Liu Di 柳迪｜In the Illusion of Familiar Places 在那似曾相识的地方
LEM NO.1
About the Artist
关于艺术家
Liu Di is a Chinese digital artist and photographer born in 1985 in Shanxi. He moved to Beijing to attend the Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and graduated with honors from his Master's Degree in Photography in 2009. In 2010 he joined the “reGeneration2” international young photographers’ group exhibition which was exhibited in New York, Miami, Beijing, and other cities. Here he won the Lacoste Elysee prize among 80 other young photographers worldwide.
柳迪，1985年生于山西，是中国的一位数字艺术家、摄影师。2009年他移居北京，就读中央美术学院，获摄影硕士学位。2010年他参加了纽约的“reGeneration2”国际青年摄影师群展，该展在迈阿密、北京等城市展出。这次展览中他在全球80余位年轻摄影师中脱引而出，赢得了Lacoste Elysee 奖。
Digital Virtual Portrait
Using digital manipulation on photography and 3D animation, Liu Di’s works mix that which is real with the imaginary bringing about rich mental storytelling through stark contrasts of the familiar in unreal possibilities. Through contrast, the artist explores a complex culmination of our understanding of the world and challenges it with multi-layered imagery full of multiple interpretations and deeply philosophical, spiritual, and reflective thinking– The unsettling disruption of our reality reimagined through the artist’s mind.
柳迪的作品通过对摄影和3D动画的数字处理，将真实与想象相结合，通过熟悉与虚幻的鲜明对比，带来丰富的心理叙事。通过对比，艺术家探索了我们对这个世界所能理解的复杂极限，并用多重解释和深刻哲学、精神和反思来挑战创造一种多层次的图案，通过艺术家的头脑重新想象我们现实中令人不安的破坏。
LEM NO.5
LEM NO.3
LEM NO.2
“Even though we cannot define these worlds that we are looking at, it does not mean that in theory, they can’t exist. There is a possibility that they could, even if only in our minds.”
“尽管我们无法定义我们正在观察的这些世界，但这并不意味着理论上它们不能存在。他们有可能做到，即使只是在我们的脑海中。”
- Liu Di 柳迪
LEM Part 2
Although Liu Di would go on to develop significant interest in art, he originally wanted to become a doctor. During his childhood, he would spend many days at the hospital where his mother worked by perusing medical publications that featured detailed descriptions and images of human anatomy, and hospital equipment. He would later incorporate these elements into his LEM series in 2019. Looking through these medical illustrations he would slowly begin to shift his focus and seek out knowledge to define his own visual language as an artist.
柳迪原本的理想是成为一名医生，后来对艺术产生了浓厚的兴趣，在他的童年时期，他会在母亲工作的医院度过许多时间，阅读医学刊物，其中包括那些人体解剖学和医院设备的详细描述和图像。后来在 2019 年，他将这些元素融入到他的 LEM 系列中。通过这些医学插图，他开始慢慢将注意力转移，并寻找知识来定义自己作为艺术家的视觉语言。
As Liu Di grew up, he immersed himself in the study of nature and the world beyond the Earth. He would enrich his curiosity of such concepts by reading books by sci-fi authors such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanisław Lem, Liu Cixin, Han Song, Wang Jinkang, and Douglas Adams. He would further investigate iconic movies such Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris which left long-lasting impressions on his artistic direction. Using this, he would create his own visual stories that would quench his exploration of philosophy, spirituality, and the future to establish his own enigmatic universe.
