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Animals A to Z by
Lai
Chung Poon
*this file runs on
Quicktime (may have an Active X prompt) |
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Human life and emotion is a floppy,
jalopy subject matter that the visual
artist repeatedly attempts to control by
line, texture and tone. The
evolution/revolution of visual art
starts and ends with each artist who
makes their life about that miniature
reality that is the canvas or media.
And how will the visual artist control
this reality? With tyranny, anarchy or
something in between? Will the subject
rule the artist or will the artist rule
the subject?
Lai Chung
Poon is a Brooklyn-based
visual artist who plays between the
polar opposites of control and passion.
“My work has to be pretty tightly
constructed but with enough rawness to
show its natural character,” she says of
herself. “My concepts are always
different, but my hand or my lines are
always controlled.”
Good examples of this duality can be
found in her online samples. Her visual
work tends to favour black ink on white
paper with the infrequent exception of
one colour: red.
These stark contrasts bold and blunt the
lines and expressions in
Lai Chung
Poon’s often voluptuous and
surreal characters and images.
This strict control is counter-balanced
by
Lai Chung
Poon’s personal and somewhat
extreme content. The use of condensed
imagery on this white, neutral surface
reads like visual stories, riddles and
Tarot Cards.
“Most important is my passion to create
art and get better at it. I have the
drive to make things so I will always
make art for almost any reason. I am
usually more successful when I keep my
work personal. I eat up all the
information around me and produce art
from it. Sometimes I tell
autobiographical stories, such as the
Origami Novel, but other
times, I get inspiration from very basic
things such as a tree, rubber, animals,
technology and love. Even if I have a
message, the viewers will always decide
for themselves.”
And when she decides to spin these
images into animation? We become
participants in making black ink portray
human life.
“I am asking the viewers to see beyond
the subject,” she explains. “The
content is the key. For example, in
Animals from A to Z, the
subjects are: Asian young girl, animal
costumes, animation. The contents are:
transformation, the act of staring, the
alphabet, loops….etc. I set up a system
with my concept and rules and then my
subjects exist in that world.”
“Making work is about balancing control
and what comes naturally,” she
continues. “There are many times when I
create works that are too controlled.
In reaction, my next piece will usually
come from the gut. Artists have to make
rules. It can be as simple as thick
lines over thin lines or red always goes
on top of green.”
On animation, she says, “After creating
my first animation Anger,
I was addicted to the energy and power
of traditional animation. I continued
to experiment with all aspects of
drawing including illustration,
animation, installation and book
making. They are all
elements that I still use today. In
addition, I explore the realm of dance,
performance, installation and video
art.”
“I admire the painful and laborious
process, the more the better,” she
continues.
"Traditionally, drawn animation is a
painful process. I am proud when I
create an animated thing. The
drawings become alive in a different
world that I can't touch, but can
observe. I believe that the body only
exists in tension and making animations
that revolve around that idea makes me
feel like a little god.”
A good example of a raw human subject
matter that
Lai Chung
Poon has portrayed in her
past work is feminine sexuality.
“Ever since I learned how to draw a
woman, I spent most of my time designing
her character in a way that I fantasized
to be. I draw my character to reflect
on how I feel in the most honest way, as
a creator. I love the attention that
she gets when I animate my character,
which is hard to admit, but I love the
attention. Erotica is always warm, but
there are other artists out there who
make art about how cold sexuality can be
in this contemporary world.”
“The only purposefully erotic animation
that I made is "Queens of Hearts", which
is an obvious porno that I wanted to
make to feel good. There are other
projects that I worked on that are
erotic-looking because my character is
nude or wearing scandalous costumes but
I was not focusing on the "erotica" when
I was creating it. The sexual energy of
these pieces comes from me being kind of
crazy.”
“Now that I am older, the attention that
I want is different, the older works
only reflect the way that I was.”
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Rubber Project
by
Lai Chung Poon
*this file runs on Quicktime (may
have an Active X prompt) |
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Is
Lai Chung
Poon a feminist? “I can't
tell if I am a feminist. I make work
based on personal feelings and use the
female figure to say it. I enjoy the
power a female receives with sexual
energy, but I am equally interested in
making work without the candy of sex.
Two feminist-ish pieces are the "Tree
Project", which is a tribute for
mothers, who plant themselves down to
build a future for their offspring. The
other is the "Rubber Project", which
relates to a woman's flexibility to do
anything she wants.”
Artists, in any field, are often met
with the challenges of ego and
self-awareness. We make ourselves
little gods over our works but the
breadth of that power is determined by
our ability to evolve with not only our
subjects but ourselves.
Lai Chung
Poon says, “Once I learned to
look at art, I learned to look at life.
My goal is to get better at looking, so
I can be a better person at giving.”
copyright
lyw
Dec 2006
