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July 29, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

China makes impression on foreign printmaker

By Xu Wenwen | July 29, 2016, Friday | Print Edition

HANGZHOU-BASED printmaker Ian Ballantyne does three very Chinese things every morning: he drinks hot water (even in this weather), reads the I Ching, and uses coins to do some divination, as the text instructs.

After studying two years at the China Academy of Art, the 25-year-old American speaks functional Chinese. He gave himself Chinese name Zhang Zhuozi, literally meaning “piece of table.”

“Isn’t it funny when I introduce myself to Chinese people that ‘I am a piece of table?’” the slender man laughs.

Ballantyne previously studied fine art in Columbus College of Art and Design. He was later chosen to receive a scholarship to study printmaking in China.

In addition to his print work, he also has created installations, animated GIFs and illustrations explaining various aspects of the Chinese language.

For example, when he was learning how to combine verbs and preposition in Chinese, he made illustrations of phrases like “sprinkle pepper on her head,” “take out a heart,” “carry a small witch over there.”

When learning chengyu — Chinese four-character idioms — he draws a small picture to help illustrate their meanings.

After one year of language and one year of art education, his art style has become heavily influenced by Chinese culture. “Not directly, but in my way of understanding,” he said.

Much like the artist himself, his work also crosses established boundaries. One of his prints, for instances, became part of a pyramid-shaped installation made out of bamboo.

Ballantyne said his goal was to take his prints off the wall and bring them into “three dimensional space” where they could be “more powerful.”

“I’m inspired by how Chinese paintings work with negative space,” the artist said. He explained that in Western painting, perspective is used to create a sense of depth and distance, while Chinese paintings are more ephemeral and are able to function without a fully defined space.

He is also fond of the Chinese way of utilizing natural materials, such as bamboo and Chinese mulberry paper. One of the images of his black-white prints is a piece of chopped wood.

In addition to creating abstract and symbolic prints as well as installations, the artist is also serious about digital art.

His animations were not created when he was in the States. He only started when he came to China, and did neither speak Chinese nor know how to communicate with local people.

As any foreigner would do, he downloaded with WeChat, a popular instant messenger tool in China. As soon as he found it to be a platform to send work and to express himself, he made his GIF to say “hello” to Chinese people.

While his printmaking are intriguing, his GIF works are amusing, and also a bit quirky. The “hello” he made is a face that puts a horizontal peace sign in front of his eyes, the hand is amputated, and is bleeding.

As his language skill developed, he started making emoticons about more complex feelings and emotions, and “it’s becoming act of art making,” he said.

So far the artist has made over a hundred GIFs, and as they have spread more and more, the artist has found people he does not know using his GIF work in chat group, or even posting them as profile pictures.

His GIFs have also influenced his recent work. They both use less than four colors, are both with clear lines and large areas of color, and both can be reproduced. Because he enjoys “the ability of reproduction,” Ballantyne right now uploads motifs to Internet for free.

Ballantyne will continue study printmaking in China for next two years. Currently he is planning a few projects that will couple his GIFs with manufacturing and he plans to compile a book of his chengyu illustrations in the future.

Hangzhou


 

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