Pagine

martedì 7 febbraio 2012

"But men are lonely": interview to the mysterious 非(hi)

“I am (hi).
Live in Tokyo.
Painting with my pc.”

That’s all we know about the Japanese artist called , a digital painter that has totally caught our attention about a year ago. THIS IS SO CONTEMPORARY has recently began to promote his/her work and we’ve picked up a lot of positive comments so that we decided to have an interview with the artist to know more who’s behind those extraordinary artworks. 



Digital image, 2011


As a first question we’d like to ask you something that our people would love to know as a curiosity. , Are you a female or a male? 

I don't like myself too much, so I don't want to reveal my identity and let people know who I am.

Your digital artworks are so expressive that they might be taken for paintings at first sight. Tell us about when you began to use the pc to make art. 

Several years ago I began using this style. At that time I came to see a lot of work of other people on the internet, and I wanted to become able to create my favorite images, just for myself. The roots of my creation is still 'self-satisfaction'. By that time, I already had a tablet and Photoshop, so the basic instruments to make digital art were not missing. I've never wanted to make art in the traditional way. I don't draw on paper neither like it. Of course, I'm still very bad at drawing in digital but I can always retouch a little bit if there's something I don't like to see. 


Digital image, 2011

Another interesting feature of your work, is that the subjects are young males, all of them with elements (physical and not) that reveal some kind of fragility, typical of feminine gender. Who are these characters? 

There are many great paintings and illustrations where women are represented the most. It is strange for me. I don't feel attraction or story to women. Women are pretty, and their existence is happy in itself. But men are lonely. I don't decide who is the model of my picture, but they are the common teens, so poor at communicating and with more worries than fun. It's very usual.


Dalmatian, digital image, 2011

Your biggest influence artistically talking.

My art textbook is the internet. So my favorite artists are mostly living artists.
I must confess that I am totally ignorant about art, I don't know the artists or the works which are famous in history.

Digital image, 2012


We’ve been following you for a while and I’ve noticed that sometimes it takes months before you update your Tumblr with new works. How your work does articulates and how long it takes on average to start and finish a painting?

I am a really really slow painter. This is one of my biggest worries.
It takes about two or three weeks.

Digital image, 2010

The tune to listen to while you’re painting.

I tend to listen to music with lyrics. While I am doing art, I sing and cry sometimes. It must be a quite weird scene because I'm very tone-deaf.

How many followers do you have on Tumblr and what do you think about the art in the new media’s era?

Now about 6,000. It is a very big number for me. I thank all the people who are interested in my work. I think the art of nowadays is so convenience and friendly. I had the impression that the art is difficult, but now I can meet many great artists and can have people seeing my work easily on the internet. I really appreciate it.


Scrap, digital image, 2011

Are you interested in fashion? If so, what’s your favorite model?

I like the editorial and the show. My recent favorite models are Sylvester Ulv Henriksen, Victor Nylander, Dan Felton and Harry Daniels, among others.


Have you ever travelled out of Japan? Tell us about  your experience (if you had).

Only one time, to Taiwan. If I had the opportunity I would to go to various places. The world is beautiful everywhere. 


Lot of people that follow THIS IS SO CONTEMPORARY keep asking to us if your artworks are for sale so I’d like to turn the question to you: are your artworks available for sale somewhere on the web or at any art gallery around the world?

I currently don't sell data files or prints. If there are some requests, I will think about starting to sell.


Soon become useless, digital image, 2010



1 commento: