Interview with Nandan He
How would you describe yourself and your artwork?
I would describe myself as a combination of conflict, but I enjoy the vibe of it, it makes me think about the relationship between me and the world all the time. I guess I will describe my artwork as a vague flowing cognition of illusion. Art to me is a life time project, I’m not in a rush, and yet to have a conclusion.
How do you go about beginning a new piece? Do you have an idea already in mind, or do you start working with materials or sketches to find the departure point?
It sometimes took me a long time to start a piece, I need to feel myself , feel the time and space in that period of time because art to me is a really personal thing, I don’t have to intentionally do research, it comes from my everyday life. When starting a piece, it also depends on what kind of work I am working on. If it's a painting/ two dimensional piece, I will go with my sense without any ideas in mind. If it is an animation or mix media installation piece, I will have a configuration basic idea in mind first, then the rest of the work will built base on the foundation.
When do you think your most prolific time of day or week is?
Most prolific time to me is every evening and night, when everything gets dark, many fantasy will just blow out from a groundless hole inside me.
What is a barrier you as an artist overcame? Is there anything that enabled you to develop your work as an artist in your life?
The barrier that I have always payed attention to is to be honest to myself. I am still trying to see and feel the world before becoming an artist. It's a life long process and to be honest to one’s self is not easy. The outside world will sometimes makes you subconsciously do things that you think is come from you but actually not. I am making works that trying to reveals collided alterations of predetermined values. I spent a lot of time dig in within myself, feel the energy and spiritual world, it cascaded into a simpatico pattern that balances everything, once I see the hologram of myself, I conciliate with the best and worse sides of me and move on. This kind of balance allows artists and their surrounding world growing up together and this is an important process that enabled me to keep developing my work.
Did you have an idea of what you wanted to create right from the beginning?
Actually, I don’t really remember. Because my ideas are accumulating as time pass. Back in ten years ago, what I wanted to create sometimes are more in a stage of a visual expression of my interpretation or perception of something. As time goes by, things are perplexing into an abundant void. It's more of a mental stage that ones thoughts began to nurturing into a disordered pattern yet somehow make sense to me. So, at this stage, works are more often a feeling itself rather than description of a feeling.
What is the meaning or creative inspiration for your work? We’re curious what the narrative or story is to what you are producing?
I got inspirations from many things like movies, readings, conversations with others, everything in life makes me think, and so on and so forth, I want to admit my ignorance. I really like a screen writer Charlie Kaufman. He once mentioned in one of his talk that “art should offer an opportunity to recognize our common humanity and vulnerability. So rather than pretending I’m an expert, I’m just telling you I don’t know anything.” I used to try to find a glorious purpose/meaning of my work, but then I realized they are not so great. I was just trying to find little exciting things that infiltrating in my life that sometimes might missed by others because of the rapid inflated development of everything within time and space. Hence, in terms of story telling, I am embracing those feelings. By using animation, video and sculpture installations, I want to walk the viewers into my reminiscent formula, which confronts social and personal issues aftermath and ethical dilemma beyond our rational behavior.
Besides your artworks, are there any other things in life that your voice as an artist may consider vital or valuable? What makes you joyful and creative, in other words?
I think the relationship between my artwork and I are like a person standing in front of mirror, talking to each other and trying to figure out who is the real “ME”. So in a way they can’t be separated. The world to me is extremely hyper surrealistic yet beautiful as it is. I love to mimic myself as something else to taste and feel the surroundings. For example. Imagine you are a mountain, already lived for a thousand years, what is your feeling towards the world, towards a passenger passed by, towards the rain, towards the sun? Imagine you are a drop of water from the ocean, so many creatures lives inside you, how do you communicate with them? This kind of experience to me is ineffable yet makes me really joyful.
Are there any exhibitions or places where people can see these beautiful creations in person soon? Anything on the horizon?
Thank you for asking:) You guys are welcome to see my works and find up coming shows, publication/ press details through my website nandansamhe.com :)
