Junyi Xie

Year of birth: 1999.
Where do you live: Guangzhou, China.
Your education: MA Sculpture in Royal College of Art.
Describe your art in three words: colorful, indulgence, moments.
Your discipline: sculpture, interior design.
www.junyixie.com | Instagram

Your work “Pink” is described as capturing the essence of fluidity and movement. Can you elaborate on what inspired this particular piece?

My inspiration mainly drawn from fleeting moments in everyday life. ‘Pink’ is one of my liquid colors series pieces, which focus on exploring color change in beverages motions. Since when I go to a bar or drink shops, the choice I made an order depends on the characteristic of beverages in the menu, especially various colorful elements. I started to pay attention to the colors that surround our daily life, as color is one of the most attractive features on the first impression by consumers.

While as consumers, we do not know or aware how does bartender make various kind of colorful drinks. And usually, people may miss some unexpected motions when they interact with the daily objects. So, I began to consider some interactions with my daily objects like cups, plates, kettle that I used every day, and observed their conditions during my actions. Through recoding those daily moments, I seek to transform the fleeting movements into my art practice.

Junyi Xie | Pink | 2024

You use a variety of materials such as acrylic, quartz sand, clay, plaster, resin, plastic, and wax. How do you decide which materials to use for each project?

My choice of materials depends on what characteristics I wish to present and effects in series experiments. For instance, in my beverages experiment, I used butterfly pea flower tea that is natural blue dye transforms to purple with lemon juice and deep blue with soda water. During the process, I think the most exciting moment is where the collisions of different substances emerge the chemical reaction, creating uncontrolled and unexpected liquid flows. That evoked me to use transparent materials to reflect the constant change and present the ephemerality in that mix moment. So, at this point, materials of resin, plastic, and glass offer the transparency I seek. Other features like melting I would consider using wax, desserts form I would use clay and plaster with acrylic paints to make creamy effects.

Your artistic process begins with personal experiences and observations of everyday objects. Can you share a specific moment or object that has particularly influenced your work?

One of my personal experiences was interacting with the glass cup I used to make my morning drinks every day. During making, I snapshotted fragment images of recording different conditions in the glass cup, by pouring our usual food ingredients like milk, coffee, matcha, jam, etc. observed its mixing movements and capture its motions. I divided them into three main moments for materializing some extraordinary characteristics in practice: static, mixing, remnant.

Based on the snapshots recording, I also gathered those drinks moments in a dairy form on a week, which become a zine for collecting more moments on those liquid motions in glass. The zine also forms a diary of my drink’s menu, and becomes a reference for gathering my impressions in sketches to capture the mixing movements in glass cup, trying to through sketches express those exciting mixing moments’ characteristics that would help me to transform into marvelous objects making.

Junyi Xie | Pink | 2024

How does your background in Environmental Design and Interior Design influence your sculptural and visual art practices?

During my study of Environmental Design, I was encouraged to explore our surroundings and the ways in which environments impact human emotions and perceptions. This perspective drawn my inspirations by exploring fragment scenes surrounded us, and instilled me to consider how my works could incorporate and interact with our surroundings.

Then when studied interior design, with its focus on materiality, color, and sensory experience in space, has shaped my approach to the tactile and visual qualities of my sculptures. My fascination with colorful beverages and sweet foods is heightened by my design practice, since when I did a bar design project. Through design project, I gradually foster to practice creating immersive experience in space to evoke specific moods and multisensory.

Junyi Xie | Pink | 2024

Your pieces often evoke the vibrant hues of beverages and sweet foods. What is the significance of these subjects in your work?

I strive to convey the fluidity and transience of everyday experiences, colorful beverages and sweet food has strong allure and always bring me pleasure moods. While at the same time, those things are also ordinary in our mundane world, I seek to inspire viewers to see the potential of everyday aesthetic in common things, fostering a deeper connection to the ordinary moments that define our lives.

What role do you believe color plays in conveying the themes and emotions in your work?

The use of bright, enticing colors in my works usually highlight the often-overlooked beauty in everyday objects, transforming the mundane into something worthy of deeper contemplation. I believe the vividness of these colors conveys the joy and indulgence associated with sweet foods and beverages, drawing attention to the fleeting moments of happiness they bring. At the same time, I consider these colors serve as a reminder of the transience of these experiences. That is, how quickly a moment of pleasure can pass, leaving only a sweet memory.

Junyi Xie | Pink | 2024

Your works invite viewers into a world of sensory pleasure. How important is it for you to engage multiple senses in your art?

The sensory engagement is crucial because it deepens the connection between the viewer and the subject matter. Visual appeal alone can captivate, but if it could stimulate other senses, such as the imagined sweetness of a dessert or the coolness of a drink, viewers are transported into a more intimate, personal resonance with the work. So, I incorporated colorful beverages and sweet food with my sculptural works, designed to evoke the textures, smells, and even imagined tastes of these familiar objects by presenting in visual art. By doing so, I wish to create an immersive experience that draws viewers into the allure of these ordinary yet captivating moments.