As we get ready for the LooseLeaf Volume 4 launch on October 14th, we wanted to highlight the wonderful group of artists who will be vending their merchandise during the night’s festivities, and grill them about their artistic practice so you don’t have to! Along with picking up a copy of Volume 4, we highly suggest bringing some extra cash to pick up their artistic delights!
Introduce yourself or your collective, and, though near impossible, describe your work.
We are Alex, Jamie and Jon, and collectively we started making t-shirts under the name AYCE in 2017. Our first set of shirts featured chicken feet, curry fish balls, gai lan and a sausage bun. We were inspired to feature food items that we felt were relevant to our culture that have either been rejected or not accepted yet by western culture, who tend to cherry pick what they deem to be worthy when it comes to food items from other cultures. We also just thought putting a chicken feet on a tee would look cool. We’ve worked with The Museum of Chinese in America, P40 and Reel Asian to donate 50 percent of our proceeds to these organizations. Our overall initiative is to give back to other Asian collectives and organizations who are spending their time, money and creative energy to give back to raise awareness for our culture as well.
Who are some of your favorite artists (contemporary and/or historical), and how have they influenced your practice?
Sophia Chang from New York has long been one of our favorite artists. We also love the work of Canadian illustrators including Jackie Lee and Steph Cheng. All of these people and many others inspire us to think outside the box and figure out how we can carve out our own niche in our own creative space.
William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.” How do you go about starting your creative work? Tell us about your work process. A lot of our ideas come out of day-to-day conversations we have. The three of us have known each other for a long time, so bouncing ideas off each other is just a normal part of the conversations we have. We also spend a lot of time thinking about what specific ideas and concepts would really resonate with people who think and look just like us.
Is there a particular image or concept you’re obsessed with at the moment?
No particular image or concept, but the folks at Sad Art Store and Banana Mag are doing really cool stuff that we’ve been inspired by.
What product will you be vending at the LooseLeaf launch on October 14th?
We’ll be selling our four food item t-shirts along with a new TVB-inspired shirt which we just debuted recently on our site.
Social Media:
@ayce1984 on Instagram
Website:
http://ayce.bigcartel.com
Introduce yourself or your collective, and, though near impossible, describe your work.
Cup Doodle is a group of Asian identified cartoonists creating work around the Asian experience. From growing up in the motherland and the diaspora, to relationships, family and on sex, love and anything in between. We approach our stories as a resistance to the oppressive Asian stereotypes and with love. We met through a 10 week comic-making workshop and residency program of the same name in early 2017, co-facilitated by Loretta Mui and developed by Althea Balmes.
Who are some of your favorite artists (contemporary and/or historical), and how have they influenced your practice?
Tillie Walden, Yuko Shimizu, Milo Manara, Lee Lai, Jillian Tamaki and Durga Chew-Bose are people who have been inspiring us lately.
William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.” How do you go about starting your creative work? Tell us about your work process. We make an effort to make time and eat together. Out of those conversations we generally have a lot to say (or complain about). We expand on those conversations through our comics and writing.
Is there a particular image or concept you’re obsessed with at the moment?
Anything about food (and its rich bevy of associations) is pretty central to our conception.
What product will you be vending at the LooseLeaf launch on October 14th?
Comic zines, posters, stickers, postcards
Social Media:
@cupdoodleproject on Instagram
https://www.facebook.com/cupdoodleproject
http://cupdoodleproject.storenvy.com
Website:
http://cupdoodleproject.tumblr.com
Introduce yourself or your collective, and, though near impossible, describe your work.
I’m Robbie Adolfo, a big nerd who practices design and illustration. My art revolves around spirituality, video games, mythology, and my Filipinx roots.
Who are some of your favorite artists (contemporary and/or historical), and how have they influenced your practice?
In terms of art and technique, I get a lot of influence from Kelly K, 1 Percent Talent, Crom, and LocalKristine. I relate so much to their work and that finds its way into how I explore my own creativity. But a huge part of my drive is people’s relationships with art — the idea that art is as much a part of a person as their handwriting, habits, the way they walk. It’s something they carry and have built themselves — It’s very pure, and I experience this the most in my circle of friends.
William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.” How do you go about starting your creative work? Tell us about your work process.
I treat my creative work like it’s my job because I know that it will be in the future, with the goal of learning something new each time. But the first step is coffee. I think a lot while I’m on the TTC or in the shower, trying to explore options in my brain before making any marks in a sketchbook. I have lots of books to write in - smooth sketchbooks cause I like markers, dotted notebooks for thumb-nailing, and a grid paper one for compositions.
Is there a particular image or concept you’re obsessed with at the moment?
I’m always looking to put video game and weapon references in my artwork. I like swords a lot, haha. Also, colour palettes! I switch up favourites often. Right now it’s a tropical-looking yellow and green, like a mango.
What product will you be vending at the LooseLeaf launch on October 14th?
Two zines, a tote bag, patches, stickers, and a couple shirts.
Social Media:
@JTPKS on Instagram
Introduce yourself or your collective, and, though near impossible, describe your work.
Hi, I’m Wenting. I work as a freelance illustrator & spend my evenings making stuff (screen printed shirts, illustrated ceramics, pins and zines).
Who are some of your favorite artists (contemporary and/or historical), and how have they influenced your practice?
I really love walking around among Henry Moore’s sculptures – they ask me a lot of good questions about abstraction in representation. Also currently really enjoying Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem sci-fi trilogy.
William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.” How do you go about starting your creative work? Tell us about your work process. Actually I might agree about that! It’s not true of my illustration practise but my personal work is very much on an as-inspired basis, and just walking around in the world is pretty regularly inspiring.
Is there a particular image or concept you’re obsessed with at the moment?
Hmm I’m pretty obsessed with this knit scarf I saw. I knit & I really want to make a one-off knit object using an illustrated stranded or intarsia image, maybe when it’s snowing wildly & the city less eminently bikeable.
What product will you be vending at the LooseLeaf launch on October 14th?
I’ll be selling some screen printed “White Rabbit” tees, my riso-printed zines, wood brooches I painted & ceramic objects - see you soon!
Social Media:
@wentingthings on Instagram
@wentingthings on Twitter
Website:
http://wentingli.com
You can also catch other artists such as From the Root zine, Mirae Lee, Jasmine Gui and Abby Ho (jabs), and Chloe Leung selling P40 & independent merchandise at the vendor market!
For more information on the Volume 4 Launch Event, check out the facebook event.
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