27. CHANG XU - A SPACE BETWEEN BOREDOM AND DRAWING WITH CLOSED EYES.
Emergent artist Chang Xu discusses her creative process.
CHANG XU - Film still courtesy of the artist.
1. At what stage within your creative process do you start to draw?
I create art while experiencing boredom. I create illustrations, animations, or write some text to record my emotions at that moment. Then, I integrate them, find some connections, and search for the final content of the film.
My films start with broad ideas that I am interested in or have some insight into, and then narrow down to the topics that I really want. In fact, the initial direction of the film is about the rules that trap people, and then gradually narrows down to the concept of boredom. I keep a notebook where I record all the sudden inspirations or ideas I have in my daily life. Sometimes, I also use it to discover potential topics I can try to work on.
2. Your personal perspective on the state of boredom is fascinating, can you expand upon how you use this idea within your practice?
I conducted some personal experiments on boredom. I made a list of 18 situations that made me feel bored and deliberately spent more time experiencing each of them. Then, I selected the three most impressive situations, which were: listening to people speak in a language I couldn't understand, watching the clock ticking away, and lying in bed unable to fall asleep. Afterward, I focused on these three situations, recording emotions, visuals, and thoughts, and eventually used them as inspiration for my creative work.
3. The use of hand drawing seems central to your practice, the work is very gentle and also feels very mysterious, can you expand upon this?
Actually, this is my first attempt at hand drawing, and at the beginning, I was quite uneasy. However, during the process of experiencing boredom, I gradually let go of my anxiety. I followed my own thoughts and freely created the picture. I think the softness and mystery felt by the audience is actually the emotion I perceive during moments of boredom - very comfortable and relaxing. Sometimes, I feel like I've turned into a puddle of water and other times, I feel like there's a vast fog ahead. I can vaguely see something, but it's not clear, and I can't touch it either.
4. You describe your films as 'animated documentaries' and the themes seem to focus on mental health, do you feel this is an area you want to document and what have you learned from making these works?
In today's society, everything moves at a rapid pace, and people have too many things they can do, even during leisure time, with numerous options available. All these activities fill up our minds. Although we have sleep to provide our brains with physiological rest, I believe emotions also need rest and blankness. We need time to think of nothing and do nothing, and boredom happens to offer that time. Therefore, going through the experience of boredom is, in fact, a process of healing for me. I've become better at relaxing and paying more attention to my thoughts and emotions. It has allowed me to adjust my mental state more effectively. My emotions are now more manageable than before, and I have learned to find happiness in the little things in life. This is also the reason why I chose this theme. I hope more people can find their own ‘flow of thoughts' through this approach.
5. Your practice is incredibly instinctive, please can you explain how you respond to your instincts within your work?
As mentioned above, I mentioned that it was my first attempt at hand drawing, so at the beginning, I was a bit lost and didn't know where to start. I had some difficulty distinguishing whether I was drawing from my intuition or if it was something I had seen in my subconscious. During that time, I used materials and some constraints to help me tap into my intuition. For example, I let watercolors flow freely on plastic film because it was uncontrollable. I watched the pigments flow and merge naturally, forming a spontaneous painting, and gradually, I began to grasp some sensations. I also imposed certain limitations on myself, such as drawing with my eyes closed, not breathing, and blocking out any external sounds. Through these exercises, I slowly connected with my intuition, and after that, I was able to continue creating more smoothly.