By Zafka Zhang, Helen Yu
‘My animated works are independent—a freestyle, so to speak. They are my language, or even better, for they can be both seen and heard, and they are so much more colorful…’
Hunting cap on head, black-frame glasses, and a huge schoolbag—that’s Ray Lei, 24, from Jiangxi. This new-generation animator, having just graduated early from a postgraduate program of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, calls himself “a child who speaks the language of animation”. Being no stranger to graphic design, illustration, short comics, graffiti and Hip Hop music, Ray is a close friend of J-Fever, whom China Youthology has previously interviewed. Together they invented the ‘League of Mike Snatchers‘, an all-embracing gig dedicated to freestyle rap.
Ray’s reputation among animators dates back to his school days. 2005 is the landmark year when Ray set up his very own Raydesign Studio and won the Golden Award of ‘Zongri Cup Design Contest’. In 2007, his animated short film ‘The Face’ was named ‘Best Art Design’ in Aniwow!, and his ‘Border Project’ was shown in the ‘2007 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture’. The year 2008 saw Ray’s ‘Moon Landing Plan’ being shown in the Nike Dunk Exhibition, and his ‘Pear or E.T.’ being a part of the ‘Instant Comix’—an independent comic show in Hong Kong (Click here for more of Ray’s works). Not long ago, Ray was asked to make the official animation for the ‘Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture’, and was invited to take part in the meeting of Ted X Shanghai. Another invitation from Lijiang Studio later took him to Yunan for a mural project. And then, just two days ago, out of his tight schedule, Ray brought himself to Shenyang, presenting his special-made ‘Nike Air Max LeBron VII’ shoes to NBA star LeBron James.
According to China Youthology’s categorization, Ray is definitely a star in the young animators’ community. We talked with him over dinner, and like J-Fever, Ray became a new friend of China Youthology after the interview, which, as always, has been conducted with an admiration for those daring enough to pursue and try. Now we simply must share the records of the interview, so that you can get to know, just as we do, the true Ray. For the sake of better understanding, his experiences as we know them are put under three subtitles: 1) Identity: A Land of Paradox and Loneliness; 2) Self-Expression: The Language of Animation and Personalized Experience; 3) Young Artist and Brand: Personal Space and Creative Work.
1. Identity: I paint. Even without a single supportive audience, I keep painting. That’s how I identify with myself.
‘I have been living in a tangle of paradoxes…I think we all have two faces: one for others, the other for ourselves. But that’s exhausting.’
China Youthology: Tell us about you, will you?
Ray: I am from Nanchang, Jiangxi. In the national college entrance exam years ago, I made it to Tsinghua University. How proud I was at that time! My freshman year was spent on Tsinghua campus, as a major of science and technology. By taking part in all sorts of things like singing contests, student associations, and poster-making, I kept myself quite busy. The second year was, however, spent in the Academy of Arts & Design, a campus on Guanghua Road so tiny that even our dormitories had to be built outside the campus, and I started fooling around. But one day, I realized I shouldn’t have lived like that. By junior year, the academy was relocated from Guanghua Road to Tsinghua University, and somehow I found myself transformed. I began doing things that I came to love: graffiti, drawing with sprays, and skateboarding.
China Youthology: How did you get involved with skateboarding?
Ray: Through a friend who makes skateboards. I once visited him in Shanghai. He found my drawings interesting and asked me to help paint his skateboards. In fact, at that time, I was alarmingly ill-informed back in Jiangxi, without much experience or ideas. Luckily I had my friends. J-Fever, for instance, is my music mentor. Before I met him, my only passion for music was Jay Zhou the Taiwan musician, and my only musical feat was singing a few raps of Jay’s in KTV.
And later on, I realized a lot of people live that kind of life that conventional thinking would call “fooling around” or “playing”. But to be honest, their version of “playing” is awesome, and no less awesome than the academic type. This came as an epiphany to me: not everyone has to be a bookworm; you can do what you want and be good at it.
China Youthology: Of all universities, why did you choose Tsinghua?
Ray: I kept painting and drawing in high school, but I had never been formally trained in that way. In the second year of senior high, however, I passed the entrance exam of Sichuan Fine Arts Academy, and my grade was among the national Top 20. I was so encouraged that I decided to apply for the art program of Tsinghua.
China Youthology: Then how did you start painting?
Ray: My father is an art editor with Jiangxi Science & Technology Publishing House. He taught me Chinese painting when I was a child and I took to it instantly. By the time I entered junior high school, I became the kind of bad kid who would spend the whole class painting instead of listening, despite all efforts of the English teacher. I was so into drawing that I started my own series of comics in junior high. I made up stories, all sorts of them, about football, basketball, and robots. I often got asked by my classmates, ‘How does the story go today?’
China Youthology: What subjects would you pick at that time?
Ray: Haha, the most popular things of the time –Gundam, for instance, when it was a hit; and the most read novels.
China Youthology: I see. That is why you’ve become such a great story-teller and short film-maker, right? You just played your way into success.
Ray: Thank you for the compliment. But indeed. When we first moved to Tsinghua, there were so few resources that we had to rely upon ourselves. I started to immerse myself in my passion, and it was so much fun, and so rewarding that I was even a recommended postgraduate candidate.
When I started the postgraduate program, I lived in Tsinghua, but I didn’t feel belonged. Most of my classmates simply stayed at dorm and dreamed up their theoretical research, but that’s not how you do animation. As I walked along the corridor of Tsinghua’s postgraduate dorms, I saw, from room to room, against the background of the rotating CCTV News Broadcast, everybody was reading at their desk with big glasses on. This bookish climate was such a far cry from what I expected that I was in much anguish. Those days, the minute classes were over I would take the railway to the 798 District, and stroll around aimlessly until sunset. It was the only place where I found whatever comfort and inspiration I could.
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Filed under: Fashion & visual arts, animation, brand, geeky youth interview, Ray, vintage |
