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.

It was the same in Gulangyu Islet. Everything, from shopping, eating, to seeing a doctor, could be done within the boundary of the campus. The motto of the Academy of Arts & Design (before its being merged with Tsinghua), as I remember it, was to create the four essential requirements of life: food, clothing, housing and transportation. But the four requirements could all be fulfilled on campus when I was a freshman. I think that’s why we students gradually turned inward…Well, in a way, it could help academic research, but not artistic creation, for I felt like my thoughts were confined to an ‘islet’. I remember a Tsinghua student who was seen running naked and caused a sensation. He once said in an interview he did that for the purpose of adding a humanistic touch to the Tsinghua campus. But I am not buying any of it. First of all, I don’t like that arrogance of self-claimed humanistic touch, and second, art should be performed not for the sake of others, but for oneself.

China Youthology: It is all about finding your identity. It’s a painful process, I’m sure.

Ray: I paint. Even without a single supportive audience, I keep painting. That’s how I identify with myself. Some people call me an ‘independent artist’, but I prefer to be called a ‘free artist’, or not an artist at all.

China Youthology: What art seeks is freedom, not the title of an artist, because it doesn’t matter. It is life that matters, but its perception could easily be distorted by the shackles of the label ‘artist’. Being an artist is a sign, an identity, or even an occupation. At the end of the day, it all boils down to your attitudes toward life, and the loneliness you so keenly feel.

Ray: I have been living in a tangle of paradoxes. I’ve always thought that I should lead a stable life, have a decent job so as not to let my parents down, and boy, they have always expected so much of me. On the other hand, if I must live that way, I couldn’t do the kind of things and create the kind of thoughts that I want, so I have to extricate myself.

I am a bit neurotic, and I frequently feel depressed, or contradictory, or pessimistic. Well, when I someday reach a bottleneck, I can always become a teacher. I think that is the one good thing about our education system. That way, at least my parents would have no complaints. So if five years from now, I suddenly become an animation doctor, please don’t despise me, although I think I would despise myself.

I think we all have two faces: one for others, the other for ourselves. But that’s exhausting. I am now teaching a training course for further studies, where my students come to learn techniques. But I don’t like the idea of it. I think I am against everything mainstream. How paradoxical is that! But this job offers a good salary, and allows my girlfriend and me to live better.

China Youthology: What is your life like right now? And how about your friends?

Ray: My ideal way of life is like this: Rent an apartment with white walls and a wooden floor. It must be very clean, and big enough to house all my toys and books. Every year, I would make two animated films, sponsored by someone, lucrative enough for my girlfriend and me to live comfortably. That’s it. I don’t want a lot of money. That’s the life I want, and I am sure it will get better and better.

But don’t you think this kind of life is easy to come by. The first thing I need is capital, but that calls for the right opportunities. Moreover, I feel lonely. I know which community I belong to, but I must remain detached; otherwise I would risk being too mundane. Therefore, I need several good friends to handle the loneliness.

My girlfriend counts as one such friend. Another is J-Fever, to whom I feel a connection. He reads profusely and has lots of cultural insights. I can turn to him whenever I need guidance. Another such friend is Li Xingyu, the music composer for my animated works, who stood by me in my darkest poorest days.

Still, I feel intensely lonely. My classmates from high school and college all went their separate ways, and it is difficult for us to see eye to eye with each other.

China Youthology: Maybe a good artist has to feel lonely sometimes. By the way, you once worked with Ou Ning. How was it like?

Ray: It was a wonderful experience working with him. To get back to what I was saying, I realized recently that I am surrounded by people who are not my age, and the people who are my age I simply can’t communicate with. I don’t know. Maybe I have come too far.

2. Self-Expression: Animation is a more colorful language, a quiet personalized experience.

‘My animated works are my language, or even better, for they can be both seen and heard, and they are so much more colorful…My works are quiet, never loud, never mainstream, always in pursuit of small happiness and wonder.’

China Youthology: Would you tell us about your works? We have seen ‘The Face’. Was it difficult to make?

Ray: It was made when I was a senior student in college. About a face that changes so many times that it loses itself. In order to make this short film, several of us shut ourselves in a rented studio, which was dirty and sultry. We stayed there for three months, a very painful three months! All the more painful because we were still doing by learning. We didn’t learn much at college and we had to grope about in the dark. That is my first piece. I was an angry person then, angry with the whole world, so that first piece is full of violence. And very Japanese, too. When I now come to think about it, I pretty much followed a cookie-cutter approach, sort of. As to the allegations that I was copying from Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo, I don’t really mind. We grew up watching their works. We must have been unconsciously influenced by them.

