I came across Chinese animator Lei Lei about a year ago and I was instantly drawn to his old-school computer game inspired animations and use of jazzy intricate colorful patterns. His mix of hand-drawn illustrations and computer graphics were a refreshing change from the highly polished HD quality animations some people are geared towards. And they justified multiple viewings immediately.

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Yang Yongliang is a young photographer and artist from Shanghai. For ten years he studied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy which have greatly influenced his work. His photo collages combine elements of traditional Chinese art with modern life in Shanghai. [via Feature Shoot]

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A lot of Baltimore-based illustrator/artist Jee-Shaun Wang’s work involves intricate drawings made to look like prints. I love how intricate and lyrical his images are and the way he effortlessly and seemlessly draws together elements of graphic novels, folk art, and mythic Chinese aesthetics.

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Chinese born Don Hong-Oai spent most of his life in Saigon, where he apprenticed with a photography studio. He stayed in Vietnam through the war, before fleeing by boat to California in the late 1970s. While living in San Francisco, he went back to China every few years to create new negatives. He remained largely unknown until the final years of his life when he was finally discovered by the wider public. He died in 2004.

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Who said becoming invisible was impossible? Well, whoever it was was that crushed our childhood fantasies never got around to Chinese artist, Liu Bolin, who is able to camouflage himself deeply amongst any surroundings. His art is intended as a protest against the persecution of artists by the Chinese government, and each photo takes him some ten hours to stage.

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Inspired by the traditional Chinese craft of paper-cutting, these lashes by Paperself are as intricate as they are delicately pretty. Available in three styles — horses, peonies and peach blossoms which symbolise success, happiness and love respectively.

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Yue Minjun, one of the originators of the Cynical Realist movement in contemporary Chinese art, has been applying his iconic grinning face to various forms and materials for decades, but his recent series, Colorful Running Dinosaurs — consisting of metallic humanoid dinosaur sculptures — takes his work to an interesting place where mythology, pop culture, and the contradictory aspects of the Chinese zeitgeist converge.

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New York-based designer, and sometime Lost At E Minor contributor, Deanne Cheuk visited Beijing prior to the Olympics as part of the New Grand Tour. We touched in with her to see how she found the experience of being over there: ‘we visited some really modern art galleries, which seemed to be on par with with the best galleries in New York City’.

‘We also visited a cultural district where there were artists’ studios that had been built to give to artists to work in for free as a type of grant. It felt very cultural and advanced to me’.

How does the scene there differ from that elsewhere in the world?
‘China is growing like crazy, especially when we were in Beijing in the months leading up to the Beijing Olympics. I feel like the art scene there is just getting bigger and better’.

Do you feel that ‘art’ always had a unifying effect across cultures or does it actually accentuate differences?
‘I don’t think it was always unifying, but it has perhaps always been a way to cross some cultural barriers. I think it is one small way to unify cultures that is easily accessible’.

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New York-based artist Xiaoqing Ding’s work draws from traditional Sung Dynasty scroll paintings as well as from more recent forms, her figures looking as much like the cherubic babies in festive Chinese New Year art (known as Nian Hua) as they do the sultry flappers in cigarette ads in 1930s Shanghai. Her images have an ethereal and slyly erotic quality, referencing Chinese mythology, pre-revolution film, and subtly personal narratives.

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We interviewed Suitman a few weeks back, getting his perspective on The New Grand Tour he set up which saw a hand-picked group of American artists tour China to take in the cultural renaissance going on there. Photographer Davi Russo was a part of the tour, so we spoke to him about his experiences. Were you surprised by how dynamic the Chinese art scene is, given the rather conservative regime in power there? ‘This could be a two sided answer from me. I was able to see some contemporary photography inside some of the galleries I visited at 798 Area. I must say, there were a few times that I was extremely impressed, and somewhat even a little jealous to see the context of young emerging work being supported in Beijing. I would also say that after being introduced, I became a huge fan of and contributer to the photography being published in VISION magazine, which I think is something of a gem in China now’.

‘Although, on the flip-side, a few days before installing the New Grand Tour show in Beijing, I had learned that it would be in my best interests to censor quite a few of my photographs that had Tibetan images within them, due to the current situation there. This was my first experience of personal censorship. I can say it was a difficult process to proceed in during the time. But in hindsight, I felt it was an important experience for I – and any artist – to go through’.

Do you feel that ‘art’ always had a unifying effect across cultures or does it actually accentuate differences?
I think as artists, we put work on a table allowing there to be a personal, social and cultural interpretation of it. Through differences we can learn more about who we are as societies and individuals. My feeling is that art should be there to be digested and then discussed’.

Where to from here for the New Grand Tour?
‘Selfishly, I would like to see the The New Grand Tour to be able to make exchanges inside countries like Cuba, Russia or Korea next. But in all honestly, there is something to be exchanged anywhere you allow yourself to be open to’.

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I interviewed the mysterious Suitman some time ago for the Australian magazine, Riot. Even then it was clear that, with his immaculately pressed suit and crisp white shirts, he was an icon – both stylistically and conceptually. So it’s no surprise to hear about his latest adventure, The New Grand Tour, ‘an episodic art project featuring revolving guest artists with hyphenated cultural and geographical backgrounds. The artists and documentary crew travel together to different parts of the globe and express through art exhibitions the subject matter of the towns and cultures they visit’. Given this interesting manifesto, we caught up with a few of the artists involved (other interviews to run in the coming weeks), including Suitman, asking him if he was surprised by how dynamic — or not — the Chinese art scene is, given the rather conservative regime in power there? ‘No, I was not surprised at all. Chinese art has been going strong for last ten-fifteen years; internationally and domestically. The Chinese government recognizes the possibilities of financial gain in art industries and they are certainly extending supporting to art and artists. Of course, there’s still censorship of content. But so does America and rest of the world, by right wing government and religious groups’.

Who conceptualized the New Grand Tour and what will it mean for those who get to experience it?
‘Federico Tan, Asia marketing director of Diesel, approached me to have a show. And from that point, the team was created’.

Do you feel that ‘art’ always had a unifying effect across cultures or does it actually accentuate differences?
‘It’s all about sharing. And this tour was based on exchanging culture and gathering inspirations. And most importantly, sharing. I envisioned this as artists-PaciCorp traveling through globe and giving and sharing our thoughts and financial support to children’s education in rural areas and help them have better lifestyle standards’.

Where to from here for the New Grand Tour?
‘There’s talk of Central America, Cuba, Africa and Brazil’.

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