Presenting: Lei Lei, HAFF Leader, Animation, 2016, 55 seconds (trailer)
Chinese artist Lei Lei is a young and versatile talent, active as a filmmaker, graphic designer, graffiti artist and musician. He releases a new film almost every year, while also executing cross industry collaborations with commercial brands. Together with Thomas Sauvin, he won the 2013 Holland Animation Film Festival Grand Prix for non-narrative shorts with the film Recycled.
For the 2016 HAFF Leader Lei Lei was inspired by the second-hand book 1700 poses, a guide that was used to train Chinese youths on how to make quick sketches of human figures in the 1980s. 1700 poses was given to Lei Lei by his father, who had himself learned to draw using the book and would later teach his son with the same pages.
Artist introduction of HAFF Leader: “I have cut out model photos from the book and placed them in potted landscape, attempting to discover the occasional poetic and dramatic moment from the act of piecing together the work. Moreover, the sound in the leaders is a recording of myself, aged 3. It was the year 1988, when I was practicing the violin. Combining both pictures and sounds from China in the 80s makes the film hopefully both humorous and romantic.”
In addition to HAFF Leader 2016, Arthub will screen Lei Lei’s This is not a time to lie (2013), which was selected for the HAFF short competition last year.
For out more about the artist on his website here.
For the occasion of the screening, Arthub’s Ryan Nuckolls interviewed Lei Lei to find out more about his artistic process and his future aspirations within the malleable medium of short film.
Ryan Nuckolls (RN): How did you first get involved with film? Did your love for moving image stem from your ability to paint and draw or were you always interested in animation?
Lei Lei (LL): When I was in school I was studying graphic design and book design, but I was always interested in animation. I loved movies, new media and music; animation provided the perfect meeting point for all my interests. But I believe that animation, as an artistic medium should be more open. It is important to recognize that cartoons are not just drawings; they can and should include found footage and other materials.
I believe the most important thing for an artist is to express their thoughts. When you’re creating non-commercial films it doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t have to worry about the colors being just right, what matters ultimately is the thought process. I am still working on cartoons and colorful short videos, but at this time, research is the most important element in my artistic process.
RN: When introducing HAFF Leader you wrote that you wanted to “discover the occasional poetic and dramatic moment from the act of piecing together the work” – is it safe to say that the process of creation for you is just as important as the final product?
LL: I don’t think that was true for my earlier works, but more and more the logic driving the production of my videos and the elements that go into the creative process – such as found footage or archival research – has become increasingly important. I worry all the time about how to use these different elements, and how to use different material.
My past works such as
This is LOVE,
This is not a time to lie, and
Missing one player could be described as more colorful and fresh. These animations have nothing to do with the working process; they are just amusing ideas. For these works I would have a creative insight and then I would make a 2-3 minute long film—the whole process was very quick. It was based on my instinctive desire to tell a story and express my emotional state in that moment, if I was sad I would tell a sad story, if I were happy then I told a tale about love. I am a storyteller.
But now, I think this process of artistic production is not enough for me. Not that it is not good, but I want my works to show the way I think and the research that goes into their creation, not just my imagination. Which is why I’ve chosen projects like
Recycled with Thomas Sauvin* and recently crafted
Books on Books [previously selected as one of Arthub’s Weekly Favorites]. It’s important that the final product shows the research and logical thought process that went into its creation.
*
Recycled by Lei Lei + Thomas Sauvin was presented last year at Arthub’s group exhibition
Crossovers at OCAT, Shanghai.
RN: The found footage and archival material that you utilize the most seems to come from the 1980s, the style in many of your animations is heavily influenced by this era’s aesthetic. For example, in HAFF Leader I believe you sampled from a Chinese figure-drawing book published in 1988. What about this decade is so appealing to you?
LL: I’m interested in the 1980s first, because it was when I was born. Which means I’m not merely drawing on archived collections, but my own memories as well. The research I’m doing is to know myself better—art helps me understand my own background more than ever before.
I’m very conscious of the material elements that go into each of my films. My process now includes extracting intriguing visuals and audio from 1980s archives, rather than solely relying on my imagination for fresh ideas. This same method of production took place with
HAFF Leader—the process was very logical, driven by my own memories. For example, I remember learning to draw as a kid – my father actually taught me using the book
1700 poses. But within my current art creation I make new visual works based on these found materials—works full of possibility and direction.
The second reason I’m drawn to the late 1980s is the decade’s pivotal place in Chinese history. In 1990, when China opened its gate to foreign influences everything began to change. Because of that, materials from the 80s now maintain a romantic and nostalgic aura. Design and art ideas began flooding into the country in a way they never had before. Previously, Chinese people knew very little about the west. My father was a book designer, when I was a kid he tried to find out how professionals in the west worked, but he had access to so little information. He was drawing and cutting out, just like what I do now, but he desperately wanted to know more.
Designers here were very rooted in Chinese history and because of that I find it fascinating that they started being influenced by artistic western styles. I think the books from that time were beautiful and very different from what they are now. My source material comes directly from my father’s extensive collection. Not only did he keep books and magazines, but also video and sound recordings. I remember being three years old and facing the recorder to recite my stories. The audio for
HAFF Leader is of me practicing violin at the age of three. So combining my logical approach with my father’s extensive archive gives me a lot to pull from.
