The experiment involving Pringles chips is intended to give people a more intuitive sense of how standardized industrial products are optimized for stacking, making them easier to transport over longer distances and accessible among most people. In my view, this indeed breaks down certain class boundaries. I appreciate art discursive that is playful, ironic, yet also profound and emotionally rich. My work attemps to go with this approach. It may carry a wealth of meaning, even with an elitist depth, but in a playful way. In my creations, I repeatedly use parallel structures and word stacking to amplify a sense of repetition, echoing these stackable, repeatable, mass-produced, homogeneous images. It’s also a form of wordplay—after all, if you repeat a sentence three times, it almost starts to convince you, doesn’t it?
My life in UK，and the experience of studying art at camberwell was, for me, a unique opportunity to bring together all the fragments of my life and how they shaped me . I realized that I was not only influenced by Chinese collectivist culture, but also American pop culture since I was a child, while Europe was a completely different experience. The slow pace and pure and emotional atmosphere of the campus, gave me time to examine myself; after so many years of wandering outside, flying like a tired bird, I subconsciously drew many kinds of birds, representing something I wanted to grasp deep in my heart, trying to escape the love and restraint of my family and country. At the same, living in east London, facing with those real trivialness and real lonliness, I started to consider how I can change the situation and how I feel.
In China, I can effortlessly create these pieces in mere minutes. This ease is due to the stable, convenient environment there, which allows for prolonged meditation and access to materials—like cigars—whenever needed. In contrast, during these months in east London, I’ve experienced the anxiety of insecurity and the busy, mundane tasks of everyday life.
I began to sense the helplessness and pain that ordinary workers, especially women, might have felt centuries ago when they were pushed out of public spaces. I finally realized that addressing the struggles of vulnerable groups isn’t something that can be solved with a high-handed act of charity without truly understanding their plight.
Now that I’ve moved to a brighter part of town, I realize how difficult it was in the East End to find clean food, water, air, and quiet streets. These factors affected my mood, making it impossible to create as freely as I did back home. In that period, I was often too disheartened to reach out to others, including my equally busy peers, for help.
The seedflowers (Ai Wei Wei)
In my art, I hope to give voice to these groups—The working class, especially the women, who have toiled in harsh conditions for thousands of years, not in a patronizing way, but with an honest exploration of their struggles. Ai Weiwei’s “Sunflower Seeds” is not only rich with political symbolism but also serves as a tribute to Chinese craftsmanship and artisanship. This dual meaning profoundly inspires me.
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the Pop art movement in the 1960s. Pop art used images and styles from popular culture and mass media, such as advertising, comic books, and consumer products, to challenge the traditional notions of art and originality. Warhol was known for his use of repetition, irony, and humor in his works, which often reflected his fascination with fame, celebrity, and consumerism.
One of his most famous works is Campbell's Soup Cans, which consists of 32 paintings of different flavors of canned soup sold by the Campbell's Soup Company. Warhol made these paintings in 1962, using a combination of projection, tracing, painting, and stamping. He said that he chose this subject because he used to eat the same soup every day for 20 years. The paintings show the uniformity and ubiquity of the product's packaging, as well as the slight variations in each painting, such as the color, the shape, and the fleur-de-lys pattern. The paintings also subvert the idea of painting as a medium of invention and originality, as they look like they were made mechanically, like the mass-produced soup cans.
Campbell's Soup Cans is considered a landmark work in Pop art, as it challenged the conventions and expectations of the art world at the time.
Modular Art as a Reflection of Atomized Society
In my work, I incorporate modular and repetitive elements like LEGO bricks and Pringles chips, drawing not only from Andy Warhol’s critique of mass culture and consumer society but also from Ai Weiwei’s deep reflection on social structures. Despite coming from entirely different backgrounds, both artists use repetition to critique and reflect their respective cultures.
