10 Questions with Jingsi Chen

Jingsi Chen (shertato) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer who delves into how narratives may have multiple readings and perspectives. She develops work employing metaphor to address current societal issues through research informed by mythological narrative texts that can be re-interpret and applied to new meanings.

potatoorchips.wixsite.com/jingsichen | @ac.sh.94

ARTIST STATEMENT

Jingsi Chen, alias shertato, was born in Beijing, China in 1997. After graduation from The Glasgow School of Art, her work earned an International Designer Club Award nomination. Since 2022, Jingsi Chen has been working for personal and commercial commissions and has collaborated with artists across the world; she works with multiple mediums, including drawing, graphic design, and moving images, and also works as a Digital Editor for the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum. She participated in exhibitions at the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting and book fairs around the world. She curated the solo exhibition “Flaneur” from May to June 2023, and her artistic productions have been widely recognized. Her work is rooted in the fusion of virtual scenarios and realistic fields in the subconscious, exploring cyberspace through digital media. 

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. Who are you, and how did you develop into the artist you are today? 

I'm Jingsi Chen, and I was born in Beijing, China, in 1997. I am a multidisciplinary artist and designer specializing in illustration and graphic design, holding a bachelor's degree in Digital Media Art from Beijing Normal University in 2019 and a Master of Design in Communication Design degree from The Glasgow School of Art in 2021. My alias, shertato, used on digital media, is a made-up word that comes from 'sherry' and 'potato'. I'm not good with people, so I prefer to express myself through art and memorizing my life. 
I was born into an artistic family and was fascinated with art from a young age, drawing the characters from games with oil pastels in childhood. At first, I wanted to learn to draw, but my parents didn't allow me to be trained. They send me to learn dance and take me to museums regularly. I was keen on watching movies and retelling to friends, shooting photos, and editing videos, which enlightened me to control pictures through the camera. With the support of my parents, I went to university to study digital media art, access to new media design, animation, filmmaking, communication studies, and so on, but it felt like creations were limited by technology, so I learned more about oil painting and philosophy. My study tour in France and Spain, as well as my exchange experiences at Frostburg State University in the US, made me decide to be passionate about illustration, which is a method of creating graphics that has many possible realizations. Then, I went to an art school in the UK for advanced studies, which gave me an understanding of the professional operation of the art world and truly positioned me as an artist - who connects times and spaces through art.

What inspired you to pursue a career in art and design, and what keeps you motivated in your creative journey?

For me, creation is the journey of transcendence myself. My motivation is to be better than the last one. The products of one category are similar, but I always want to do something different. From the view of art history, oil painting is an art form redefinition through changes in painting schools. I think the same is true for the category of design; only by replacing produce with creation becomes an art form. Place phantom into realistic is charming of art and design; it makes everyone think of themselves as if they are capable of imagination. It seems simple, but the structure is repeatedly complicated and iterative. I'm pursuing communicating ideas intuitively and critically through works, and it's a way of exploring knowledge, which inspires me to practice, despite its failure, doing what no one has done full of dynamics. Everything in digital looks novel; one webpage can extend into countless webpages, just like an infinite game, which deeply attracts me to join the operations behind the scenes. Cyberspace is changing at any time, but it is not finalized. It is an area for me to play, and my creation path is accompanied by the popularization of technology.

Recently, you received a nomination for the International Designer Club Award. How has this recognition influenced your approach to art and design, and what are some of the key lessons you've learned from this experience?

This recognition encouraged me to see design as a communication tool, practice my design logic in any living environment, and persist in research-led design, carrying out the principle of idea priority and feasibility decisions later. I'm confident in transforming between realistic and virtual, building scenarios from the subconscious. This experience reminds me that design doesn't have to be practical or exist in the world; using images to change perceptions could convey the value of design. Commissions require physical output and are judged by commercial value most of the time. However, awards focus on cultural impact and creativity, arousing a broad art and design vision. This self-recognition makes me feel qualified to communicate with excellent artists in the same occupation and have the responsibility to lead the creative industry forward.

Let's now talk about your work. You employ various mediums, including drawing, graphic design, and moving images. How do you decide which medium to use for a particular project, and how do you feel these different mediums contribute to the impact of your work?

For me, drawing captures movement, graphic design is still motion, and moving images are extending statics. The medium I use depends on the requirement of commission generally; some projects could use diverse mediums. I use drawing for the project to address personality, and drawing has a strong representation, which means the commission has a common audience with me. Graphic design is the form between digital and physical, cooperating with printing technical in the project's outcome. It is used as a basic element for moving images, making images symbolize. I work for visuals of moving images when collaborating on projects with sound artists. Moving images are a medium that connects scenes from the timeline, and you can experience space through time; it still works animatedly. I use the features of these mediums to control time and space, just like the relationship between visual and listening, which have made my work distinguishable, they complement each other.

