Jinxing Wang is one of the most exciting artists working in the digital art form. Their work mainly utilises 3D rendering as a means to create some deeply beautiful and otherworldly works that sometimes take the form of album artwork. We talked to them about their views on the future of the medium, such as advancements in i Intelligence technology, the growing role of NFTs and the prominence of Instagram as a means of distributing art.
Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi, I'm Jingxin, a Chinese artist who mainly works in digital art. I have worked with some of the most exciting rising music labels such as Svbkvlt, as well as other creative minds around the world like Ninajirachi, Daine, Aqnb and Softcentre, just to name a few.
I read in an interview that you studied Graphic Design before moving into 3D art. What triggered this move and have you found similarities between the two forms?
I was researching early internet art during my Master of Arts, and I saw the 3D art community was evolving and changing quickly. Through a lot of this, teaching myself 3D was an inspiring process. It felt a little bit like a wild west at the time. Sometimes when I looked at the graphic design world it felt much more like a place full of written rules.
What are your thoughts on NFTs and can you see any changes that have come into the world of digital art since their introduction?
I’m not a big player in this NFT thing but I would love to use it as a way to reach out to my audience. I don’t mind (like even?) the idea of blockchain, but I do know there are still problems with it. If NFT can make digital arts more part of the zeitgeist I think it’s an overall good thing. Rushing into it with the purpose of generating big money isn’t a very nice mindset though. In the end, the value of any artwork will prove itself by enduring the challenge of time.
What does your collaboration process look like when it comes to working with musicians and does music influence your work outside of these collaborations?
I think music is one of my biggest inspirations. I’m happy I got a lot of early opportunities to work with some amazing musicians. When working with other artists, you get to observe their works and explorations from a closer vantage point. You really start to see how one’s background and experience can reflect in their works. I love to know the story and experience behind the musicians I collaborate with. Both their story and their music and through this, I will absorb that story and put my understanding into it.
I love the artwork you produced for Prettybwoy’s album Tayutau. It reminds me of the work of the drag queen Hungry, specifically of her collaboration with Jesse Kanda for Bjork’s album Utopia. I’m curious to know if you take inspiration from makeup artists and drag specifically when it comes to producing your work.
I definitely love makeup art. It can sometimes give me a very specific solution for an idea. But the original inspiration of my art or this cover artwork is mainly inspired by the music and the story we wanted to tell. Tayutau is about Prettybwoy finding his identity as a Japanese artist dissociative among different cultures and time-spaces. My aim was to reflect this, like a chameleon adapted to its environment. The environment and floating liquid symbolise the figure is isolated as a reflection of some of our experiences over the last few years.
What role does fashion play in your art, both as a means of inspiration and a medium to share your work?
I see fashion as a way to transfer my vision to my audience. I have worked with fashion brands and I love researching fashion. I wouldn’t say fashion is a root inspiration of my art though. I think art is more about the artist’s identity and the artist’s ‘weltanschauung,’ which is deeper than that. Although fashion is a good approach to transferring art language to something easier to understand. In its ability to talk to a broader audience.
It seems that for many artists now Instagram has become the primary way to get exposure. Can you see artists, yourself included, moving away from the platform in the future and are there any feasible alternatives at the moment?
I think we should not be limited by certain platforms or the number of followers, if there will be a better choice I would love to adapt to it. If one still has the ability to produce valuable content, it’s not scary to start from a lower place. I’m running my website now. While websites feel out of the ‘network’ loop now. It’s a space where we have full creative and distributive control. Maybe a platform with this ethos and attitude may emerge? Who really knows.
Do you see merit in more traditional mediums such as books and exhibitions when it comes to exhibiting digital art?
As a new media artist, I put my work into a medium that’s not how it was originally generated. With the act of ‘compression,’ you are taking the risk of losing details and information. This comes in the form of both pixels and the ideas themselves. Different mediums have different bandwidths but as Marshall McLuhan said “The medium is the message.” If books and exhibitions are included in that message, I will not object to it. I am always trying to convert my digital render to other mediums and I always want to figure out how different mediums can work with my artworks in an organic way.
When it comes to art in the future, what role can you see AI playing in its production and how do you feel we should view this art in relation to that directly produced by humans?
I think it's a good question and it’s the basic question of using AI in art. From a bigger view, it’s good progress in the sense of expanding our collective consciousness as humans but it’s a big question for practitioners, where is the boundary? Or should we give up the boundary? I’m still trying to understand it.
Staying on the topic of AI art, are you familiar with Dall-e and Dall-e mini? It has been making the rounds on social media and for many people, I feel it will likely be their first exposure to AI art, or at least their first conscious interaction with it. What are your thoughts on the art being produced by Dall-e and can you see ethical issues emerging with these developments in AI technology, for instance, an increase in deep fakes?
I have observed the development of AI, and recently I tried Dall-e 2 and it is quite exciting to see how magical the algorithm translates our language. Having said that, I don’t personally see the value of the artist accepting it without thinking deeply about what it means about their role as an artist. I think there are still a lot of ethical problems underlying this area too, but I'm interested in using it as a tool to generate references for my final ‘handcrafted’ artworks, I have roughly named this process ‘AI-reverse.’ Maybe further using this method, especially as this space quickly evolves, I can get closer to the understanding of the boundary between myself and AI.
When it comes to the future, more broadly, are you optimistic? And if so, do you see this reflected in your artwork?
I will say I’m more on the optimistic side artistic-wise because even in the hardest times in history there were still some chances for good art. I think I have a fighting dark side and bright side juxtaposition within myself and this is reflected in my works. I want to tell stories using blasphemy, irony and humour.