For Warhol, mass replication and production served as a metaphor for American consumerism. For Ai Weiwei, his “Sunflower Seeds” project, crafted by hand, symbolizes the dialectic between collective labor and individual uniqueness. In my own creations, I seek to explore the intersection of consumerism, individualism, and collectivism through humor and irony, while also attempting to introduce elements of romance and warmth. This is not just an acknowledgment of these male artists’ influence on me, but also an effort to go beyond the male perspective. I want to question what lies beyond the critique of consumerism. Perhaps it’s love, or the re-establishment of genuine connections with others.
Archigram Movement
In corporating the playful and optimistic spirit of the Archigram movement, my LEGO-based works reflect a romanticized vision of technology. The vibrant colors and modular designs are inspired by Archigram’s exploration of mobility, modularity, and plug-in architecture. This approach resonates with my existential philosophy—despite our isolated existence in modern cities, there’s a latent potential for connection. The mobility and flexibility of modular structures suggest that, although we are isolated individuals, the potential for coming together and breaking down barriers remains ever-present.
Through my poetry, I weave these themes together, suggesting that even though we live in isolated units, the possibility of reconnecting remains within reach. This reflects the Archigram ethos of enhancing human experience through imaginative architecture, where technology is not merely functional but also a source of joy and connection.
The modular structures I create, inspired by both Warhol’s and Ai Weiwei’s artistic critiques, serve as metaphors for the conflict between individualism and collectivism. Warhol’s repetition in works like Campbell’s Soup Cans critiques American consumerism, while Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds project reflects on Chinese collectivist labor. Yet, both artists highlight how mass production, rather than connecting people, often leads to deeper atomization.
The reason I emphasize the profound influence of these two male artists—Andy Warhol and the politically resonant figures like Ai Weiwei—on my work lies in their ability to navigate grand narratives and social critique through art. Both artists excel in addressing large-scale societal issues, whether it’s consumerism, political oppression, or cultural homogenization. Their works are layered with symbols that reflect deeper political and social commentaries, using repetition, irony, and stark imagery to question the status quo. This approach has deeply shaped my understanding of how art can function not just as a form of personal expression, but as a powerful medium for social critique.
However, while I draw inspiration from their grand narratives, I also feel there is space for a more nuanced, distinctly feminine perspective that moves beyond their heavily symbolic and often confrontational methods. After dissecting and critiquing the symbols of politics and consumerism, one is left asking: what comes next? What lies beyond the critique of systems that commodify human experience? To me, the answer lies in exploring softer, more intimate themes that these male artists often overlook—like love, connection, and the subtleties of human relationships.
This is where I aim to diverge from their approaches. While Warhol’s and Ai Weiwei’s works are undeniably impactful, they often maintain a distance, focusing on societal structures rather than the individual’s emotional experiences within them. I seek to bring a more personal, emotional depth to my art, one that is rooted in empathy and the complexities of human connection. My goal is to infuse my work with a sense of warmth and vulnerability that contrasts with the often cold, critical distance maintained by these male perspectives.
By integrating a more feminine, empathetic approach, I want to show that after all the critiques of capitalism, consumerism, and political systems, what remains is our capacity for love and authentic human connection. Rather than simply deconstructing societal issues, I aspire to explore how art can heal and bridge gaps between individuals. In this way, I am not rejecting the influence of these male artists but rather expanding upon it—bringing in a layer of emotional resonance that seeks not just to critique, but to connect, to love, and to transform.
In my latest work, I center the concept of an ant installation to explore the complex relationship between human society and the individual. Ants serve as a symbol of social beings, prompting me to reconsider the human condition within modern society. Ants, much like us, function as the atoms of society—each individual thrives within a collective, yet cannot survive when isolated. to tell you the truth, I only design this ant model, and made only a few, so I would say again that my artwork cannot survive without group's help.
The behavior of ants has made me deeply aware that while individuals may seem insignificant within the collective, their existence is vital to the structure of society. Although modern culture often emphasizes individualism and independence, in reality, we still rely on each other for psychological and emotional well-being. In my artwork, the metaphor of ants prompts me to reevaluate the structure of human societies, questioning whether we can truly sustain independence in a highly individualized world.
