CREATIVE.....'Red'
Hong Yi showcasing her portrait of Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
By : ELAINE MAH AND AMY YEE
SABAHAN Hong Yi, popularly
known as Red who has recently taken the art world by storm with her unique art
creations, premiered her first artwork in Sabah last week at the Sutera Harbour
Marina & Country Club, Kota Kinabalu.
Hong Yi's fame began when a
video clip of her portrait of basketball superstar Yao Ming using nothing but a
basketball, went viral on Youtube.
Yi, who dubs herself an
artist without a paintbrush, has since completed portraits of various international
personalities using unconventional tools. She has created a portrait of
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou with coffee stains, Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei using
10,000 sunflower seeds, Chinese film director Zhang Yi Mou with 750 pairs of
socks and bamboo sticks, and popular social network founder Mark Zuckerberg
using 36 books.
She graduated from the
University of Melbourne in Australia with a master's degree in Achitecture. She
then took a job with HASSELL, an Australian architecture firm based in Shanghai.
Currently, Yi has taken 6 months' leave to pursue her art dreams.
Yi’s latest installation is
that of Burmese Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, which the artist
took three days to create using 2,000 carnations and food dye.
CROWD....Hong
Yi addressing the crowd who came to view her installation at Sutera Harbour.
She told reporters that she
decided to create a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi because she was moved and
touched by the latter’s "love and kindness" to her people.
“She inspires me to strive
to be a better person,” Yi said.
The use of flowers as a
medium for some of her artworks is inspired by her subject's special life
experiences as well. She learnt that Aung San Suu Kyi’s father General Aung San
used to tie flowers in her hair when she was a little girl. She continued
having flowers in her hair when she grew up, especially after her father died.
She said this is her way of remembering him.
“I thought that was very
touching. I also think it’s her way of showing femininity through all the
stresses and strains that she had endured as an opposition leader,” Yi added.
CARNATION
.....The artist holding up a red carnation which forms a part of her portrait.
Red, according to Yi symbolizes love, passion and sacrifice.
The portrait took only three
days to complete, but the planning took approximately one month, according to
Yi. Sabah’s tropical climate also came as a challenge in the art piece as the
heat made it necessary for Yi to spray the carnations with water repeatedly.
The 27-year-old artist
credits her architectural training as an important part of her art.
“If I didn’t study
architecture, my artworks would probably be quite different. Architecture has
shaped the way I think about things in 3D,” she said.
The artist also cited
Picasso as an influence in her artworks. She learnt about Picasso from an art
teacher as a child in Kota Kinabalu.
The social media feature in
her art life too. She said the internet offers an important means of sharing
her work with the world.
"We're living in
exciting times which enable us to share our work. But it also has a lot to do
with being brave enough to share and connect with people through the Internet,”
she said.
Yi also remarked that one's
feeling of insecurity and the pressure to achieve perfection often hinders
one's artistic development. .
"As an artist or a
designer very often one is willing to share only when one is happy with one's
artwork. That's always been the case for me, but when I went to China I decided
that I was going to show the world,” she explained.
Back in Sabah, the artist is
looking for things Malaysian to inspire some of her future artworks. (Insight Sabah)
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