Now things are easier. I don’t do big production any more; instead, I make short ones that can be finished in 15 days, to instantly express whatever feelings I develop. My latest work ‘Magic Cube’ is an echo of a previous work. What I wanted to say is people are just drifting about, not really connected to the society, and that as common citizens and lookers-on, we can do nothing but watch. That is the way of the society. Even if it pisses you off, you don’t have to fight against it, so I keep playing my ping-pong. I am no longer that angry now. Maybe I just don’t want to make a fuss any more.

China Youthology: Why were you so angry three years ago?

Ray: I think it’s because I hadn’t figured things out. I didn’t really know why I learned animation, and I couldn’t understand the education system. Now I have straightened out the confusion, but I know the tension of my anger has grown, even without my showing it in the old way.

China Youthology: I heard that you attended the crosstalk “Social Space and the Post-’80s Generation” organized by the Shao Foundation. Why did you want to go? What do you think of the remarks by the speakers and the audience?

Ray: I didn’t make any remarks. I think, in life status and in background, I am very different from those speakers on the stage. But it is the audience that I don’t agree with. They seemed to be imprisoned by life and trying to fit into something; the speakers, by comparison, were more insightful and mature.

The ideal social space for me should be inclusive of all possibilities, so that everyone has his or her own space, where similar minds can meet. A space that allows spiritual diversity is what the post ‘80s generation really wants.

China Youthology: Can you be more specific about the spiritual space and diversity?

Ray: The spiritual space is like the house that I previously talked about, with white walls and a wooden floor, where I do things that I like. As to diversity, it is a subject very close to my heart. I used to think that Indie Rock is so cool and so hot. But one day when I was talking with J-Fever, I came across a question: Indie Rock is almost the most popular music abroad, then how could it possibly be independent? Later I figured it out. It’s not a question of being mainstream or not. In the same way, independent animation and industrial animation are not comparable, for the two are too different, but they can coexist. In the world of animation, diversity is welcomed. It is up to you which way to choose.

China Youthology: How do you describe your animated works?

Ray: I have envisioned a path, but I seem to have reached a bottleneck. Recently I made three short animated films, of the freestyle type. I am interested in lots of stuffs: animation, rap, skateboarding, graffiti…But my passion is mainly animation, and it is a language in which I can fully express myself.

China Youthology: What did you want to express in the first three works?

Ray: Warmth and peace, listening and thinking, modesty and eagerness to learn.

China Youthology: Why these themes?

Ray: I chose warmth because of gratitude. When I was in college, many people offered me help, but I did little in return. Now I want to make up for that. As to being quiet and modest, I learned that from J-Fever. MC Battle left me the impression of being aggressive and competitive, but after listening to No Mark on the Internet, I realized Hip Hop doesn’t have to be like that. Then I watched J-Fever’s Battle and he told me the various ways of wording in raps, and I realized rapping could be very soft, very Chinese.

China Youthology: I think that is also what you called ‘diversity’. Can you talk more about your works?

Ray: I hope to diversify by working with as many different elements as I can. I have now cooperated with many people, Ou Ning the artist, Li Hu the architect, and Ying Liang the movie director. I also worked with Nike for a commercial project, and with a HK poet Chihoi for a poem collection. That is my idea of being diversified. I don’t want to be constricted by a narrow industrialized mindset.

From the very beginning, I have been bent on independent animation. I heard from Ou Ning that Qiu Anxiong, whose goal is to be ‘a one-man animation film studio’, would lock himself in a room and single-handedly finish key frames, animation, editing, and scripts—everything except for music. I admire him for that, and I want that independence too, free of all processes of mass production.

China Youthology: What is the relationship between your independent animation and ‘freestyle’?

Ray: Freestyle is a form of independent animation. But the word ‘independent’ sounds too non-mainstream, so I don’t like it. Animation, in the first place, is a language that facilitates self-expression. It is an open entity that combines audio, video and endless other choices such as installed animation. Being ‘independent’ doesn’t mean you have to do it alone, but that you don’t have to rely on others’ funding and don’t have to unthinkingly churn out works on the production line.

