Painting with YT

• Arnaud Lin: You studied textiles at CSM, but you are very adaptable depending on projects you take on. You paint a lot, make films and use textile design as mediums in your artistic endeavours. Was art school a catalyst for your multi-disciplinary approach to your art?

• Yin Tong:  Yes I think so, especially the school and the subject I studied. I also think because of my understanding about art school and their logicality and why I was doing this program after a bachelor and a master. After 5 years of university studies in Hong Kong before coming to CSM, I feel I had a more specific and clearer idea on how should I spend my time at this school and this city in the following years.

• I saw or expected this program as a way to built up my mind and a chance to let me try everything I want instead of to get me into a specific industry or a job. So my school practices turned quite multidisciplinary.

• I specialised in the knit pathway. I took this technique more as a constraint that this program set for me. This allowed me to explore, based on the fixed medium I needed to use, and see where I could go from there. I like to work and make the most under certain constraints.

AL: Many young artists struggle to find their path after University, how do you manage to keep the focus and confidence in your own art coming out of graduation and facing the challenges that come after that? There is no formula to make a name in the fine art world, is there a particular way you approach it?

• YT: I think parts of my focus and confidence come from my parents’ unconditional supports and understanding. My mom is a very pragmatic and realistic person in her life, but she loves to support all my romantic and idealistic thoughts. I still remember a day before I came to this city and started my art school practice, she talked to me beside the dinning table at home, and told me to be prepared that years later when I finished the program, there was a good chance that I would still be just an ordinary person. I think because of her education, I didn’t feel too much disappointment after leaving university. I had already fully prepared for the worst case, I guess. When normal things happened I feel normal, and when good things happened I feel happy. Besides that, I think it’s faith and desire. I feeI guided by them. When I have fantasies, I like to put them into action, it gets me closer to what I want to achieve in the bigger picture. I do want to make my name in this world, I think the only way I could do to approach this is to just keep doing it. Putting in the work by learning, practicing, observing, and and continuously doing all of those things.

AL: Having come from China to study in London, and wanting to stay and make your own mark here, how does that impact your decisions as a young artist? How do you think your cultural background informs the way you navigate your artistic journey in a foreign country?

• YT: I rarely keep where I am from in mind – when I create, I feel. I am definitely affected by my background unconsciously, I believe that, but I am not sure if I can precisely identify what or how. I can tell I am consciously inspired by my personal growth, my environment and surroundings including the area I am living in, the people I am hanging out with, the food I eat, etc.. I reflect, feel, and analyse those things consistently in order to make them source material for my work. I think I am just a very adaptable person as you said before, I prefer to make the most from what I am experiencing at the moment. When I am here, I get used to the place, I observe, learn and I get influenced by what is going on around me, which is what you have seen in my film work – reflections on life, the gastro culture and social phenomena happening here. For my painting practice, I try to involve people who are based in this city, those who benefit from the resources here and give back to the audience, such as local creatives. I also bring social narratives into my drawing practice, for example, my pub drawing series. I don’t think I am intentionally trying to show my cultural background in my work, regardless of my nationality, gender, or other aspects, I am not trying to avoid showing it either. I just don’t feel it’s necessary to emphasise on it in my kind of practice. They are all very personal reflections and if the audience sees any of my cultural identity in my work, that is fine, if not, that is also fine. Just like people can definitely tell something about me when I present myself in films, while they probably don’t have a very clear idea of how I look when they see my paintings, and that is fine either way. I just feel that your background, culture, perspective and values are all deeply rooted in your body, mind and being. I would love to bring them out naturally.

AL: Coming from abroad myself, I feel a strong need to anchor myself, building a tangible connection to a foreign place and culture through photographing it consistently as a means of appropriation. You’ve been painting large format oil paintings portraying friends, fellow artists and art students with a documentary-like process – is it for you a way of materialising your grasp on your surrounding and fulfilling a certain sense of belonging? And How does this integrate in your body of work?

• YT:I like hardcopy, if you remember my first solo exhibition you went in Beijing was called HARDCOPY. That was my first exhibition showing the very first oil pastel A4 size portrait drawings. I named the exhibition ‘HARDCOPY’ and described it as: “not only an exhibition of my badly drawn portraits, but also my confession about hardcopy – a physical media that depicts and documents what I see, feel and go through, turning my time and life into a tangible existence that others can share”. So I think it is a way of materialising my surrounding as you said. But I am not sure how much it is about my sense of belonging. Now I have been more focused on the life size full body oil portrait painting, it is the continuation and progression of my oil pastel portrait drawings, in size, concept and behaviour. Besides all my creative friends, I start to get more influencers, artists, designers, lifestyle or subculture creators involved. I want to use the canvas to document as many talents as I can reach, depict the era of this generation under internet, social media and multiculturalism. Aside from being a physical portrait, I am also seeing this as a behaviour or a process, from connecting with this person online, arranging a meet up for a digital portrait, to finishing the portrait and finally inviting them for a quick photo shoot with me and the painting to then post on my social media as an ending. It is about making a documentary of the people, the time, and the way people interact with each other under the social media age. I think it is my way to connect to the era I am living in, and turn it into tangible media.

AL: You use social media extensively, beyond just showing your work but also expressing your sense of identity online – displaying an honest insight into your daily activities, artistic process, and sense of fashion, giving the art and artist equal recognition. What do you think about the importance of online space for the generation of artist coming up in the post-digital world?

• YT: I do display an honest insight of my life on social media! I am glad you think in this way! I don’t think online space is essential for every artists coming up in the post-digital world. However, I think it provides an accessible platform for all kinds of practice. For me, social media is a way to update my status with my friends, I cannot expect every single friend to care about every single thing I do, so I share online in general. Which ever friend is interested in any specific content will connect with me through that particular post, and we keep in touch. It gives me more opportunities to introduce myself to others also to know more about the people I care about. So I enjoy doing it and don’t feel shy about sharing my daily activities, the more I share, the more activities I get involved in. I benefit from social media from time to time. Many connections, jobs and commissions come through social platforms, I have made many good friends as well. It also offers me a way to reach lots of people whom I would never get a chance to meet without social media, that is fascinating.

AL: What are your hopes, for yourself and for your generation of artists?

• YT: I hope I have ability to inspire people. I hope all the people doing art enjoy themselves and have fun from that.