酷儿万岁！

LONG LIVE THE QUEERS!

性少数群体的存在和权益，是超越历史的，不可规避的社会话题。在城市主义与都市情怀大行其道的上海，酷儿艺术与文化也悄然从当代西方舶来品，渐渐演变为具有本土风情的、多维度的、区别于西方但却接轨于国际的都市青年文化。

青年男女在观阅无数遍 <巴黎在燃烧>, 在布满金粉的房间里与大码变装皇后热舞后，酷儿艺术文化语境中，更深一层的严肃社会政治议题，逐渐在此狂欢中揭开面纱。本期aolab INSPIRATION邀请到两位新锐插画艺术家，ta们或许将自己定位在酷儿语境之外，却同用艺术创作的方法论探索性与性取向。通过问答的方式，我们希望深入浅出地探讨酷儿艺术与自我意识，与跨国/跨文化主义，与自我和社群，与艺术审查机制的微妙关系。

关于纽约同志地下Voguing和Ballroom文化的现象级纪 
<巴黎在燃烧> 海报

The existences and rights of sexual minorities are insurmountable social topics that transcend history. In Shanghai, where urbanism and cosmopolitan attitudes prevail, queer art and culture have gradually transformed from a contemporary western import to an indigenized, multi-dimensional youth culture that differs from its western origin while maintaining a level of internationality. 

After countless viewings of “Paris is Burning” and night dancing with plus-sized drag queens in glittered rooms, people in euphoria, start turning their heads to more serious sociopolitical questions in the context of queer art and culture. aolab INSPIRATION invites two emerging artists to tackles those questions. They might not frame themselves as “queer artists,” but their artistic practices operate upon exploring the ideas of gender and sexuality. Through the form of Q&A, we hope to discuss the nuanced relationships between Queer art and self-awareness, transnationalism, the self and communities, and art censorships.

Denis Sdobnov

来自俄罗斯，现居上海，人气社交媒体插画师。他的作品多为个人视野下的LGBTQ+ 群像描绘，或是个人私欲幻想的具象视觉表达。其插画作品被众多位同志偶像所转载。

Instagram：@Drawmedenis

From Russia, now living in Shanghai, popular Illustration Artist on Social Media. Sdobnov is known for portraying a collective LGBTQ+ imagery through his unique perspective, and visually manifesting private sensual fantasy. His works have been acknowledged and forwarded by numerous gay icons on social media.

第一次真正的艺术创作是两年前。Denis为了表达自己内心对某人强烈且迫切的爱意，将目光定格在苹果商店时下最热门的创作程序 – Procreate。一部手机，两根手指，从未接受过任何艺术训练的Denis生疏地在屏幕上勾勒出心中所爱。“虽然他并没有被那副作品所打动，不过我从那时候开始从绘画中找到对自己心绪的慰藉，是向人表达爱意最浪漫的方式。” 两年后的今天，还是一部手机，几根手指和一个应用，Denis已经跻身为Instagram上最炙手可热的酷儿插画艺术家之一。

For Denis, the first real artistic creation happened two years ago. Denis was urgent to express his burning love for someone and has set his sights on then the trendiest creative program in the apple store – Procreate. Without any formal art training, Denis started outlining the love of his life on the screen, with a mobile phone, an app, and two fingers. “Although he was not impressed by the drawing after all, I have found the solace and tranquility of my inner world through such creative and cathartic process. I think it is the most romantic and intimate way to express my feelings and thoughts to someone that I care about.” Now, still, with a mobile phone, two fingers, and an app, Denis has made one of the hottest illustration artists on Instagram.