In the musical Why am I so single, I once again felt the lethality of the sentence "nobody loves you"to western people. Individualism places such strong emphasis on personality and charm . I think in China, this may be equivalent to "you never be successful". The Chinese do work very hard or too hard, but on the other hand, as I mentioned before, the convenient life I enjoy is also inseparable from all the hard work of the whole nation. There are always pros and cons. I think maybe we should learn from each other. This queer culture in the musical also made me aware of where the pride of European culture comes from. Many cultural movements originated here and eventually influenced the United States. The United States further amplified its cultural influence through the advantages of technology and industrialization--that's why I gave praise to the modern technology.
My experiences in London deepened my understanding of social atomization. The extreme individualism of Western society can sometimes lead to profound feelings of isolation, whereas the collectivist upbringing I received in China emphasized the importance of mutual connections, even at the expense of personal freedom. This tension is a recurring theme in my work, where I use a playful approach to invite the audience to explore these cultural contrasts together.
Heidegger, Blanchot, and the Crisis of Modernity
In my artistic and theoretical explorations, I draw heavily on Heidegger’s and Maurice Blanchot’s existential philosophies to examine the atomization of contemporary urban life. In Being and Time, Heidegger discusses “Alltäglichkeit” (everydayness) and “Uneigentlichkeit” (inauthenticity), revealing how individuals become absorbed in routine, social norms, and consumerism, preventing them from confronting their authentic existence. This resonated deeply with me as I reflected on my own experiences in London, where the repetitive routines of modern life often mask a deeper sense of existential emptiness.
Blanchot extends Heidegger’s existential critique by exploring nihilism and social atomization. He suggests that in a society where individuals are increasingly isolated, the recognition of nothingness can paradoxically lead to new forms of creative potential. In this sense, acknowledging the void becomes a way to reclaim authentic existence. My work attempts to navigate this paradox: while I critique the standardized, consumer-driven world we inhabit, I also explore how embracing its inherent emptiness might lead to deeper forms of connection and meaning.
Consumerism, Inauthenticity, and Everydayness
Through the lens of Heidegger’s existential philosophy, my work critiques the illusion of shared experiences in consumer culture. Eating the same frozen food or using the same soap (I changed to Volvic to memorise London) might create a superficial sense of unity, yet it highlights how standardized commodities deepen social atomization. The poem I wrote reflects this paradox:
We are in different flats,
Isn't it beautiful that
We are eating the same frozen food.
Isn’t it beautiful that we are drinking the same volvic?
Isn’t it beautiful that we are eating the same crisps?
Doesn’t it imply some similar personality tendencies between us?
Shouldn’t we combine our flats together
And live together?
This poem is both a playful and ironic commentary on how consumer culture creates a veneer of connection while masking the deeper loneliness of modern life. The repetition in the poem mirrors the repetitiveness of consumer habits, echoing the inauthenticity that Heidegger describes. Yet, it also hints at a longing for genuine human connection, a desire to break through the barriers of atomized existence.
Nihilism as Creative Potential
Drawing from Blanchot, I explore the idea that confronting the inherent nihilism of modern urban life can unlock creative potential. By acknowledging the void rather than fleeing from it, individuals might discover new forms of expression and connection. This is where art and poetry become vital—serving not just as critiques but as means of transcending the inauthenticity of everyday life. In a society where social interactions are increasingly mediated by technology and commodified experiences, art can serve as a bridge between isolation and connection.
Blanchot suggests that the experience of solitude and nothingness is not merely a negative state but a space of creative possibility. By embracing the emptiness of our atomized existence, we might uncover a more profound sense of meaning. My work attempts to embody this philosophy, using humor, irony, and repetition to invite viewers to confront the absurdity of their own routines and perhaps, through that recognition, to rediscover their authentic selves.