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Desmond Lo|香港新黑色里的反烏托邦世界 Dystopian World of Neo-Noire Hong Kong

Compression (2018) by Desmond Lo

压缩 (2018) by Desmond Lo

 



About the Artist

关于艺术家


Desmond Lo (罗洛民) is a Hong Kong-based photographer and animation artist. He uses computer-generated imagery in misty neon-lit Neo-Noire environments that explore the change in the identity of Hong Kong and how it is fading away. His digital cityscapes are a re-envisioning of the Hong Kong culture and an attempt at preserving them through his own imagination.


罗洛民(Desmond Lo)是香港的摄影师和动画艺术家。他用计算机生成的图像营造一种在朦胧的霓虹灯下的新黑色环境里,探索了香港身份的变化以及它在如何逐渐消失。他的数字城市景观是对香港文化的重新构想,并试图通过他自己的想象力来保存它们。


Desmond Lo 罗洛民

 

Before the artist’s Neo-noir digital obsession, he was focused on photography which was inspired by the late Fan Ho. Fan Ho was renowned for his black and white photos that told the story of the poor people of Hong Kong and the environment around them. His use of light, shadow, and coincidental capturing is what drew Desmond to his works. He simulates many of Fan Ho’s techniques to develop his own works.


在艺术家对新黑色数码技术的痴迷之前他专注于摄影,他的灵感来自已故的 何藩 。何藩是以黑白照片闻名,他的照片讲述了香港贫民及其周围环境的故事。他对光,影和巧合抓拍的运用吸引着罗洛民并运用在自己的作品中。他学习了范浩的许多技术来创作自己的作品。


There is an emphasis on scale in many of Lo’s photos with skyscrapers and architecture being an important feature of his compositions. An interaction of light reflecting off surfaces while creating a new narrative.


在罗洛民的许多照片里都有一个重点规模:摩天大楼和建筑是他创作作品的重要特征,并利用其表面反射出相互作用的光进行创作新的叙述。

 

Recurring Nightmares (2019) by  Desmond Lo

循环的噩梦 (2019) by Desmond Lo

 

Gridlock (2020) by Desmond Lo

僵局 (2020) by Desmond Lo




 

Someone Lived Here

某人曾住在这里

Overshot by Demond Lo

向上拍摄by Demond Lo

 

Lo’s artworks in his first solo exhibition titled Someone Lived Here uses cyberpunk as a visual genre to describe many aspects of the culture of Hong Kong. The genre, cyberpunk, mixes high-tech elements with low life to portray a much rougher and dystopian future. It echoes Hong Kong’s cramped environment and neon signs that illuminate its streets. It also draws attention to the big financial gap within the city which acts both as a financial hub and an old fishing village.


罗浩民在他的首次个人展览「某人曾住在这里」作品,将赛博朋克作为一种视觉流派来描述香港文化的许多方面。赛博朋克这种流派将高科技元素与底层生活结合在一起,描绘了一个更加艰难和反乌托邦的未来。它呼应着香港狭窄的环境和照亮其街道的霓虹灯招牌。它还引起人们注意到城市内部巨大的金融差距,既是一个金融中心又是一个老渔村。


The exhibition consists of two parts, Hidden Corners and Childhood Memories. It is a visual stroll into the “hidden gems” from the perspective of the artist. These re-imagined environments eventually project Lo’s childhood memories of a more vibrant and nostalgic Hong Kong onto a parallel dystopian universe. Lo’s recreations are desolate and familiar yet detached. There is a sense of yearning present in many of his nocturnal images.