出生在俄罗斯传统东正教家庭，Denis成长的过程充满着自我身份认同的挣扎。两年的绘画经历记录了Denis自我接受与自我和解缓慢且闪耀的过程。艺术创作与艺术家社群赋予Denis跟随内心的勇气，使他很快成为上海酷儿文化圈的甜心宠儿。“自诩为酷儿艺术家是需要肩负很大一部分社群责任的，你的作品不能够仅仅停留在简单的人物肖像或是自我探寻的层面上。你需要去给予爱与关怀，赋能于其他正在接受挣扎与磨难的酷儿群体，去毫不保留地庆祝多样与不同。”

Born and raised in a traditional Russian Orthodox family, Denis grew up with a struggle for self-identity. Two years of drawing has documented Deni’s slow but glittering process of self-acceptance and self-compromise. Artistic creations and the artist community have empowered Denis with the courage to follow his heart, which has quickly made him a darling of the Shanghai queer scene. “The title “artist” comes with a lot of social responsibilities. Your work and practice should not be merely about portraits or self-explorations. You need to give love and supports, empowering other queer people in struggle and agony, and unreservedly celebrate difference and diversity.”

Mellow Meadow

穿梭于上海与纽约的独立插画师。纽约 School of Visual Arts 学生。她的作品探索自然与神秘的事物，以及不同语境下的亲密关系。其作品被纽约上海多家机构画廊展出。

Instagram：@Mellowmeadow7

Weibo：@Mellowmeadow

An independent illustration artist traveling between Shanghai and New York, a student of School of Visual Arts. Meadow’s works explore natural and mysterious beings, as well as the idea of “intimacy” in different contexts. Her works have been exhibited by several galleries and art institutions both in Shanghai and New York.

Meadow 初识酷儿形态或许来自高中偶像张国荣。在2000年热情演唱会上，44岁的张国荣盘起及胸长发，身袭流苏长裙。与他低沉的烟嗓，健美的双腿形成强烈的感官反差。Meadow被张国荣同时散发出的阴阳诡秘气质所深深折服。“这启发了我对一个个体最美好的期待，这个个体的美超脱单一生理、社会性别语境中的同质性和简化性。TA是所有的可能。”

Meadow’s first encounter with queer forms might come from her high school idol – Leslie Cheung. At the 2000 Passion Tour, Cheung, then 44 years old, appeared on stage in a fringed dress with his long hair curled up, which cast a sensorial contrast with Cheung’s smoky voice and his defined legs wavering underneath the dress. Meadow was stunned by Cheung’s mysterious androgyny. “This look has then inspired my expectation of a perfect individual, who transcends the homogeneity and simplification in the context of binarized social gender. They manifest all the possibilities!”

在双城地下亚文化和自身亲密关系的穿梭与探索中，Meadow逐渐形成对酷儿及酷儿艺术概念的独到见解。对Meadow 来说，酷儿艺术的闪耀是对异性恋主导的二元性别意识形态竖起的一根中指。身份与取向是如同光谱般的存在，而并非黑与白，主流与异端。酷儿艺术同时赋能人们探寻自我的勇气，对抗被潜移默化强加在自身的异性恋/二元性别意识行为。

Wandering between and exploring the subcultures of Shanghai and New York and her intimate relationships, Meadow has gradually formed her queer and queer art interpretations. To her, the sparkling nature of queer art is like a middle finger to the ideology of gender binary dominated by heterosexuality. Gender identity and sexuality should not exist as black and white, mainstream and heresy, but as a spectrum. At the same time, queer art is a form of empowerment that endows people with the courage to explore themselves against the heteronormative ideology imposed upon them by families and society.

Meadow Asks Denis

M: 我看到你的很多作品都是描绘的泳池/海滩风光，里面身着荧光粉泳裤的男体形象让我想到画家大卫霍克尼笔触下的加州生活。你会在霍克尼或是其他酷儿艺术家的作品中找寻灵感吗？

D：霍克尼的确是我最欣赏的艺术家之一，我实在听到太多类似的类比。（笑）能够和大师级艺术家相提并论我倍感荣幸，但我希望我的作品能够带给观众一个更当代，更时下的酷儿生活形态缩影。在创作过程中，我不会主动翻阅其他艺术家的作品并从中寻找灵感，但我相信潜意识中我多多少少被我自己喜欢的艺术家有所影响。

M: The male figures chilling at the pool and the bright pink color palettes in some of your illustrations remind me of the work by David Hockney and his portrayal of Californian life. Are there any queer artists that you look up to and inspired your work?

