"Zhang Yimou is a famous Chinese film director, who directed the movies Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Memoirs of a Geisha, and also was the art director for the Beijing Olympics. Many of his movies reflect the beauty of the Chinese culture, through the use of bamboos and traditional costumes. I thought Zhang Yimou's portrait done in a Shanghainese laneway, with bamboo and laundry would be perfect for this project.
I ended up using 750 pairs of socks because shirts were too big and expensive, plus I found an interesting way to pin the socks together, creating a diamond-shaped piece of skin. It was interesting to see the different angles of shadows casted on it throughout the day."
Red (Hong Yi)
Hong Yi grew up in Sabah on the beautiful tropical island of Borneo. She dreamt of becoming a cartoon animator and Lion King is still her favourite cartoon. One of her best friends gave her the nickname 'Red', because her surname sounds like the word 'red' in Chinese.
Red’s paintings of Yao Ming, painted with a basketball for a brush, and Jay Chou using coffee and a cup, were Youtube hits, giving her 15 seconds of fame on CNN, ABC, the Daily Mail, Gizmodo and other media around the world. Her previous work includes portraits of Ai Weiwei using 100,000 sunflower seeds and Justin Bieber using gochujang (Korean chilli paste). Red is currently experimenting with unconventional materials and exploring structural design principles for her next projects.