Everybody's got their dicks in a knot about Chinese bootleggers and how they're ruining our movies but I think they did a pretty good job with "Oh God!"Comments/Enlarge |
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They’re fighting for a world where annoying first year at college know-it-alls can wear popsicle boxes as hats without me wanting to beat them to death even though they’re a girl.Comments/Enlarge |
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Vice: Hello, Mimi Leung. Describe how you got to be talking to me here now via being born and then living as a human on this earth.
Mimi Leung: I was born in Hong Kong. My parents moved to the UK when I was two because they were nervous about unrest in China.
Oh, so you’re saying that your parents were fucking wimps?
No! Mum’s pretty business-minded, but Dad probably would have made a brilliant artist in a mad, makeshift way. He used to drive a minibus in Hong Kong but he was a take-away chef when he moved here.
What was your extended family like back in China?
My dad’s family was very poor. They lived on a farm and ate the bark off trees and once killed a neighbor’s cat for dinner. And when I say “farm,” I mean empty shitty land with maybe a useless rice field.
When did you first start making art?
I was always into drawing and painting since I was a kid. I was really into cartoons, manga, and anime. I used to like Biker Mice From Mars, Mighty Mouse, Earthworm Jim, Professor Q, and Dragon Ball Z. Then I got into expressionists like Egon Schiele, Frank Auerbach, Käthe Kollwitz, and I loved Van Gogh for a while.
What did you use to make the paintings that are next to these words that we are speaking, which will soon be transferred into typed letters on a page?
Watercolor and gouache on paper.
What’s your favorite kind of paint?
Usually whatever is cheap.
You went to Central Saint Martins, right? How was that?
I hated the first two years, but in the last year I had a cool tutor named Ann Course. She was less stuffy and smarmy than a lot of the people there. But yeah, the seriousness and earnestness of that place and the Royal College of Art, where I went afterward, really affected me. I didn’t like talking in-depth about design and stuff. It seemed trivial in the greater scheme of things and I guess I don’t work in an intellectual way. Everybody was trying to be clever when I just wanted to do crazy drawings. I didn’t fit in at all.
You weren’t in the Cheap Mondays mafia.
See, I don’t even know what that means.
Cheap Mondays are jeans that “cool people” wear.
My jeans are full of holes. I have to wear tights with them.
Tights make me horny. But I digress. Your work is kind of psychedelic. Did you ever get into acid?
Not acid, but mushrooms and stuff. I’ve seen friends on acid and it freaked me out a bit.
Your stuff also has lots of bodily functions in it, like beautiful birds puking on each other, or cities being destroyed by turds. Where does that come from?
I like puke and turds and sweat and all that grossness because it’s all the stuff we’re not allowed to show or talk about. And it’s kind of funny in a way.
Are you into, like, gross sex stuff?
I’m pretty happy if people keep their puke and turds and sweat away from me as I’m going about my daily business. I’m not really into that whole scene. Not every day at least.
How about this, though? Would you eat a piece of your own crap for £1,000?
I hope I wouldn’t ever eat shit—anyone’s shit.
Hang on, but would you rather eat a piece of your own crap for £1,000, drink a mug of your own puke for £1,000, or drink a pint of somebody else’s sweat for £5,000? You HAVE to choose one.
Which would you choose?
Depends how broke I was.
How come you get five times as much for someone else’s sweat?
Because it’s a stranger’s sweat. But it’s guaranteed disease free.
Hmmm, would I get to pick which stranger?
Err, no. It’s a mystery stranger, like strangers usually are.
Hmmm. OK then, I’ll drink the pint of sweat for £5,000.
Ewww, Mimi. You would drink a pint of stranger’s sweat for £5,000. You are disgusting.
It’s less textural than the other two options
How would you feel now that you’ve drunk it if I told you that the sweat came from a gross sweating rapist who’d murdered loads of old grannies? Are you happy with your blood money now?
I’d tell you to fuck off. I’d have to give it to the family of the victims of this mystery stranger’s crimes and of course the victims. What would you do?