D: Hockney is definitely one of my favorite artists but I have been compared to him for many many times already (laughs.) As much as I feel humbled and honored to be compared with art-historical canons like Hockney, I hope my works could present a more contemporary perspective of queer life. During my creative process, I never conduct so-called visual researches by flipping through other artists’works, but I do believe that I am subconsciously influenced by artists I admire.

• 

• 

M: 看你作品的时候，我觉得自己在看一部华丽的电影。你选择呈现主题的角度非常吸引人，让我感觉身临其境。在创作过程中你如何看待作品中的主题与观众的关系？

D: 非常高兴能够听到这样的评价！我希望我的作品能够引起观众情感层面的共鸣。最近我正在尝试去精准的捕捉一些生活中琐碎且美好的时刻。我希望在我的线条与色彩中，看画者能够感受到我曾感受到的阳光，触摸到我所触摸到的肉体，嗅到我曾闻到的腥咸海水。

M: I feel like I’m watching a glamorous movie while looking at your work. The angles you chose to present your subject matter are engaging and made me feel like I’m physically present in the picture myself with them. How do you see the relationship between the subject matter in your work and your audience when you are creating the picture?

D: I’m so happy to hear that! I hope my audience could emotionally engage with my works. Recently, I have been making efforts on acutely capturing some frivolous but beautiful moments in my life, and transcribe them into my art. I can feel the sunshine, smell the ocean and touch the bodies on the beach that I draw. And I hope my audiences could grasp the same feelings as me when looking at my art.

• 

• 

M: 因为我所处环境的关系，我有时候会谨小慎微的在自己的作品中加入一些酷儿元素。你是否也会陷入羞涩于在艺术中表达自我酷儿意识的困扰中？

D: 这个问题比较难回答，我会根据不同的社交媒体和公共场域，选择性的展示我的作品。其实我的作品中并不会有绝对限制级的画面，但我倾向于在Instagram上放送一些更冒险, 更大胆的作品，而在微信朋友圈上我会选择一些比较有意境的作品进行展示。所以我觉得在不同的语境中，我对自我表达的舒适度和选择的表达方式都会有所变化。

M: I am sometimes careful expressing queerness in my work because the environment I’m in can be overwhelming. Have you ever felt the unease of expressing yourself?

D: This is a rather difficult question. But I do selectively showcase my works based on different public sphere and social medias. Although my works never display any absolutely obscene imageries, I tend to post something that can be seen as more provocative and “risqué” on Instagram. By comparison, the works I chose to post on my wechat tend to be more subtle and ambiently sexy. To answer your question, my comfort level of artistic self-expression and therefore my decision to showcase my work vary upon the changing contexts.

M: 我非常喜欢你作品中的皮革元素。你平时的穿衣风格是怎样的？你的艺术创作中有体现出你的日常时尚品味吗？

D: 其实并没有。我的作品更多的是我对害羞于实现的情欲幻想的视觉表达。所以我的衣橱中并没有一件令人血脉喷张的皮衣。（笑）日常中我很喜欢基础款和黑白灰，和我作品中所体现出来的基调氛围完全不一样。但我喜欢穿戴一些比较有态度的饰品来画龙点睛整个造型。

M: I love the leather outfit in your illustrations. I just love it! What’s your fashion taste and how do you think it is reflected in your work?

D: Actually no (laughs.) My works are more about visually presenting my private sensual fantasies that I am too shy to display in daily life. So I don’t actually own a single piece of kinky leather jacket in my wardrobe. As for my style, I tend to own objects that are comfortable, simple, and minimal, which are predominantly black, white, grey and beige. These are the absolutely opposite to the color palette I use for my artistic practice. But I do love playing with accessories. That’s how I “pepper in” my personality in my outfits.

