I like to collect all kinds of visual culture stuff. Here’s a bunch of Chinese advertisements I’ve found on streets of Guangzhou. Some are funny, some are ugly. But definitely it’s something different from Europe or States.
In January I went to Shenzhen and found there an exhibition of GDC, the first global design competition in China, which is held every two years.
Here I share with you photos of some exhibits from there, mostly posters.
Also you can view this materials at my Flickr space.
Some curious findings from Shenzhen, posters, signs, sculptures and just weird objects I’ve met on my way.
Also this stuff directly at it’s Flickr set.
Findings from previous trips: China (July-October 2009), China (October 2008), London (july 2008), London (March 2008),
Back from winter holidays I start sharing with you recent findings, inspiring goodies.
British artist Fiona Hewitt is inspired by all things Chinese. And her recent illustrations express this affection, stylistically based on Chinese advertisements and packaging of the beginning of 20th century.
Taiwanese illustrator Inca Pan works in mixed media and watercolor to create magical surreal collage illustration. I can not completely apprehend how and why, but his images attract me greatly.
Another exhibition from ICOGRADA Beijing was about sitting in public places. I must say that most of exhibits are not just curious and good looking but pretty comfortable which I checked personally.
Qian Qian (b. 1979) is a graphic artist and designer based in New York City. One of the “20 under 30 New Visual Artists” by Print magazine, he has worked with such clients as Nike, Panasonic, Coca-Cola, and Motorola. His work has appeared in many international design publications, and exhibited in V&A Museum in London, and Lincoln Center in New York. He has a Masters degree in digital media design from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and had taught graphic design at Missouri State University, USA. In 2005, He initiated and curated Get It Louder, a ground-breaking design exhibition in China’s Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
{“Shadow Play is Fun!” illustration by Qian Qian.}
Recently I stumbled upon an interesting article about new graphic design in China. It’s an interview with Javin Mo, of the HK-based Milkxhake design collective. Actually, it’s been posted at Ping Mag more then a year ago but still up to date.
In Hong Kong, we started our graphic design history only in the 1970s. In mainland China, it’s been like ten to fifteen years maximum. And in the last seven years, I’ve seen a lot of interesting projects online by these 20-something people. I can see the freedom in spaces like Shanghai or Beijing, because contemporary art is super crazy there. These two art scenes are providing a really good atmosphere for graphic design. The kids can find magazines for their illustrations and open-minded clients for collaboration, especially when it comes to art- and culture-related product design. That’s quite different from Hong Kong where it’s pretty commercial: our art space is not as big as China’s right now. That’s why not many designers can just do art- and cultural-related things and survive…
Read the rest of the article here.
As for me one of the most interesting and inspirational events of this ICOGRADA congress was an exhibition of the best fonts of Chinese Type Design Competition. I’m sure that even people who are not got used to Chinese characters can appreciate the beauty of this fonts and find inspiration there. And I feel that basic rules and principles are the same for Latin and Chinese type design.
To showcase the font designers use chosen poem with all different characters. They do not make all existing characters for the competition. Well, this is not just 26 letters of alphabet and obviously would take one person years and years to design font with thousands of characters. Usually this is a project for a design team.
I feel like I had to start with this general post about ICOGRADA event in Beijing.
The last week of October ICOGRADA and Chinese authorities organized international design congress. It was a huge event that attracted designers from all over the world. The big kick to promote China and Beijing in the world and design in China. There were many intersting exhebitions, lectures by prominent international and Chinese designers, workshops, performances and so on.
The main venue of the event was CAFA (China Academy of Fina Arts). This beautiful building is the new CAFA Art Museum, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.
And this is the logotype of the event, stylized Chinese character “XIN”…
And further I’m going to write what it’s all about…