I think I would drink the mug of puke.
What if you had to eat your own shit first?
How much? My own or that of a stranger?
Your own.
There’s no bonus £500 for the double whammy of puke and shit?
Anonymous, on Dec 23, 2008 wrote: of course i realise there is more than one way to do art. I love art, I do my research I’ve seen so much of this same old shit its not even funny. Even just a small bit of originality is what is vital these days. Good concepts and smart ideas. You can’t honestly say this is clever and original. Thats all. Maybe if someone speaks up about it people who don’t know any better might realise they don’t have to settle for mediocre regurgitated crap.
Anonymous, on Dec 18, 2008 wrote: hey dingbat, i like aurel better too, but this is good shit too. pull your head out of your ass and admit that there is more than one way to do art.
Anonymous, on Dec 16, 2008 wrote: this is boring. looks like something a kid drew while bored in class. not in a good way either. sick of having my eyes poisoned with shitty art by every talentless douchebag who thinks they’re an artist. get it together vice. you had it right with aurel
Anonymous, on Dec 11, 2008 wrote: i guess i lose cool points, but i used to get cheap mondays and happy mondays mixed up
Anonymous, on Dec 11, 2008 wrote: how can she make the backblob so awesome and the guy so boring? c’mon mimi, you were 95% of the way there!
Anonymous, on Dec 10, 2008 wrote: fuck threadless. maybe they’ve changed the way they work but they used to pay you $50 if they used your art and nothing on top of that no matter how many they sold or if they reprint it in the future. lame.
Anonymous, on Dec 10, 2008 wrote: Oh God, Biker Mice from Mars. I’d forgotten.
She should submit her paintings as t-shirt designs for Threadless.com, they would sell.
Also I’m convinced that my brain is what’s keeping me from becoming a great artist, so this lady wins all around.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: one time when my brother and i were little, our aunt took us for ice cream. my brother got the "superman" kind, which is like a rainbow of colors. he shit on the carpet at my house later that day and it looked just like it did going in.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: hmmm. you guys should do an article on how to turn your shit different colors. it would be a hit, i think.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: so glad you have the magnify feature with the illustrations. almost everyone you’ve posted looks better close-up.
Eh?TL, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: Ms. Leung is a talented woman. I usually have an aversion to bring colors like this, but she does it well. To me, that is one of the signs of a great artist - one that can make me rethink my tastes. I’m off to see if I can locate any prints for purchase. All these new artists everyday can get overwhelming, but this one is a winner.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: this interview was great until the dare part began. you should have asked more about the dad’s family. who kills a pet to eat?
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: gouache is great and looks even better in person. if you like gouache you must check out this guy named cody hoyt. super talented artist with lots of gouache work!
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: "Tights make me horny. But I digress." - come on now.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: i don’t understand fecal freaks
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: anyone else see a similarity to murakami here? especially the one with the guy carrying the blob (burden?) on his back?
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: yeah, gouache kills. i actually wish she had stayed with it exclusively here. i love watercolors, too, and the unevenness of them, but sometimes when gouache and watercolors are mixed the watercolors (jeez, can i type that one more time?) look a little washed out. i think that is the case with these. not to take away from the work because i love these. the color selection is incredible.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: rarely does cleverness make good art. even with someone like banksy, who i think very highly of, makes some clever stuff that isn’t good art.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: her dad ate bark and the neighbor’s pet? where is his interview? i want to hear his story.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: it’s great how she calls bullshit on the "intellectual" part of art school. there is a time and place for deep discussion, but when it comes down to it, does it look good or not? cheers, mimi.
poozer, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: gouache is the shit. i don’t know why more artists don’t use it. you just can’t get those colors from anything else.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: hey i’m interested in poop too, nothing wrong with that.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: This interview is funny. Mimi Leung rules!
iik, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: The interviewer is a moron.
Anonymous, on Dec 9, 2008 wrote: How come no city destroyed by turds picture? You guys really played up the turds and puke, and didn’t deliver.