M: 你有没有想对艺术家群体和梦想成为插画师的酷儿后起之秀想说的话？

D: 我很幸运能够遇到很多赋有正能量和感染力的人，我也想回馈给这个社群同样的东西。大家需要意识到在同一社群的艺术家并不是你的竞争对手，而是你选择的家人。你需要毫不犹豫并毫不保留地赞扬他们的作品。这并不是一场比赛，我们都非常不同，每个人都有自己的道路和自己的追求。

M: Do you have anything you would like to speak about on the artists community you are part of, and aspiring queer artists?

D: I am more than lucky to be surrounded by positive and supportive people, and I feel like giving back the same energy to the community. I think people have to realize that the other artists in the community are not the competitors, but your chosen family. So don’t be afraid to unreservedly compliment their works. This is not a competition, and we are all unique. Everyone has their own path and aspirations.  Don’t blend in or get ahead, but stand out by proudly being yourself!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Denis Asks Meadow

D: 你对“酷儿艺术家”这个标签有怎样的看法？你觉得“酷儿”这个前缀会让我们多多少少不等同于其他艺术家吗？作为酷儿艺术家的优缺点是什么？

M：谢谢你的问题。首先我并不将自己定性为酷儿艺术家，但我对涉及性与性取向话题的艺术创作都非常感兴趣。我认为这些话题没有在社会层面上得到应有的关注度和讨论度。普罗大众因为恐惧避而不谈，而掌权者更是否认这些话题存在的有效性。对于作为艺术家的我，通过艺术语言的自我表达给予我独特的方式进行自我身份探索。

D: How do you feel about “queer artist” as a label? Does this prefix make us less or more of an artist? In your opinions, what are the pros and cons of being a queer-artist?

M: I don’t define myself as a queer artist but I am interested in creating art on the spectrum of gender and sexuality. I think it’s something that deserves so much more attention than what it has right now. A lot of people are afraid to talk about it and a lot of people in power avoid, deny and oppress the validity of LGBTQ+ topic. For me as an artist, expression in the language of art gives me the unique way to explore my identity.

D：对于我来说，几乎你每一件作品都洋溢着传统中国文化的氛围。你觉得作品中体现出来的这些元素与氛围是来自你的创作潜意识吗？它们是你儿时记忆的折射还是你大量视觉调研的成果？

M：其实在创作我大部分作品时，我并没有想过要加入中国传统文化元素。但我同意你的说法，它们可能是从我潜意识中蹦到我笔尖儿上去的。（笑）我时常会思考关于“阴阳”的概念。对我来说，它是一种平衡，感觉像是宇宙中的最终基本形态。我经常在大自然面前感到渺小和局限。我正在考虑用更纯净的形式作为宇宙中的渺渺活物 – 与大自然保持亲密关系，并拥有更少的世俗财物。

D: I love that almost every single work of yours gives me strong vibes of traditional Chinese culture. Is it subconscious, maybe something that comes from childhood memories or you are doing serious research on your cultural heritage?

M: Including elements of traditional Chinese culture wasn’t really my intention while creating most of my work but it’s possible that they came out subconsciously. I sometimes like to think about the idea of yin-yang, a balance, and how it feels like the ultimate fundamental form of the universe to me. It shapes my way of seeing other living organisms and their relationship with me as a human being. I often feel small and limited in front of nature and would think about approaching the purer form of being a living creature: to stay closer to nature and to possess less.

D: 你的插画作品都具有强烈的感官冲击力。你会在创作题材或形式上为自己设限吗？有没有你创作中绝对不会触碰的禁忌话题？

M: 是的，我认为我的一些想法尚未在我的作品中讨论过。我对艺术审查机制的某些方面会感到不安。但通常在这种情况下，我仍然会尝试使用一些更加微妙的形式探讨同样的话题。有时候，我认为好的自我表达与选择聪明、得体的方式进行自我表达息息相关。

D: Your illustrations are quite bold and provocative but do you have any limits in your art? What are the subjects you would never talk about in your works?

M: Yes, I think some of my thoughts are not yet discussed in my work. There are aspects of censorship in art that I feel uneasy about. Normally under this circumstance, I would still try to discuss it in my work but in a more subtle way. Sometimes I think expressing my thoughts has something to do with expressing them in the smart way.

