markers with a grocery store gift card my dad received from his company. This marked my first encounter with color. When I drew with those markers, their color touched and educated me. I experienced an artistic renascence through creating with the most candid and rudimentary tool of the craft.

KL: 你是一直都用马克笔来画画吗（你有些画采用了颜料和粉蜡笔）？是在尝试过很多不同绘画工具和方式后才决定用马克笔来画画吗？还是一开始就对它情有独钟？

詹琦：不是，我的家庭（我的妈妈）生活比较拮据，我的第一盒彩色笔是用爸爸公司发的超市购物卡在超市买的。这也是我接触色彩的开始。但当我开始画它的时候，“颜色”它在感动着我，教育我，让我获得了我的艺术重生。

KL: Is this something that you are constantly doing? Are you doodling dicks in the subway or is it something you do in the home/studio?

ZQ: I draw whenever I feel any kind of emotion: on the subway, at McDonalds, in my school dorm, on the streets… Anywhere that provides me with a freedom of space. Of course I’m more drawn to places with good lighting and minimum distractions. I made Dick’s Dream in McDonald’s and the self-study room of my school. At the time, I was interested in the dick drawings on Tumblr and wanted to try my hands at it. The result was a collection of dick doodles influenced by how I felt at different moments. I was pretty absorbed by those drawings on Tumblr. This collection kinda acts as a record of my obsession with a certain organ at that time, the same obsession that drove me to create the drawings.

KL: 你是无时无刻都在画画吗？是只在家里或工作室里做这件事还是在坐地铁时也会涂鸦鸡巴？

詹琦：当我有任何情感的时候我会开始画画。地铁上，麦当劳，学校宿舍，马路，任何能够提供自助免费空间的地方，当然光线好一些，不受打扰更受我接受它的倾向。

《我的魔法雞巴书》是我在麦当劳和学校自习室里完成创作的，当时只是对Tumblr上的鸡巴图感兴趣，便画了一些，加上我的一些心理感受就创作了这样一本儿小册子～因为我当时在Tumblr上看得入迷了，就画了这么一本儿去纪录了那一段时间我对某一器官的一种着迷吧。然后我为它的主题去创作

KL: I notice you sometimes appropriate advertisement logos and slogans in your work, are you making a statement about consumerism or do you just love McDonalds (we see it there in the background)?

ZQ: I think slogans and advertisements have been completely integrated into our lives. We live in a commercial society driven by materialism. The inclusion of ads and plugs is unavoidable: I’m not gonna take a picture of me eating a burger and make the effort to erase the logo on the packaging. Art in the 21st century should be more inclusive and forgiving because only then will life become art, right? Actually I think other industries should move toward this as well. Seeing celebrities on variety shows drinking Coke with a pixelated logo is pretty disappointing - it’s not like the audience doesn’t know. Materialism has a large presence in our lives. The same is true when it comes to cities, muffled and concealed by a bunch of ideas and doctrines. I scream ‘Hubei is hopeless’ from the perspective of a child with a pure heart; it’s just my attempt to express some opinion about the city that I’m a part of. I become that child when I draw… it’s all a part of growth.

I draw in McDonald’s because it provides a free and open space. There are patients resting, janitors taking a break, and children doing their homework. I like to be inspired and work in places like McDonald’s, vibrant with people from different corners of society. I’ve grown attached to the place after spending so much time drawing there. I drew the phrase “Say Goodbye to McDonald’s” right before becoming an intern at a corporation. I was sitting in McDonald’s with tears streaming down my cheeks when I wrote it in my notebook; I thought I’d never be able to draw again.

KL: 我发现你的画里有时会运用一些广告商标和宣传语。你是在发表你对物质主义和消费主义的态度还是你就是特别特别喜欢吃麦当劳（在作品的背景里看到很多和麦当劳相关的东西）？

詹琦: 我觉得在如今，生活中出现的广告商标以及完全进入了我们现在的生活中了，因为这就是一个物质的商业社会。你完全不可能避免的。我不可能拍一张本来我在吃汉堡的照片，然后还要费力去抹掉包装袋上的商标。21世纪，艺术应该包容一些，更多的，生活就是艺术了。不是吗，其实我认为其它行业也应该这样了。有时我看到电视上综艺节目中嘉宾跑去哪个城市游玩，明明喝着可口可乐，却要马赛克这个商标，觉得挺扫兴的，观众又不是不知道。物质主义存在在我们的生活中，城市也是一样，被很多东西包裹覆盖。所以我才要呐喊，我在说“湖北没救了 ” 包含了我对自己所处城市的一些看法而已了，但是这种看法是一个绘画中有着纯洁心灵的小孩儿呐喊出来的，也是我的一种成长进程的一种感受。

我在麦当劳画画是因为它有一个开放的免费空间，病人能在这里休息，环卫工也可以，做作业以及休息的孩子。我愿意在这样充满“生活”的地方绘画，它给我一些创作的灵感。在麦当劳里绘画的时间多了，它也就保持了一部分我的情感。“跟麦当劳说再见” 是我在将要进入企业实习前画下的一句话。挺伤心的，我在麦当劳哭泣着在本子上写下这句话，原因是我以为自己再也不能画画了。

KL: Have you considered a colouring book? Dick’s Dream would make an amazing adult colouring book.

