The artist,channeling her inner child
Updated: 2015-08-21 08:09
By Agnes Lu(HK Edition)
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The popular cartoon character A - a 7-year-old boy who seems wise beyond his years - has found a following beyond Chinese shores. Agnes Lu met b. wing, A's creator.
If ever you have visited any cinema within the Broadway Circuit in Hong Kong or Beijing, you may recall an animated trailer preceding the film feature in which an adorable 7-year-old boy schools audience members about fine cinema etiquette. The boy has long ears like a rabbit's and melancholy eyes with dark circles around them. He has no mouth, which many of us wish could be the case with some of the movie patrons.
The animation figure, called A, has become a "star" in his own right. b. wing, his creator, drew the cartoon character randomly, on a piece of toilet paper, more than 10 years ago. Since then A has featured in a series of illustrated books and derivative products. His image has been licensed to several well-known brands, such as Chanel, agns b., Nokia and Yahoo.
During his appearances preceding films at the cinema, A rides a bicycle through a fantastic garden. He seems to be having fun. Subtitles ask the audience to turn off the sound on their phones and keep quiet. Finally, A knocks over his popcorn and the feature begins.
Anyone who has read the illustrated story books featuring A knows he is not a clumsy little boy at all and his stories never are ordinary. They are full of wit and insight.
To his creator, b. wing, A is as good as a friend. She talks to him while she is painting. The resonance between the two, evidently, is beyond words.
Benefits of isolation
As a child b. wing would be itching to draw something when she was often alone. Her father had abandoned the family soon after she was born. Her mother felt b. wing's arrival had hastened the break-up with her husband. b. wing's three brothers were much older than her. She grew up in solitude, filling up her time with drawing pictures.
The little girl felt alone but never lonely. Her solitude gave her the luxury of having the time to explore, channel and dispel her feelings. "Some people might play the guitar, others choose listening to music, my choice was drawing. If I hadn't been drawing, I might have gone crazy. The palette was my escape," recalled b. wing.
Her mother hardly ever talked to her and her three elder brothers were rarely at home. b. wing grew timid and unsocial. At school she presumptively labeled herself as unpopular, which made it more difficult for her to reach out and make new friends. Her social phobia has stayed with her, even until today.
She said she had to stand in front of a mirror before her interview with China Daily to dispel her feeling of panic, telling herself over and over that no one wanted to hurt her.
A friend of b. wing, Lily Lau, also a comic artist, recalled the first time they met at a gathering. "We were chatting over dinner, and I noticed she had not talked but was just listening. She seemed afraid to make contact with those she did not know," Lau said.
The introverted artist did summon the courage to knock on the door of the fashion brand agns b.'s gallery in 2002. She asked if she could exhibit her works there. The gallery said yes. So she went home and drafted a proposal. One year later, she was on a tour with the brand from Hong Kong, to Taiwan and Tokyo, to take part in an exhibition called "If you don't want to be perfect, you've come to the right place".
After quitting her job as a fashion designer and committing to illustrating full-time, she finally made her first public solo show and no longer needed to do freelance projects to make ends meet.
Young and profound
Since then b. wing has published nine books. She has collaborated with major brands on crossover promotions several times. A remains a constant in all her publications. He is still 7 years old and, like his creator, an introvert who seldom speaks. He is happy in an imaginary world, although he has his own issues to confront.
In The Whispering Game (2008), A is seen dressed in a sweater, holding a giant heart in front of his chest, against a pink background with what seems to be a Christmas tree. "I get up every night and sweep up my heart and polish it carefully, I want it to be as good as new," says the accompanying text.
After reading b. wing's There's a Dark, Dark Wood inside My Head (2009), a man wrote to her from Scotland. His girlfriend had bought the book in Beijing. The man, who had been suffering from depression, felt relieved for the first time in three years after reading it.
A Web user left a post on the mainland website douban.com after finishing the Chinese version of How to Rescue My Delirious Heart (2010), saying the book "has cured my heart and now I'm bathed in happiness".
The lonely A has captured many people's hearts with his sad eyes. He speaks in short sentences, revealing a wild imagination and deep self-reflection. He talks about pure love and hatred and what he wants to say to his favorite person, and what it means to him to live in a society full of complexities. It might seem nave on the surface but a keen insight is revealed on closer reading.
The deep and intimate thoughts buried inside a 7-year-old boy's heart are shared with the readers. b. wing imagines A's world represents the most peaceful corner of herself, where she feels safe and alone. She considers paintings done by children to be the purest.
"I believe a painting reflects the painter's inner heart, his deepest feelings. That's why people get touched just by staring at the painting," she said. "That's probably why people like my work: I paint from my heart."
She confessed it was the trials she had to go through at a young age that illuminated her works. Being on her own has helped her keep at her work without distractions, so she could listen to herself and get in touch with her most innocent feelings.
Lau believes b. wing's sensitivity toward life comes from her undistracted childhood, enabling her to review her past by painting it, in a transcendental way.
Every day b. wing gets up early in the morning and pores over different materials looking for fresh inspiration, before turning her full attention to her art. While Lau finds it remarkable that b. wing has managed to sustain interest in a single cartoon character for more than a decade, the artist herself admits she has encountered bottlenecks in recent years, stuck in the city's small creative industry, pondering what her next step should be.
That is why you will see a brand new trailer before a movie begins in the Broadway cinemas beginning this week. This time the solitary A finally finds nine new friends. He plays the guitar while others dance.
The creation of more characters may be b. wing's next step but she is not sure. No matter what, she swears she will always leave a remote piece of land deep in her heart. It is a tranquil place where no one can intrude.
Contact the writer at agnes@chinadailyhk.com
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The world of A, says b. wing, represents the most peaceful corner of her own heart. |
(HK Edition 08/21/2015 page14)