随着年龄的增长，他沉浸在对自然和地球以外世界的研究中。他会通过阅读艾萨克·阿西莫夫、亚瑟·C·克拉克、斯坦尼斯瓦夫·莱姆、刘慈欣、韩松、王金康和道格拉斯·亚当斯等科幻作家的书籍来满足自己对这些概念的好奇心。他仔细研究了斯坦利·库布里克 (Stanley Kubrik) 的《2001：太空漫游》和安德烈·塔可夫斯基 (Andrei Tarkovsky) 的《太阳系》等经典电影，这些电影给他的艺术方向留下了持久的印象。利用这一点，他创造了自己的视觉叙事，建立了他对哲学、灵性和未来的探索，为自己创造的神秘宇宙奠定了基调。
The Weight of Oneself No.4
《自我的重量4号》
The Weight of Oneself No. 5
《自我的重量5号》
In April 2017, Liu Di debuted his first solo exhibition Break With Convention, which featured two parts of a trilogy of 3D animated videos titled, “The Weight of Oneself” (2017), and “A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion” (2017). The trilogy is a work in progress that the artist states as “three sentences with the same grammatical structure.” Following a similar artistic language, each of the three visual artworks features a different concept. In particular, The Weight of Oneself takes inspiration from the quote by Witold Gombrowicz, a polish writer, and playwright known for his philosophical analysis and imaginative work. The title of the first work comes from a quote by the polish writer who states: “The weight of each of our selves, depends on the size of the population on the planet. If humanity’s weight is constant, then each individual’s weight is equal to one divided by the number of people living at that time.”
2017 年 4 月，柳迪举办首次个展“打破常规”，展出了3D 动画视频三部曲《自我的重量》（2017 年）和《顽固而持久的幻觉 》（2017 年）的两部分。三部曲是一部正在进行中的作品，艺术家将其描述为“具有相同语法结构的三个句子”。遵循相似的艺术语言，这三件视觉艺术作品中的每一种都具有不同的概念。尤其是《自我的重量》从 Witold Gombrowicz 的名言中汲取灵感，Witold Gombrowicz 是一位波兰的作家和剧作家，他以对哲学的分析和富有想象力的作品而著称。第一部作品的标题来自波兰作家的一句话：“我们每个人的重量，取决于地球上的人口规模。如果人类的体重是恒定的，那么每个人的体重就等于1除以当时的人口数。”
The exhibition also included a series of his photography exploring the clashing relationship between society and nature. Coming from the countryside and moving into the sprawling city that is Beijing, Liu Di was amazed and fascinated by the rapid environmental development with the urbanization process becoming a focal point to his artwork. Blending elements of landscape and nature photography with otherworldly figures, his artworks break the convention of what is real, redefining the way we look at the world. This would lead the artist to create the Animal Regulation series, a commentary on hyper-urbanization and its expense of it on our society and environment.
展览还包括他的一系列摄影作品，探索了社会与自然之间的冲突关系。从农村来到北京这个广阔的城市，柳迪着迷和惊讶于环境的快速发展以及城市化进程，这些成为他作品中的焦点。将风景和自然摄影的元素与超凡脱俗的人物相融合，他的作品打破了真实的传统，重新定义了我们看待世界的方式。正是这些促使艺术家创作《动物法则》系列，对超城市化和对我们的社会和环境的损害进行了评价。
“With a new awareness of our incomplete understanding of objective reality, we begin to doubt the narrow and limited subjective world. Only at this moment, can we get closer to what is real, and perceive the more lasting and valuable things beyond the trivialities of daily life.”
“随着我们对客观现实的不完全理解有了新的认识，我们开始怀疑狭隘和有限的主观世界。只有在这一刻，我们才能更接近真实，感知超越日常生活琐碎的更持久和更有价值的东西。”
- Liu Di 柳迪
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.4
《动物法则4号》
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.2
《动物法则2号》
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.5
《动物法则5号》
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.6
《动物法则6号》
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.7
《动物法则7号》
ANIMAL REGULATION - NO.8
《动物法则8号》
Imaginary beings engulf the empty space surrounding decrepit structures and landscapes instilling a sense of the bizarre. This metaphorical visualization of China from the artist’s perspective is the result of the Animal Regulation series that explores a rather sensitive issue of China’s rapid urbanization. The artist balances social commentary with a disruptive touch. The grand beings that become the subject in the artwork represent the force of nature which persists in the most extreme of conditions. The artist states: “The appearance of huge animals points to the unreliability of common sense, showing the flaws in how we perceive the world.”
