Lily & Honglei is an immigrant artist collective based in New York City composed of Xiying Yang, Honglei Li, and He Li. The trio creates "multimedia art utilizing traditional painting and new media such as digital animation, Virtual Reality, and Augmented reality." Their work focuses on how China is advancing both culturally and industrially. A recent piece of theirs, titled "Shadow Play: Tales of Urbanization of China," uses VR, AR, and the physical world in order to visualize the way China is changing, citing the country's attempt to convert the majority of their population to a urban-oriented lifestyle. The piece can be explored in the Virtual World program second life, the virtual reality portion while the Augmented Reality portion can be downloaded to the user's smartphone.
The artwork is obviously trying to keep China's culture alive if not preserving it. But the innovative use technology coupled with paintings evocative of China's history really sells their purpose. Their older work is a bit different, combining the real world with the surreal. All of their work seems to be based on what the physical world and how it's changing.Their use of different realities to form a very expressive art form is what initially caught my attention. I'm not sure how I could critique it, nor am I sure how clearly the message is coming across: is the use of technology influencing art and culture and is this blending inevitable, or is their use of technology with their art the actual commentary? Is it a critique or a blending of the future?
Sources:
http://lilyhonglei.com/
http://turbulence.org/blog/2014/06/03/turbulence-commission-shadow-play-tales-of-urbanziation-of-china-by-lily-honglei/#more-14613
I really liked this artist too. It is interesting how the first picture shows a photograph of the bus, and then a hand drawn bicycle flying thru the air as if they were colliding--but there is even kind of a third level, as you see the picture on the phone. But I was really blown away by the second picture.
ReplyDeleteThe colorful and strange graphics over the photograph is really interesting.
Interesting concept. It's nice to see a group dedicated to at least preserving the memory of the culture. These people have a interesting purpose, but it is something that is going to possibly grow as we move forward. Technology is continuing to advance thus a project like this will continue to thrive with new ways to further the cause.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to utilize new technology. Any avenue that can open discussion on new issues is great, and I think it's brilliant to include mobile apps and the like. It gets more exposure for the issues, while also bringing art to more accessible mediums.
ReplyDeleteWow. Now that is art. From all the artists I have seen, this is the most interesting one. I love how a person can add life to a plain photo. This is very unique.
ReplyDeleteRoya Ayub
ReplyDeleteI love how urban and current this feels. It looks very cool and representative of the society we live in today. It features the phone we all use, and incorporates what looks like graffiti which is usually found in a more urban setting. Very interesting work.