RN: So 1700 poses – used in the creation of HAFF Leader – was from your father’s collection? Could you tell us a little more about the production of this specific animation?
LL: Yes,
1700 poses is from my father’s archive. He used the models in the book to learn to draw. My generation also used these books to learn. And now I’m using the book in ways my father never imagined, to create a new kind of story.
The figures are of people walking, reading, sitting down, standing, doing everything you could imagine. It’s like a sample out of real life. In my animations I’m making a collage, taking these demos that illustrate our own lives and reconstructing them to build a new story or create a theater to enact a play.
The potted plants in
HAFF Leader are also from a 1980s publication. I cut out a few illustrations of bonsai trees and then digitally recut them into the animation. Similar to the sketches in
1700 poses, the trees are like a demo from nature. People can’t visit forests every day, so they bring these little trees into their homes. They bring a small element of nature inside with them. I am sampling from all these demos – whether they are trees or people – I’m putting them back together in a new configuration.
I am obsessed with the French director Jean-Luc Godard. When I was making
HAFF Leader a particular scene from Godard’s film
Weekend was always on my mind. There’s one shot where the camera pans in a 180 degree arc, by filming the set in the round, viewers see the actor driving his car, but they also see all of these other actions occurring simultaneously: people lying dead from collisions and their cars aflame. It may sound weird, but I wanted to recreate that same feeling of perspective in my own work.
RN: One of the benefits of film is that it is not only based on image, but it also incorporates sound. Fusing the visual and audio often creates a very visceral immediacy that can be quite emotional for viewers. In most of your films you’ve worked with Li Xingyu on the soundtrack; is he involved in the process from the beginning or do you collaborate with him once the moving image is complete?
LL: Li Xingyu is one of my very good friends. After graduating from university, when I had nowhere to stay, I lived with him in his apartment in Beijing. Two years ago we formed a band. We lived together, played together and created together. He knew what I needed. So it didn’t matter if the image came first; for some of my works such as
This is LOVE and
This is not a time to lie, the music actually came before the video.
For most of these works, there was no specific plan. We both just knew artistically what the other person needed. We understood each other’s language very well. Xingyu travels to different countries and makes sound recordings both in the city and countryside. His logical process to music is the same as mine. He cuts demos from nature and life to make new narratives.
RN: Do you feel that within your work you are obligated to provide audiences with a linear storyline or does your medium allow you to break away from the narrative restrictions that may exist for your full-length filmic counterparts?
LL: As I mentioned before, storytelling allows me to express my feelings. But with non-narrative works like
Books on Books and
Recycled, I hope to ask myself questions like what is experimental film? And what is experimental animation? I want to challenge myself to find new ways to work within this medium. I’m young so I might as well try something new!
I often meet the same artists every year when I attend animation and film festivals. Some of them are merely copying themselves over and over again. Contrastingly, I hope to destroy myself. I need to do something new—find new ways to push myself.
Like some of my other recent works
HAFF Leader does not have a story. The Director for the Holland Animation Film Festival Gerben Schermer has been very kind to me. With the Leader he gave me a lot of freedom to create a work that was unique, it was very good for me. I’ll also be screening my new work
Books on Books at the 19
th edition of the festival next month.
Having said all that, I want to be clear that I think storytelling is very hard work. I don’t think non-narrative or narrative film is more difficult, I think they’re distinct from one another. I’ve already made 15 videos; in the future I plan to make a feature film, which is a totally different art form from what I do now. For that, you need to tell a very good story.
RN: Well I look forward to seeing your feature length production. I imagine that working with short film allows you to refine your craft. Do you feel that working in a constrained space and time requires a precision of story and distilled characters that create an immediacy that has the ability to quickly engage spectators?
LL: Right now I don’t know what I think is good about short films. At film festivals the shorts I see range from the fast paced to slow, some have narratives while others are more abstract. Every artist has his or her own process of creation. For me, I don’t focus on what it looks like. I concentrate on how to strengthen my logic and abilities. If my logic is strong then the film will be strong. So I will continue to think, read and focus on the world around me.
RN: Many of your previous works have reoccurring themes of supernatural attacks and unlikely love stories set in alternative universes, as we see your creative process evolve, will these themes continue to pop up or will you find new stories to tell?
LL: These themes are very important. They all develop from moments of creative epiphanies. I’m lucky to have so many original plans. I worry that when I get older this will stop. I’m afraid I will lose my ability to think creatively. If the day comes and I’m having trouble coming up with fresh ideas then I will die.
But for now, I dream up hundreds of new exciting stories everyday. In the future if I do have a chance to work on a feature film, I will pull all my ideas together to tell a great story. I think that inspiration and creativity are like seashells on the shore. It’s exciting when you accidently find one, but you can’t rely on luck. You need to seek them out. I imagine great artists and poets are alike, they are definitely not satisfied with just ‘finding’ one seashell, because they know the ocean contains millions of treasures. The seashells on the shore are just the beginning—they are the tip of the iceberg, alluding to all that artists are capable of creating and delivering to the world.
Find out more about the Holland Animation Film Festival
here.
– Arthub thanks Lei Lei for the opportunity to present his work on our Screening Program and we wish him all the best in the Netherlands next month at the 19th edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival.