虚幻的生物吞没了周围破旧的结构和景观的空旷空间，形成了一种奇异的感觉。“动物法则”系列从艺术家的角度对中国城市化的迅猛之势进行了一种隐喻的可视化，探索了这一相对敏感的问题。艺术家在社会评论与破坏性接触之间取得了一种平衡。作品中巨大的人物代表了在最极端条件下持续存在的自然力量。艺术家说：“巨大动物的出现显示出了常识的不可靠性，展现了我们感知的缺陷。”
This type of unforgettable and powerful imagery is a trademark of Liu Di’s creative portfolio. Carrying thoughtful philosophical context and a vision of a dystopian future, the artist immerses the viewers of his works into a state of hypnosis. Coupled with cinematic imagery, the artist shines a light on intricate themes such as human and animal rights, urbanization, ecology, and the hegemony of technology. The culmination of his works is a conscious and careful look into human existence and the future it calls for.
这种令人难忘而充满力量的图像是柳迪的标志性创作。这位艺术家带着深思熟虑的哲学语境和对反乌托邦未来的展望，让观看他作品的观众沉浸在一种催眠的状态中。结合电影图像，艺术家点亮了人类和动物权利、城市化、生态和技术霸权等错综复杂的主题。他作品的结果是对人类存在及其所要求的未来仔细而有意识的观察。
Animal Regulation II No.10
《动物法则第二部10号》
Animal Regulation III No.16
《动物法则第三部16号》
Animal Regulation IV No.18
《动物法则第四部18号》
In A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion, the artist reinterprets Albert Einstein’s quote: “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” The second part of his video trilogy begins with a still-life, repeating a path of coordinated motion leaving the viewer to reinterpret the narrative in a way that reflects the multiple realities that are possible in our reality. There is no discernible start to the video which lasts about ten minutes. While each viewing defines one part of many complete stories, he emphasizes that the third and final visual work will mark the end as the complete oeuvre of the artist’s visual animation series.
在 《顽固而持久的幻觉》 中，艺术家重新诠释了阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦的名言：“过去、现在和未来之间的区别只是一种顽固的幻觉。”他的视频三部曲的第二部分以静物开始，重复一种协调运动的路径，让观众以反映现实中可能存在的多重现实的方式重新诠释叙事。持续约十分钟的视频没有明显的开始。虽然每次观看都意味着许多完整故事的一部分，但他强调第三个也是最后一个视觉作品将标志着艺术家视觉动画系列的完整作品的结束。
A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion No.1
顽固而持久的幻觉 No.1
For his last and final work, the artist is considering exploring themes surrounding the moon. He remarked: “The final episode will be about the Moon. Asimov wrote an article before the landing of the Moon, joining a scientific debate and predicting that the Moon would have hundreds of meters of dust on its surface, therefore space crafts would sink in the dust if they landed. Needless to say, this scientific prediction was false, because we eventually found out that the Moon has no atmosphere and dust particles do not have air pockets in between them, therefore our spaceships landed on solid ground. This revelation prompted me to conclude the series with a film about the surface of the Moon and Moondust.”
对于他的最后一件作品，艺术家正在考虑探索围绕月球的主题。他评论道：“最后一集将是关于月球的。阿西莫夫在登月前写了一篇文章，加入了一场科学辩论，并预测月球表面会有数百米的尘埃，因此航天器一旦着陆就会沉入尘埃中。毋庸置疑，这个科学预测是错误的，因为我们最终发现月球没有大气层，尘埃粒子之间也没有气泡，因此我们的飞船降落在坚实的地面上。这一启示促使我用一部关于月球表面和月尘的电影来结束这个系列。”
With work underway on his final animation triptych, he continues to manifest futuristic fantasies with recognizable elements– dreams of an alternate or impending reality. While we may question whether these are actual possibilities or not, the artist does not ponder. He believes that such thoughts are subjective ideas and feels that it is his mission to show that which has not yet been imagined yet can be perceived as a possibility that lives in our minds.
柳迪最后一部动画三部曲的工作正在进行，他继续用可识别的元素来表现未来派的幻想——交替出现或即将发生的现实的梦。虽然我们可能会质疑这些是否会成为可能的现实，但艺术家并不会思考这些。他认为这样的想法是主观的，他认为他的任务是展示尚未被想象但可以被视为存在于我们脑海中的可能性。
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Translation 翻译 Rona Xia
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