展览分为两个部分:隐秘的角落童年的回忆。从艺术家的角度来看,这是对“隐藏的珠宝”的视觉漫步。这些经过重新构想的环境最终将罗永浩在童年时代对一个充满活力和怀旧的香港的回忆投射到了一个平行的反乌托邦宇宙中。罗永浩的重塑是既荒凉的,熟悉的又尚未分离的。他的许多夜间形象都带有一种向往的感觉。

 

Rainstain [left] & Heavy Rain (2018) [right] by Desmond Lo

雨渍 [左图] & 大雨(2018) [右图]by Desmond Lo

 

RLD (2018) [left] & MK2032 (2018) [right] by Desmond Lo

RLD(2018) [左图] & MK2032(2018) [右图]by Desmond Lo


Desmond’s pictures have deceived some as they are not real photographs, just hyper-photorealistic. He constructs his worlds first through a 3D modeling program and uses the Octane Render Engine to create realistic lighting, shadows, depth, and refractions. Once his composition is set, he will use the in-program camera to shoot the “photo”. This led him to be accused of misleading his audience, many of whom, wanted to know where his works were captured to recreate it for themselves. He reasons that he was not interested in the redundancy of well-known locations that every photographer has already captured. He chooses to recreate his environments while implementing a canton flair of neon lights, tightly packed apartment windows, and overarching skyscrapers. A Hong Kong of his own making.


罗浩民的照片欺骗了一些人,因为它们不是真实的照片,而是超真实感的图像。他首先通过3D建模程序构建了自己的世界,并使用Octane Render Engine创建了逼真的照明,阴影,深度和折射。设定好构图后,他将使用程序内相机拍摄“照片”。这导致他被说误导观众,其中许多人想知道他的作品在哪里被拍摄的然后后期重新修改。他这么做的理由是,他对别的摄影师已经捕获的知名地点都不感兴趣。他选择使用广州风格的霓虹灯,紧凑的公寓窗户和高耸入云的摩天大楼的同时重建属于自己的环境。一个自己创造出的香港。

 

 

“You get these photographers who come to Hong Kong from overseas and shoot the exact same thing the exact same way. On Instagram, you see it ten times per day! For me, as a content creator, why would I want to replicate something that someone has done before?”


“您知道那些从海外来香港的摄影师们都在以完全相同的方式进行完全相同的拍摄。在Instagram上,您每天可以看到十次!对我来说,作为内容创建者,我为什么要复制别人以前做过的事情?”


– Desmond Lo 罗浩民

 




The EveryDay Project

每日项目

Works from Desmond Lo’s EveryDay Project

来自罗浩民的每日项目作品


Desmond’s drive-in digital art is inspired by the famous digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple on Instagram, who had been creating one piece of work every day for over 12 years without missing a single day. Following in Winkelmann’s footsteps, Desmond began to produce one work a day, every day. Not only does this exercise help him to get better at 3D modeling but it also challenged him to be creative even when he did not feel like creating anything.


罗浩民的数字艺术灵感来自著名的数字艺术家Mike Winkelmann(在Instagram上被称为Beeple),他每天创作一件作品已有12年以上,而且是坚持每一天。跟随Winkelmann的脚步,罗浩民开始每天制作一件作品,每一天。这项练习不仅帮助他在3D建模方面变得更好,而且甚至在他感觉不到在创建任何东西的同时挑战了他的创造力。


The individual work he puts out to the world covers a wide range of topics including society, politics, pop culture, and self-exploration. Employing a cinematic atmosphere and well-rendered CGI, he can instill an enigmatic aura for the viewer.


他向世界展示的个人作品涵盖了广泛的主题,包括社会,政治,流行文化和自我探索。利用电影般的气氛和精心绘制的CGI,他可以为观众灌输神秘的气氛。


Revival (2020) by Desmond Lo

复兴(2020) by Desmond Lo


Faith (2019) by Desmond Lo

信仰(2019) by Desmond Lo

 

Aftermath (2020) by Desmond Lo

后果(2020) by Desmond Lo

 

Despite the seemingly moody nature of Desmond Lo’s CGI works, he does not take his work too seriously. He remarks that although his cyberpunk is aesthetically pleasing for the audience, he is more focused on the underlying story it hopes to communicate, an exploration of the culture and life of people.


尽管罗浩民的CGI作品看起来很喜怒无常,但他并没有太严肃地对待自己的作品。他说,尽管他的赛博朋克在审美上吸引了观众,但他更加专注于它所传达的背后的意义,希望观众去交流体会一种对人类的文化与生活的探索。




Translation 翻译:Eva Li



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