Your work is known for delving into how narratives may have multiple readings and perspectives. Could you tell us more about your creative process? 

Illustrations and books are ancient ways of recording. Narratives derived from mythological texts may have multiple readings. I research the narrative of mythologies, tales, and folklore, then reinterpret them, analyze relative artworks, and translate the context to current society. For example, I analyze films shot-by-shot to develop characters, scenes, and plots through drawing sketches. Refer to the first-person and third-person omniscient perspectives in literature text, I edit texts and images into a book to decide the characters and the story. How people read is associated with the way they use it; we are accustomed to website layout, interface, hyperlinks, and other functions; image reading also tends to be non-linear, skipping, and fragmented. Therefore, my works consist of several images in a group, sequenced by montage. I make the physical dummy book to page through and reorder, testing the narrative. It is a process that keeps me going back to the question repeatedly: how narratives may have multiple readings and perspectives.

As you mention in your statement, your recent solo exhibition, "Flaneur," was widely recognized. Could you share the inspiration behind this exhibition and what message you were trying to convey through your artwork?

I saw the word "Flaneur" when browsing Tate's website. It was a term used by nineteenth-century impressionists, who identified as an observer of modern urban life. It inspired me to connect my artwork through this way of seeing. I used it as my solo exhibition name, describing creators like me who observe daily phenomena. The picture condenses perspective into color, line, and texture in the plane; viewing and wandering in this rich visual relationship is to visit the perspective world I created.
My artwork is around metempsychosis, storytelling the journey with season changes. I want to convey the message through my artwork that life is a journey to keep returning to its origin, which can be seen as a self-rebirth loop. It provides a way of responding to the world. With media iteration, the same themes are interesting in my artworks. Medieval customs translate to contemporary parades, and ancient dress overlaps with the city's streets. I try to represent past works through my artworks.

On a general note, what would you like viewers to experience when confronting your work?

I would like viewers to have aesthetic feelings at first, then immersion, as if in the scenario. You enter the flow state and experience a winding path that leads to quiet seclusion when viewing works. The portable pieces present the space in the narrative anywhere, and viewers are invited into the world I create, like walking in space and feeling abstract and calm. I would like viewers to have the same feeling as me when confronting my work, realizing part of spirituality, and visible the object 'floating in the air.' Works are my communication with the viewer - a perspective of the world from me that is memorized and melts in your life experience, inspires, changes, and benefits you.

As a Digital Editor for Chinese Traditional Culture Museum, how does your work there influence your artistic endeavors?

As a Digital Editor, I am responsible for redesigning the official website, the English website, and the digital exhibition hall construction. Chinese Traditional Culture Museum is a national museum that represents Chinese traditional aesthetics, and it is for audiences of all ages. Working here brings me to the contradiction between the country and the individual, reflecting on the characteristics of China. I am exploring the relationship between the cultural identity of a typeface (a brand image) and language (or a certain writing system) to find a balance. The work environment and impact of discourse prompt me to pay more attention to language, which directly contributes to my participation in the non-profit translation project of postpost space (book store); back to the language itself, translation between English and Chinese is my contribution to visual theory in the context of global colonization, supporting the connection between other designers and me in the international. I learned from the curatorial narrative of British museums that exhibitions are formed by the spatial organization of the works on display, which co-present image evolution by exhibition space, website, and publication, and you can interact in the game on the web page. I apply this to my work; the order of operations when browsing a website is the hierarchy I make.

What future projects or directions are you excited to explore in your work?

I'm excited to explore images in my work, generating a living character with human personalities, hobbies, and precious qualities that could appear everywhere and continue iterating. I have provided design services in the name of design studio Loop since 2022, my works understanding the client's audience and, in return, researching my target audience. The branding project is my answer to balancing popular aesthetic principles and artistic originality; it is not promotional communications to exposure and reputation but maintains the visual identity consistency in the commercial context to gain my self-evaluation, which will be verified in the future. My work will rely more on the cyber community and digital media hybrid in the future direction. It gives participants the power to travel between cyberspace and reality and optimizes my work process while furthering my involvement in industrial products.

Lastly, where can we see your work next? Do you have any exhibition or project you would like to share with us?

You can see my work on my personal website, which is updated regularly. The recent illustration book project, which tells the story of the fox, uses the name "fox" from Reynard, the fox in medieval times, and has been passed down to this day through poetry and fables. The image of the fox extends from illustrations of the book to daily necessities, including candles, pillows, carpets, etc. Images combined with VR bring a unique reading experience and make you experience space replacement; the fox and others will appear in the wild, underground, and at home just like you.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.