D: 你平时会在什么地方寻找创作灵感？目前是否有最喜欢的作品？

M: 我的灵感来源于我脑海中的世界。这个世界里有很多潮湿，野蛮生长的植物和精灵体。藤蔓相互缠绕与交合，珍珠色的刺穿透着肥胖的土地。生物的胚胎像眼泪埋藏在森林的毛孔里，等待着唤醒。每每起雾和日出的时候，植物的根茎就会四处滋生，在浑浊的空气里跳着属于它们的舞蹈。我希望自己能够活在那个世界里。

最喜欢的一幅作品是我最新的作品。它是有关一个在海里的母胎中诞生的双生人。在新年之际画出来也是希望生活能有个新的开始。我特别享受创作这个作品的过程，让我发现海洋里有好多美丽到哭泣的生物。有些珊瑚类生物有着惊人的形态，有着霓虹灯耀眼的渐变色，花苞的形状和网状的皮肤。我从这些生物里面汲取了很多灵感，融合在双生人的造型上。

D: Where do you draw your inspirations? Do you have a favorite piece of work so far?

M: My inspirations mainly come from my mental world. The world is a humid land with a lot of wild plants and elves. Vines intertwine with each other, breaking through fertile grounds with their pearl-colored thrones. The fetuses of organisms are buried in the forest like tears hiding in pores, waiting to be awakened. Whenever sunrise and fog prevail, plant roots in the land will grow savagely, as if they are devouring the whole forest and dancing on their own in the opaque air. I wish I could live in that world. 

My favorite work is my latest one. It is about twins given birth by a womb in the ocean. Upon the New Year, I hope this work stands for a new beginning in life. I particularly enjoyed the creative process, which made me realize many organisms in the ocean were so beautiful that they almost put tears in my eyes. For example, some never-seen-before corals share some stunning characters, with dazzlingly distorted colors of neon lights, in the shapes of flower buds or net-like skin. I drew many inspirations from these creatures and incorporated them into the imagery of the twin figures in the drawing. 

D: 通过海外留学的经历，你可以体验到东西方文化的差异。这段经历有影响你的艺术创作吗? 你在纽约和上海所创作出的作品有多不一样呢？

M: 有。我更加意识到自己作为亚洲女性艺术家的地位。留美经历是我能够身处世界的另一个角落，用不同的视角看待事物。在纽约上课时，我有机会了解到殖民主义及其对当今全球布局和人们意识形态的重大影响。纵观历史，“西方”世界中的许多人只对 “东方“世界的人与事物拥有一个扁平的印象。他们可能觉得自己对某一种外来文化已经了解得很多，但其实他们对其一无所知。他们对东方文化的不断挪用和扁平化是我意识到，人们首先需要承认自己对其他文化的无知，自主的消解先入为主的偏见与刻板印象，才能真正意义上的脱离殖民主义思维。这是我在中美之间旅居不断启发我的问题，我时常思考什么文化对一个人真正意味着什么，以及我如何以自己的方式去欣赏和保护在我意识范围中的文化。

D: Through study abroad, you could experience the difference in western and eastern culture. Did it affect your art somehow? How different are the works that you made in New York and the ones that were made here in Shanghai ?

M: Yes, I became more aware of where my position is as an Asian female artist. Being in the States allowed me to see things from another angle from a different part of the world. When I was in the States, I got a chance to learn about colonialism and how it still affects people’s mind today. Throughout the history, a lot of people in the “Western” world only have a flat image of the “Eastern” world. They might think they already know enough about it but they know nothing sophisticated about eastern culture and society. The continuous appropriation and flattening of the Eastern culture by them made me realize that people need to un-learn what they already know about other cultures first and acknowledge their ignorance in order to de-colonize. My experience of traveling between China and US keeps giving me inspirations on thinking about what culture really means to someone and how I can appreciate and protect it in my own way.

aolab设计实验室

汇集各色各样有趣的人

在这里一起灵感碰撞

发生神奇化学反应

共同打造展现独特生活态度的创意设计