Art

Trained in traditional fine art academies in the early 1980s, China’s first generation of post-reform graphic artists had no historical or wider context for their work and little opportunity to explore their ideas. The second generation, however, are wired up to the web; savvy, flexible and stimulated by chat forums and social networks, they are able to work across genres – from books, magazines and posters to animation, photography and three-dimensional objects – and are equally willing to embrace commercial and independent projects. Time Out got the lowdown on four designers at the forefront of the country’s fast-developing architecture, fashion and graphic design culture; those who, as ‘China Design Now’ co-curator Lauren Parker, says, ‘are mixing influences from China’s past with modern international cultural trends, and who are combining tremendous entrepreneurial spirit with an experimental outlook on design’. Feature continues

© Jiang Kian Playzine No 1

Jiang Jian
Age 32
Background Graduated from Beijing Graphic Design in 1998, gained an MA in Australia and set up his own design studio Joyn:viscom in 2006.
USP Initiator and co-curator of Chinese graphic design exhibition ‘Get it Louder’.

Get it Louder (GIL) was a showcase for young Chinese designers (fashion, multimedia and architecture as well as graphics) that opened in Shenzhen in 2005 and travelled to Shanghai and Beijing, garnering international interest and providing one of the first opportunities for young Chinese designers to come together to show their non-commercial work. A second GIL took place last year and there are now plans to establish it as a biennial. ‘The initial idea came from my MA graduation paper in 2002,’ Jian explains, ‘and took a lot of effort: the curators met and organised the exhibition almost entirely online.’

Jian’s studio – in a modern tower block with vertigo-inducing views over Beijing’s smoggy street-level haze – is thriving, with five employees, an annual independent design mag called Plugzine and a short film completed in 2006 and screened in Germany and the UK. ‘I’m always dreaming about being a film director,’ he says, ‘it would be a really amazing job.’

One of the most influential and successful of Beijing’s new hybrid artist-designers, Jian has established working partnerships with many of the big brands now operating in China, among them Motorola, Absolut Vodka and Coca-Cola, in addition to curating an exhibition for Nike last year. ‘I don’t see any conflict in working for big brands like Nike,’ Jian says. ‘We have similar ambitions in promoting Chinese pop, art and youth culture. Both commercial and non-commercial work is important – for us it’s like having two legs instead of one.’

© MEWE

MEWE Design Alliance
Ages 30-32
Background MEWE (Guang Yu, He Jun and Liu Zhizhi) met ten years ago on the Graphics course at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts and formed a partnership located in trendy gallery complex, 798.
USP Work closely with their contemporaries while also undertaking individual projects, hence the name (MEWE = Me + We).

MEWE produces award-winning print and text-based designs for posters, T-shirts, artists’ catalogues and visual idents, in addition to their own projects. The members’ references range from the personal – pages of old school books – to the universal: they’ve purloined China’s Central Television Company logo for a project. MEWE is successful enough to attract commercial work but the trio are still cautious. ‘It’s wise not to be too influenced by people suddenly paying you a lot of attention,’ says Guang Yu. ‘Fast development doesn’t always lead to something positive’.

© Maleonn

Maleonn
Age 35
Background Maleonn (formerly Ma Liang) studied painting in Shanghai and from 1995 to 2003 was China’s most successful commercials director before switching back to fine art, specifically photography.
USP Constructs series of photographs depicting fantastical, surreal scenarios. Maleonn hand-colours his photographs to create a nostalgic feel; this also makes his images appear dark and otherworldly, reminiscent of the moody dramas of US photographer Gregory Crewdson. He only began showing his photographs in 2005 but has already exhibited in Europe, America and Canada, as well as in China.

Maleonn works from a run-down Shanghai factory once used to manufacture radio parts but now home to 40 artists and photographers. His studio is filled with props and costumes from past shoots, including macabre market junk, masks and old toys.

He may be only slightly older than many of the other artists showing in ‘China Design Now’, but in China five years can equate to a lot of change. Maleonn was born in a labour camp during the last years of Mao’s regime: his actress mother and opera-director father had been exiled there during the Cultural Revolution. His more bittersweet take on life is reflected in his work ‘Days on the Cotton Candy’ (showing at the V&A), a series of surreal interiors in which characters interact with anthropomorphic clouds of candyfloss. ‘We should enjoy the sweetness of life,’ he says. ‘It’s much better and more fulfilling now, but while we may have more opportunities to buy beautiful clothes and other things we like, we shouldn’t become too obsessed with surface.’

© Helen Sumpter

Perk (You Zao and Wowo)
Ages 28
Background Jing Ningning (nickname You Zao) studied fashion in Tianjin and Fi Wei (known as Wowo) studied product design in Shanghai. They met via the internet, through drawing and illustration chat forum poobbs.com, one of the most popular sites for Chinese designers. Wowo was in corporate identity branding and You Zao in printmaking when, in 2004, they formed Perk to experiment with their own ideas.
USP Perk produces an array of products from stickers and flipbooks to sculpture, clothing, toys and animation, all based on a quirky cast of hybrid fantasy characters. A Perk shop is about to open in Shanghai’s boutique shopping mall, Xintiandi.

China’s one-child policy was introduced in 1979; You Zao and Wowo were born the following year. It may be too obvious to connect the life-size, child-like sculptural figures lying around Perk’s not-quite-finished studio in downtown Shanghai to growing up in a generation of only children but Perk places great emphasis on individuality. ‘Our generation doesn’t want to be defined as either artists or designers,’ Wowo explains. ‘We want to make personal work that comes simply from exploring our own feelings; being happy or sad. It may seem like we’ve already arrived, but for us, we’re very much still on a journey.’

'China Design Now’ is at the V&A Museum (www.vam.ac.uk) from March 15-July 13.