Kuang Chu 光诸 | 46 Years to Become an Artist 四十六年的艺术家之路
Kuang Chu also known by his actual name, Liu Zheng, is a Chengdu-based artist and writer. He has worked as a reporter for media for most of his life before becoming an artist at the age of 46. He has published three well-received books "The Art of Lines", "The Art of Lines II" and "The Dark Book” globally, and a popular science graphic book with his wife titled "20,000 Years to Make Toilet”. His main body of work, the "Red Balloon” fine art series was exhibited in Beijing and USA. He is also one of the pioneers of an emerging art movement known as “linism” in which artists use lines as the main creative device for creating art. Kuang Chu’s story is full of strife and barriers that prevented him from becoming an artist, and he was only able to achieve this title once he abandoned everything he once had. This is the story of the birth of an artist, his work, and the path he created for himself.
光诸，本名刘铮，是一位来自成都的艺术家、作家。在46岁成为艺术家之前，他的工作是一名媒体记者。他曾经出版了三本广受好评的书籍《线条的艺术》、《线条的艺术II》和《黑暗之书》 ，同时他还和他的妻子一起出版了一本名为“20,000 Year to Make Toilet”的科普绘本。他主要的作品，《红气球》系列曾在北京、美国展出。他也是新兴艺术运动“线条主义”的先驱之一，以线条为主要创作手段进行创作。对光绪来说，他的艺术之路上充满了阻碍和斗争，而他也只有放弃了曾经拥有的一切才成为一位真正的艺术家。这是一个关于艺术家诞生的，关于他的作品，关于他为自己创造道路的故事。
The Artist’s Rite of Passage
艺术家之路
As a child, Kuang Chu had a peculiar view of the world. Drawing from an early age he would match colors freely bringing criticism from his teachers on the reality of the world that he perceived. In their minds, trees must be brown and water must be blue. However, this was later found to be a sickness he had known as deuteranopia, a type of color blindness for green and red colors. This led the artist to shift his focus to black and white art. Having grown up in China during the 70s he faced many challenges as an aspiring artist. While his parents saw his passion and talent for art, the public was not used to his strange and colorless drawings. However as time went on he struggled with the social pressures as a single child, being left alone while both his parents both worked. Embracing this solitude brought on by his family’s circumstances, he would begin to realize that he was not like other kids his age.
从小光诸就对世界有一种奇特的看法。很小的时候开始，他就喜欢自由地搭配颜色，但由此带来的却经常是老师来自现实世界的批评。在他们心目中，树一定是棕色的，水一定是蓝色的。然而，这后来被发现是一种他称之为 deuteranopia（色盲） 的疾病，一种对绿色和红色的色盲。这也从而将他的注意力转移到黑白艺术上。作为一名出生在70年代的中国，胸怀抱负的艺术家，他面临着许多挑战。虽然他的父母看到了他对艺术的热情和天赋，但大众并不习惯他奇怪而无色的画作。然而，随着时间的推移，他作为家中独子，在社会压力中挣扎，在父母都忙于工作的情况下独自一人。接受家庭环境带来的这种孤独，他开始意识到自己和其他同龄孩子不同。
By the time he was 16 years old, Kuang Chu began developing an interest in modern art but his partial color blindness would leave him to forgo an artist’s path and instead attend the Beijing University of Technology. After graduating, he would work as an engineer at the Jeep factory where his mother also worked. Later, he would reinstate his passion for art after learning English and becoming a reporter. After marrying his first wife, he would continue working for the media. However, he would eventually fall into a slump as he went through many failures as an artist, reporter, and husband.
16岁时，光诸开始对现代艺术产生兴趣，但他的部分色盲让他放弃了艺术家的道路，转而进入北京工业大学。毕业后，他在他母亲工作的吉普工厂担任工程师。后来，他努力学习英语并成为一名记者，恢复了对艺术的热情。与第一任妻子结婚后，他继续工作在媒体行业。然而，不管是作为艺术家、记者和丈夫，在每一种身份上他都经历了许多失败，最终陷入了低谷。
Around the age of 40, he would divorce his first wife and abandon everything to become a professional artist. His life took a turn after his marriage to his second wife who would eventually help him to create a popular children’s book titled, “20,000 Years to Make Toilet”. After publishing three English books on art, creating his “Red Balloon” series, and participating in an artist residency program in New York, he would finally be noticed as an artist at the age of 46.
