Meet Ruoyi Shi | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ruoyi Shi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruoyi, why did you pursue a creative career?
I love creating things, things that haven’t been created or invented. Pursuing an artistic career for me is also pursuing happiness. Growing up in China, I was lucky to receive a great art education. However, art is still not accessible for everyone, and most schools do not regard it as an essential part of one’s compulsory education. I wish I could do something to help improve that situation; I also hope to help create more safe spaces for people to make art and share their voices.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
For me, it is important and exciting to have unintended collaborators — the audiences, to participate in the building of my work and participate as carriers for messages and stories. My projects are often open-ended, and I consider the viewers as players in my game. Their perspectives play a significant role in deciding how the game starts, continues, and ends.

My practices are rooted in my culture and traditions. I am interested in how people are encouraged to appropriate any image they encounter, and how our vocabulary was chosen and formed in today’s society. I consider my works as fragments I collected for creating an alternative reality. I invent figures, tools, myths, and memories. Using sculptures, writings, performances, and videos, I aim to experiment with the boundaries between nature and artificial existences, truth and truth-making. For me, this is a never-ending game that mirrors the past, the present, and the future, and I combine humor and fiction to construct these poetic narratives.

It was not easy for me to choose this path and keep perusing art, as for someone from a Chinese family and growing up in China, being an artist might not be a very conventional career choice. After I came to Los Angeles, the biggest challenge for me is how to think about my Chinese identity and where I should place myself in the community. Where I come from and how I look like is so closely related to how others read my work, and sometimes it might not come from my own will. I am still thinking about these questions, and they gradually became the topics I discuss in my artworks.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In my recent project, inspired by the first peasant revolution in Chinese written history, I made three ceramic “talking” fish with fishing reels attached to their bodies, spinning the handle, and there will be messages coming out of the fish’s mouth. I made a “fish map” for Los Angeles and brought my fish on a LA fish tour.

I would take my friend to the following places that I marked on the map—

Mrs. Lin Psychic shop on 1100 W Commonwealth Ave, Alhambra. This is a small pink psychic reading house in front of an Auto Zone, and many people might have driven past it. It is a sweet little spot with a lot of local stories and tales. Alhambra area is famous for its Chinese food: Yang’s kitchen, Lunasia Dim Sum House, Tasty Noodle House, and Jiang Nan Spring are my favorite.

Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. Aside from the amazing landscape and relaxing environment, the geese and ducks in that area are surprisingly welcoming and friendly. I also love all the signs there about eating and choosing the right fish around the ponds. I would recommend us grabbing some fish tacos and having a little hike there; we might even be able to build some friendship with the geese there.

Desiderio Neighborhood Park. The Colorado Street Bridge is wonderful. It is interesting to see the giant concrete monster from another perspective — from the bottom. It is also an excellent place for a picnic.

Baldwin Lake. Open space with a lot of greens. I consider this park as a tiny jungle of Los Angeles. After breathing some fresh air, I would recommend going to the Soh Grill House in Pasadena and enjoying some wonderful lemon soju.

The dead-end at 935 W Stuhr Dr, where I hid a few handmade zines under the sign. We can grab some Asian snacks from the nearby Asian grocery stores and have a little treasure hunt. There seldom has water in the concrete riverbed, but there is always a pleasant wind chimes sound singing from the other side.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Right now, I am a teaching artist at Drawing Cabinet. It is an artist-run educational studio in La Crescenta, the aim of this space is for artists and friends to share skills, ideas, and resources. People working there really care about all the students and respect their thoughts and interest. For me, this is what I wish everyone interested in art can have access to, especially for children and teenagers who are still exploring and thinking about what art is and what art can be. This is a place that abandons limits and restrictions, and encourages questions and creativity. More importantly, many young kids developed their interest in being an artist in the future.

Website: https://www.shiruoyi.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruoyishi/