Meet SEWING FENG | Illustrator&Artist

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

Hi SEWING, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
When I was in graduate school, assignments naturally divided my time into chunks; my time was easy to schedule; I would begin working on an assignment as soon as I got it and spent the rest of my time resting, going to exhibitions, or watching movies. When I got my first job, I became procrastinated , which caused me to be pressed for time before the deadline, but luckily I finished it, those days I was really stressed. I promised I would start work as soon as I received my work instructions in the future. The most challenging part of freelancing is that you have to organize everything yourself: when you wake up every day, eat, work, and how many days a week you work. I think it is important to keep a good work-life balance because it is easily possible for me to get totally stuck in a project, and I work nights and on weekends because I am not in the mood for anything else. I refuse friends who invite me out, and I do not exercise. This, I believe, is not correct, because every time I finish the project, I have to take a long time to recover my energy. So I decided to start making some plans for myself and set aside time each day to relax and gather inspiration.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My work is often said to look very Asian, and I do like to paint traditional ghost stories and weird tales, and I like to use a lot of line and low-saturation colors. I’ve done a personal project on Chinese geomantic omen, and each painting is about a short story or tale. The early geomantic omen is the metaphysic mainly used for the location selection for palaces, residences, villages and graveyards. Later geomantic omen is mixed with superstitions, but the cultural interestingness is also increased with such superstitions. I hope I can express that sense of mystery in my picture. One of the stories is that an immortal named LiaoBing appeared in the villagers’ dream and he pointed to a wood chair with arc-shaped backrest, and clearly told people it would be prosperous if they build a pool in this shape，So later people like to dig a half-moon shaped pond in front of the village, and until now there are still some villages in southern China that retain these traditions. These stories reflect good wish of the ancients. Another one of my projects is about female menstrual shame, which I have personally experienced. I used to avoid going to school because I was afraid of people finding out I was on my period. When I grew up, I gradually felt relieved about the coming menstruation, but I found that many women in the world did not mention it or suffered unfair treatment because of the coming menstruation. So why do we treat such a normal physiological phenomenon as a flood beast? I did some research and drew this series. These two works allowed me to find my own way of painting, and these works were very fortunately recognized by MoCCA Arts Festival, 3 x 3 Illustration Show, Creative Quarterly Annual and Illustration West. Although I have since experimented with other styles and projects, I really like them.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
New York is a city that can never be fully explored, it’s so charming. I recommend you to visit several high rises because the city feels different from high up, you will feel calm, you can see the whole of Manhattan, and at nightfall, you can see the sunset on the sea, the more famous ones are Empire State Building, Edge and Rockefeller Center. In addition to Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, I also recommend going to Little Island, which has a great landscape design, some stages for performances, and many platforms for viewing the ocean. My favorite museums are the MET and MOMA, both of which are worth a full day’s visit, one for history and one for modernity. In terms of food, Ktown, Chinatown, and Little Italy all have a lot of good options, and I particularly enjoy a restaurant called Kong Sihk Tong in China Town; it’s very good and reasonably priced.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents have always supported me in all of my decisions since I was a child, for which I am very appreciative. I studied architecture in college and got good grades, but as graduation drew near, I made the decision to pursue illustration and become an illustrator. After giving it some serious thought, I realized that drawing was what I really wanted to do. Making the decision to become an illustrator was risky because, in China, the earnings is not as guaranteed as being an architect. However, my parents encouraged me and only wanted me to be happy. They had complete faith in my ability to earn a living via illustration and wanted me to follow my heart. With the support of my parents, I took an English exam and applied to FIT’s graduate program.

Website: www.sewingfeng.com

Instagram: @sewing_illus