40岁左右，他与第一任妻子离婚，放弃了一切，成为一名职业艺术家。在与第二任妻子结婚后，他的生活发生了转折，妻子帮助他创作了一本名为“20,000 Years to Make a Toilet”（2万年建造厕所）的流行儿童读物。在出版了三本关于艺术的英文书籍，创作了他的《红气球》系列，并参加了纽约的艺术家驻留计划后，他终于在 46 岁时正式成为了一名艺术家。
“I began to draw when I was very little, and I had made many artworks that I want to bury forever, they are skeletons in my cupboard. I prefer to tell everybody I started to make drawings in 2011 after I quit all my jobs. But the truth is, I kept trying to make art from 4 to 46, and at the age of 46, I began to make art.”
“我很小的时候就开始画画，我画了很多我想永远埋葬的艺术品，它们是我橱柜里的骷髅。我更愿意告诉大家，我是在 2011 年辞掉所有工作后开始画画的。但事实是，我从 4 岁到 46 岁一直在努力创作艺术，到了 46 岁，我开始创作艺术。”
- Kuang Chu 光诸
Artistic Inspirations & Creative Process
艺术灵感与创作过程
Growing up during the birth of the internet and the first appearance of western media coming into China, Kuang Chu was first inspired by the illustrations of classic stories such as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Charlotte’s Web”. Not having studied the great classical artworks of the past when it was time to start his journey as an artist, their black and white illustrations further cemented his artistic decisions.
光绪的成长伴随着互联网的诞生和西方媒体渐渐进入中国，他最初的灵感来自于《爱丽丝梦游仙境》、《绿野仙踪》、《夏洛特的网》等经典故事的插画。在他的艺术之路刚起步时，他并没有去研究以前那些伟大的古典艺术作品，反而是这些故事里的黑白插图进一步巩固了他的艺术风格。
From the artist’s words, he aims to be like M.C. Escher and borrow influences from artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Hendrick Goltzius, and Gustave Dor. He further remarks: “Contemporary artists that I’m emulating include James Jean, Gary Baseman, Ray Caesar, Mark Ryden, and Audrey Kawasaki." In fact, Kuang Chu would find many talented artists that were better than him and would seek out ways to become more distinguished in his art style.
用他的话来说，他的目标是成为像 M.C. Escher 这样的艺术家，并借鉴了 Albrecht Dürer、Hendrick Goltzius 和 Gustave Dor 等艺术家的影响。他进一步表示：“我正在效仿的当代艺术家包括詹姆斯·琼、加里·贝斯曼、雷·凯撒、马克·莱登和奥黛丽川崎。”事实上，光诸会寻找许多比他更出色的天才艺术家，并寻找使自己艺术风格更加出众的方法。
“I found everything about the old European engravings fell into place for me creatively. Firstly, it is very satisfying for my need for neat and traceable lines. Secondly, I like the technique some engraving artists such as Hendrick Goltzius and Gustave Dor were good at – using tapering lines as a device of shading, which is using the thick part to make the dark side of an object, while the thin part the bright side. Lastly, the look of old European engravings conjures up the spirit of the Renaissance and Age of Discovery – the curiosity toward the vast unknown in the world, which is the same vibe I think my own works should have. “
“我发现关于古老的欧洲版画的一切都对我来说很有创意。首先，它非常满足我对整洁且可追溯的线条的需求。其次，我喜欢 Hendrick Goltzius 和 Gustave Dor 等一些雕刻艺术家擅长的技术——使用锥形线条作为阴影的手段，即用厚的部分使物体的暗面，而薄的部分则是明亮的边。最后，古老的欧洲版画的外观让人联想到文艺复兴和大发现时代的精神——对世界上广阔未知的好奇心，这与我认为我自己的作品应该有的氛围是一样的。“
- Kuang Chu 光诸
The artist incorporates storytelling deeply into his works blending eccentric and sometimes ironic visuals. This is in part influenced by his time as a writer and reporter. With each work, words become the basis for his imagination bank, building a story bit by bit. The creation of his work is an evolution of different concepts and ideas that are well thought out but constantly being reimagined. In the end, the final product is not the same as what he first envisioned and neither is it improvised. The artist’s process of creation is time-consuming but the artist believes this paradox is something he embraces as an artist.
光绪将讲叙事深深地融入了他的作品中，融合了古怪甚至有时具有讽刺意味的视觉效果。这在一定程度上是受到了他曾作为作家和记者身份的影响。曾经的每一篇报道，每一个文字都为他之后天马行空的想象填充了资料，一点一点地构建一个故事。他作品的创作是经过深思熟虑但不断被重新构想的不同概念和想法的演变。最终的成品和他最初设想的不尽相同，也不是即兴创作的。他的创作过程非常耗时，但他认为这种矛盾是他作为艺术家需要去接受的。
“I have symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, so I can’t do anything that needs hours of immersion…but the time I can really use to make art is relatively short and intermittent. Paradoxically, the combination of these two factors makes me only fit to make very time-consuming arts, because I can finish them bit by bit over a long time.”
“我有注意力缺陷障碍（多动症）的症状，所以我不能做任何需要数小时沉浸的事情……但我真正可以用来制作艺术的时间相对较短且断断续续。矛盾的是，这两个因素的结合使我只适合制作非常耗时的艺术，因为我可以在很长一段时间内一点一点地完成它们。”
- Kuang Chu 光诸
Red Balloon & Storytelling
红气球和讲故事
The "Red Balloon" series is one of Kuang Chu’s biggest bodies of artworks that he is constantly creating. The idea was born unintentionally and without reason. He likens the creation to a scene from an imaginary crime movie. This is how he came up with the first piece of the series, “The Well”. Since then he has been exploring the series as something that not only creates an emotional impact but also is part of a living narrative. All works of the “Red Balloon” series take the viewer on a journey with a girl holding a red balloon who unwillingly enters a new reality similar to the protagonist of “Alice in Wonderland” with each environment stranger than the next. The artist emphasizes the relevance of real elements to ground his works, building a distinction between the real and surreal.
《红气球》系列是光诸不断创作的最大的艺术作品之一。这个想法是无意间也无缘由产生的。他将创作比作虚构犯罪电影中的场景。这就是他的系列的第一部作品《The Well》的创作来源。从那以后，他一直在探索这个系列，它不仅能产生情感影响，而且是鲜活“叙事的一部分。《红气球》系列的所有作品都带领观众踏上一段旅程，一个拿着红气球的女孩不情愿地进入了一个类似于《爱丽丝梦游仙境》的主角的新的现实，每个环境都比另一个陌生。艺术家强调了真实性元素与作品的相关性，在真实和超现实之间建立起区分。
“In most adventure stories, the protagonist shall be normal, though the environment he/she is in can be as grotesque as possible. Say, Alice could be heroin of the “Adventure in Wonderland”, but Queen of Hearts could not.”
“在大多数冒险故事中，主角应该是正常的，尽管他/她所处的环境可以尽可能地怪诞。比如说，爱丽丝可以成为《仙境奇遇记》中的海洛因，但红桃皇后不能。”
- Kuang Chu 光诸
The red balloon for the artist symbolizes hope. Not only does it stand out in the absence of color, but it is a focal point that contrasts with the grim and dark imagery. The balloon itself uplifts the artwork bringing about a sense of unexpected irony that is being portrayed. It is simple to the point of being boring yet powerful when complemented with its surroundings. Kuang Chu will continue creating for the “Red Balloon” series and hopes to serialize it through a graphic novel in the near future. His aspirations for the series are absolute, with the dream of making it a series that can stand the test of time, long after his death.
红气球象征着希望。它不仅在单一色彩的情况下脱颖而出，而且是一个焦点，与严峻和黑暗形成了鲜明对比。气球将艺术作品升华，带来了正在描绘的意想不到的讽刺感。它本身相对乏味，但当与周围环境相结合时，却产生了一种力量。光诸将继续创作《红气球》系列，并希望在不久的将来通过插画小说将其连载。他对这个系列充满了理想和抱负，梦想在他死后很久，让它成为一个经得起时间考验的系列。
“What I want is 100 years later, the images I created could be seen.”
“我想要的是 100 年后，我创造的图像可以被看到。”
- Kuang Chu 光诸
For more info on the artist, please click here
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Translation 翻译 Rona Xia
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