It is important to know where you are and where you want to be. Take myself for example. I don’t prioritize technicalities by maximizing the number of key frames, like Disney does, because that is almost impossible for a one-man studio. For small studios like mine, the focus should be on the expression of feelings.

China Youthology: So you are an animation artist.

Ray: A true artist can command animation to narrate history and story. Qiu Anxiong, for one, is a fanatic for such greatness; he is in no mood for small delights though. Whichever way, people like us just express our thoughts through animation.

China Youthology: What other feelings do you express in your works?

Ray: The pursuit of happiness, I guess. We all have our own pursuits; for me, I want a status of being, and tiny bits of happiness in life, nothing overly proper, nothing sensational. I treasure those feelings. They are warm and they are mine.

China Youthology: Looking forward, do you have a plan for future works?

Ray: My graduation has in a way changed my life, and my parents expect so much of me. My life is not very stable, which, surprisingly, helps. From ‘The Face’ till now, I have undergone a very painful period, but it gave me a breakthrough. Now, I think, is another time for pains and gains. But again, I have my worries and struggles, and I am not sure whether I can keep going without (the campus). My parents urge me to consider getting a doctoral degree, or a stable job with a big organization. I know they want me to have a sense of security, as if there is a warm bosom to return to.

China Youthology: I like your idea of trying to work with different people. It is a wonderful way to open up more possibilities for arts’ development.

Ray: Indeed. I love playing music with J-Fever, making little cartoons with Li Hu, and drawing on T-shirts with Ouyang Yingji. I am now looking for more opportunities to go abroad, for I want to broaden my horizon.

China Youthology: If it is up to you to decide, how many excellent independent artists and animators are there in China?

Ray: I personally prefer similar minds, not necessarily animators–for example, J-Fever, Tang Yan, and Qiu Anxiong, etc. I also like the works by ‘Eraser’, who would depict innocent joys like oversleeves we wore when we were children and cotton-padded jackets sewn by grandma. I believe he is a warm loving artist.

China Youthology: You say so because you too are a gentle, sensitive, and introspective artist. I notice that in many of your works, the ‘Magic Cube’ for instance, you used the artistic calligraphy your father designed. Is that an attempt at Retro fashion? How did you feel?

Ray: After the collection of red and blue ballpoint pen, I hardly dare touch it, for fear of getting caught up in the artistic retro camp of some young people. Haha, it wouldn’t be me, would it? My way of nostalgia is not the same as Beijing kids, and my father’s calligraphy touches my heart the same way Qiu Anxiong’s ‘one-man animation film studio’ does. I want to set up an animation film studio, making animation films, not cartoons.

It is said that being retro is like wearing Chinese-made clothes to pretend artistic tastes. But as far as I am concerned, that kind of retro style is playing on a theme, or self-branding. However, when you are truly honest with yourself, being retro is just a feeling, very private and personal, like all other feelings.

3. Young Artist and Brand: Give me space, and I will do my work.

‘I enjoy working with Nike. Unlike others that take you for Ogilvy & Mather, Nike gave me lots of space, so it was a pleasant experience.’

China Youthology: How do you feel working with Nike?

Ray: Nike gives you lots of space. I helped them with the Nike Dunk Exhibition. They don’t tie you hand and foot, and they offer handsome salaries, haha. What’s more, Ou Ning was the exhibition planner, and it’s always easier for an artist to deal with an artist.

I hope for the same in whomever I decide to work with. Give me space, and I will do my work. My cooperation with Nike is not 100% unrestricted, but it was much much more comfortable than working with, say, an ad company.

China Youthology: Did you work with brands other than Nike? Was there any difference?

Ray: Yes, I did, like with HP, Lenovo, Li Ning, and Tiger Beer, etc. Still, I like working with Nike, because they think of the exhibition as an art project, not an advertisement with outright commercial purposes. Some other companies, well, take you for an advertising tool.

China Youthology: Which country do you most want to visit?

Ray: Japan and the UK. Japan has the most cutting-edge fun stuffs, and the UK has Britpop. Whatever I do, I always follow my nose, and I am trying to have my mind enriched.

Filed under: Creative culture, Fashion & visual arts, So What?, animation, brand, China youth culture, Creative culture, Helen Yu, interview, Ray Lei, vintage, Zafka Zhang