ZQ: Haha, I’d like to. Thanks for enjoying it.

KL: 你有想过出一本涂色书吗？Dick’s Dream 作为成年人涂色书肯定特别棒/牛逼/有意思。

詹琦: 哈哈，我挺乐意的。谢谢你的喜欢

KL: Why do you use text in your work?

ZQ: My native language is Chinese. Chinese is the most direct way of expressing my emotions and also the first thing that register in people’s hearts when they see my drawings.

KL: 为什么在作品里用文字？

詹琦: 我的母语是汉语，中文是表述出我的情绪最直接的方式，也是看到绘画的人第一能感受到心里的话语意思。

KL: I see you have done DIY pop-up exhibitions in the hutongs. What prompted you to take your work out of gallery spaces and into the streets?

ZQ: “The Everyday”. Art should be present in the everyday life. When your work is displayed on the streets, people can walk by and have instinctive reactions that reflect how art is received by the ordinary people of society. In other words, consider “Does he get it?” and “Can something still communicate its artistic expression after entering the ordinary world.” I don’t think art should sit on a pedestal, removed from The Everyday.

KL: 我发现你在胡同里有过自己的DIY 街头展览。是什么使你把你的作品从画廊和展厅里搬到街上的？

詹琦: “生活”，艺术应当存在于生活之中。

当你的艺术和作品摆放在真正生活的街道中的时候，路过行人的直观感受可以反映出艺术在当今世界，社会中最平凡群众的直观感受表达。说白了就是“他懂不懂？”以及“艺术进入普通生活中是否还能进行它的艺术表达”。我认为艺术不应该是高高在上的（远离生活）。

KL: Tell me about your soybean shaped pieces. You are building quite a collection, are you hoping to turn them into a large-scale artwork?

ZQ: “Shapes” (tu xing) is an ode of my love for the light in this world. For me, to draw is to create color. Color is my guide when it comes to drawing.

I’m gonna do my best to continue to create color, for it is what makes my drawings become art.

KL: 给我讲讲你的大豆形状的作品吧。你好像已经积累了很多啦。是想把它们转化成大规模的作品吗？

詹琦: 创作《图形》是在我的内心表达对世界光明的爱。创造色彩，色彩在作用于我的绘画，在创造它的时候，颜色在带着我走。

我会一直努力创作下去。创作它才是一种艺术

KL: Do you ever or have you ever considered collaborating with other artists, writers or musicians?

ZQ: I published a collection of photos called “A New Era: I Captured 124 Trash Bins in Building A of the Boy’s Dorm in our School” in collaboration with the zine “吃的ReallyWant”. The book was published on the 22nd of November, 2015 and can be found on the “吃的ReallyWant” Taobao store.

On the night of November 22nd, 2014, I ran around with my camera taking pictures of the 124 trash bins in the boys’ dorm building. They’re filthy and dismissible objects, yet they project all the realities of modern Chinese university dorm life. We captured that and made the photos into a book to bring encouragement to those who lack the strength to look at life straight in the eyes.

KL: 你有想过，或者有过，和其他画家，作者，或音乐人合作吗？

詹琦: 作为“垃圾桶”项目，和独立杂志《吃的ReallyWant》合作出版了一本摄影集《新时代了，我拍下了我们学校男生宿舍A栋所有124个垃圾桶》。摄影集在2015年11月22日发行，现在在淘宝网店搜索“吃的Really Want商店” 就可以看到了。

我在2014年11月22日的一天晚上，带着照相机跑遍了整栋男生宿舍拍摄记录下中国当代大学生宿舍中的124个垃圾桶。它们肮脏，没有人注意，但这就是我们生活中的真实。我们把它记录下来，合成了一本完整的摄影集。带给人一些正视生活的力量。

KL: What are your plans for your work in future? Any exhibitions or projects in the pipeline?

ZQ: To continue to capture, to draw, to keep creating “Shapes”.

I’m having an exhibition mid-April called “Coming of the New World”. Once the exhibition starts I’ll be spending three hours per day in the space. The contents of the exhibition will be updated on my Weibo (詹巴儿).

KL: 你对未来的作品有什么计划呢？有没有在准备什么展览或项目？

詹琦: 继续拍摄，继续绘画，继续创作“图形”，

4月中旬在武汉有一个展览开始，叫做“进程中的新世界”，到时候每天我都会用三个小时的时间在空间里面，展出内容会在我的新浪微博里更新，（新浪微博：詹巴儿）

KL: Is there anything else you would like to share with the Loreli readers?

Thank you for reading this and supporting me. I’ll keep my enthusiasm for art, creation, and “The Everyday” alive. Thanks.

KL: 最后，你有没有啥其他想跟Loreli读者分享的？

詹琦: 感谢你们的阅读，甚至支持，我会继续保持对艺术的创作热情，以及“表达生活” ，谢谢。