Artist VS Artist

In an American Dictionary, the artist means someone who produces art, especially paintings or drawings. The story, however, I discovered below, urges me rethink the meaning of it.  

I knew him because of a TV interview program. He was tall but not burly, shoulder-length black hair in a bisection style, an elongated face with golden-framed glasses. “That is the only part resembles me an artist.” He said self-deprecatingly.

He grew up in a particular period of time of China—the era of Mao Zedong. As a result, he has experienced a Culture Revolution, which led to thousands of urban youth Chinese transfer to a rural region during the Down to Countryside Movement. That was a tough time for a teenager to leave home and work in the countryside. The only opportunity backing to city was to learn a skill and go to a university.

He dreamed of being an artist at the time. In a rural area, without enough food supplies and comfortable living conditions, he took his first step— study Fine Art by himself. Many years after, when talking to his past experiences, he admitted that experiencing extreme difficulties in his early life prepared him to stand any adversities that encountered later. Moreover, he took the hardship for granted: “Engaging in arts is supposed to endure suffering.”

Thirty years later, when becoming a president of Sculpture Institute, and accomplishing over 150 exquisite sculptures spreading over the China, he did not consider himself as a popular artist. “I am just a person engaging in art creation seriously.”

In 2006, out of over 2000 candidates with 500 drafts in fifty-two countries, he got an invitation completing Martin Luther King’s statue. Even though public criticism has questioned his background as a Chinese artist, he put tremendous effort to accomplish it.

When, four-year arduous working after, the sculpture appeared in National Mall of Washington, D. C.,and drew warm applause from crowds, he, however, chose to leave. “I will choose stand aloof from city.” He said in a calm tone. To stay in his hometown and committed to fashioning more non-commercial products became his pursuit of life.  

 His words touched my heart. I admired his courage—a person could enjoy the loneliness after savoring the joy of victory.

He re-interpreted the meaning of artist for me .

His name is Lei,Yixin--the sculptor of Martin Luther King Jr. Memoral.

A surprisingly food adventure

The logo surprised me, for its design and its culture.

I grew up in China, in which people get used to apply the red as primary color and an auspicious sign for store symbol. In fact, Chinese believes that red is a fortunate color for business.

However, when visiting Dangerously Delicious Pie website, I was shocked by its logo. In a square blackboard, a white chalk depicted a quaint sign—it made up with a pie and crossbones causing me think of a pirate ship. And the dark background and harsh font put me in a risky environment.

A lot of questions began to show in my mind: what is the Dangerously Delicious Pie? What does it look like? With those questions, I went to the website and started my painstaking searching.

At last, surprisingly, the food conquered me.

Such a gorgeous food—around 50 pies demonstrate me a pie world in a variety. Red Cherry pie, crème brulee texture Vanilla Chess pie, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chess pie, and Bacon Onion Gruyere … it seems that enumerating all of these delicacies is impossible. I couldn’t help stop my eyes in those dainty pictures, while visualizing a warmed gruyere melted in my mouth, mixing crunch of onion with the slippery slivers of mushrooms.

Never had I imaged such a colorful food world existing under the black logo. It wins me psychologically. As if after experiencing an unexpected adventure, I found a food paradise. I remembered this food—a trustworthily mouth-watering pie rather than a dangerously delicious.

Moreover, from a graphic designer’s perspective, the logo captures the customers by employing contrast: monotonous black VS diverse food colors; dangerously feeling VS pleasurable satisfaction. That is a bold approach to win the market, but it works.