An Interview is Yide’er and Li Xianting about Yide’er’s creation. The Fairytale series was derived from the Experience series, there is a connection between them. Li (Li Xianting): Which year did you perform and photograph the Golden Man?Yi (Yide’er): The Fairytale series began in 2002. Li: In the mid 90’s when you came to my house, I saw your work on Tian’anmen and the Great Hall of the People painted with dots, the Experience series, those “experience of the past” casting on the images like ghosts, and the Fairytale series was derived from the Experience series, there is a connection between them. (study fairy tale-Show in water,176x221,2004)Yi: In fact, this is what happened. My initial idea for the Experience series was also to execute in photographs. I wanted to photograph these landmarks as large photographs, because those landmarks are very familiar for the Chinese, although, when you ask someone, how many gates there is in Tian’anmen? How many staffs are there? How many lamps are hung? Most people cannot come up with these answers, if you ask him about Tian’anmen, everyone knows, although if you inquire about the details of Tian’anmen, their answers become incomplete. This is the estranged familiarity in psychology. My inspiration came from this observation, that we are essentially the same towards history, for instance, the Cultural Revolution, it seems we all know about it, yet what was the Cultural Revolution actually about, we feel rather confused. Li: This is the so-called collective memories, in fact, certain ideology has been conceptualized with it and is applicable to other social professions. In the case of doctors, people’s idea of the doctor is often a result of the ideology from each period or its overall social conception. If we speak of doctors today, we would immediately associate them with high expenses in medical care, or those acting with utter disregard for human life, but reality is - each doctor is different. Yi: Based on this kind of ideas, I began to photograph these buildings from 1995, however, due to financial limitations and technical difficulties of the time, I could not realize these ideas. I asked some friends in photography, the largest size a photograph could be enlarged to was barely over one meter in dimension, but I would have liked to make them into approximately four square meters. The solution was to enlarge them separately, and then piece them together into one image, but the cost was not something acceptable for me. Yet I had the urge to express my ideas, so I could only use painting. Luckily I had this kind of training, conveying what I wanted to express via a hands-on approach rather than through photography. It was a solution out of helplessness, by today’s standard, it was incomplete, because one’s initial concept should be congruent to the language expressing it, they should be harmonious, once the language is altered, a barrier is built between them. Li: Yes, any choice in medium must have its inimitable reasons, even if to simply paint a realistic scenic you should provide your reason for painting it. Since the birth of the camera, to strictly represent an image has lost its significance, and one does not need to portray a scene to demonstrate his techniques in realist painting, unless you can offer a unique impression through the painting process. Once this series was done, you began to photograph the series with the small mirrors?Yi: I began to photograph in the process of painting. An idea arose out of coincidence. When I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I saw my right hand holding the toothbrush, that was reflected as the left hand in the mirror, an actual image that one cannot falsify, only because your viewing angle is different, thus an different outcome. This made me think, in fact, the angle we look at things often change our attitude. At the time, when many people saw my work, most of them had a sense of voyeurism, in fact I didn’t intend for any voyeuristic factors for them. What I wanted to portray were the lives of the Chinese living under the current ideology, and how much is one familiar with one’s own life, and can one have a good understanding in its entirety and details? What one knows are only the bits and pieces, and depending on different angle one takes, the outcome would also be different. With this kind of thinking, I photographed this work. During this process, I asked pedestrians on the streets to hold a small mirror, and I took photographs of that. As I think of it today, making those photograph was to ultimately resolve my own issue with identity, only at that time, I was still vague on it, not until I photographed Golden Fairytale in 2002, I realized what I wanted to convey, in other words, being an educated and well read person, one would have his own understanding on culture, politics and life, where is your stand in this actual world? What is your impact? As what you always say, “as an intellectual, what is your attitude?” This was the actual issue I wanted to resolve inside. The plan for photographing Golden Fairytale, first came when I drove my daughter to work, it was in July, on a raining morning, fresh air, the brimming sun was shining on the road, and water rushing down both sides of the road into the drain, I saw a golden candy wrapper from afar, under the sunlight, it twinkled, although it was flushed down into the drain in an instant, at that moment, I felt I was the golden wrapper, in the tumbling water, even though it was twinkling, but still could not avoid the fate of being flushed down. In this actual society, as an individual, you can express your standpoint, but its outcome is quite obvious, because your impact is minute, and it’s rather helpless to think about it (Golden Fairy Tale-Scarecrow,90x120,2003)Li: What was the first photograph you took?Yi: The first series I have done was Thinkers in Fairytales, Foreseers in Fairytales, Someone Waiting in Fairytales. Although, it doesn’t feel like they were well deliberated, and from today’s point of view, there were some technical shortcomings. Li: Thinker in Fairytale crept out from the drainage, and Someone Waiting in Fairytale looked after a dead fish, waiting for something that is hopeless … those few works, from today’s perspective are still quite epic, I like them. I could clearly get the message of being helpless. Wearing a golden suit, you were like all of us, with a dream, your design of each scene – crawling out from the drains, floating in mid-air, or standing at fearsome heights … like our situations, awkward and helpless, for those with a conscience in this era, it was a kind of “allusion for one’s identity”: the persona lives in a time of inundated desires for material, all dreams and beliefs are like a golden fairytale, it’s distant from us and intangible, but they often kinder out spirits, consequentyly making us feel painful. We can say we are thinkers, but just to live with more sensitivity and thoughts, one would feel helpless, perhaps, it is not only the case today, but it has always been in the past, those who have feelings and thoughts for life, would unquestionably feel lonely, helpless and awkward, as the saying goes, “without seeing the forefathers, nor is there any newcomers, thinking upon the miseries of this world, one would immediately have tears!” Aha! I am mocking myself! Yi: That’s right! As what’s the “way”, one could only achieve, “to have done something, meaning none action”! Li: The composition of the image was a classic, high rise in the background, clean and orderly street, an impression of human traces, it was rather surrealist, and oddly there is a person crawling out of the water drainage on the street, quite absurd, but rather appropriate for that scenario that lacked human traces. I had no idea how I photographed it at the time, and why there wasn’t any car on the street? And how dangerous it would have been if suddenly a car drove up. Yi: It was interesting when I chose the drain. I took my bicycle and checked out all the drains on the street in that city, they are categorized as the electric, water supply, and waste. It was dangerous to use the drain for power supply. And the waste drain, aha, it was after all intented for a thinker, and he shouldn’t be put together with trash. As I planned of the photographic composition, I did not want “ideas” to be associated from trash. So I looked for clean water supply reservoirs, and luckily I found some. The photographing process was interesting on that day too. In fact as I was sketching out the plan, I had weighed back and forth its possibilities in implementation, even thought the street I wanted to photograph was not a main street, but there was still many cars going back and forth, and the water reservoir was in the middle of the street, thus safety was a big issue. Secondly, if the police intervened, the shoot will have to be out of the question. Luckily, when I got to the location, there were few cars and pedestrians on the street. Perhaps it was because of the rare high temperature that caused most people to stay inside. When I saw this advantageous opportunity, we were ready to shoot immediately. While I discussed positions with the photographer, my friend had already took off the weighty lid of the drain, I went down into the well, and I stepped on a switch under my foot, and by stepping on it allowed my top half of the body to be exposed above ground. At this moment, when the photographer was focusing the camera, a police car drove towards him slowly, when I saw that, I was startled, and thought, trouble! We couldn’t shoot anymore, I thought to myself. Then, the police officer driving poked his head out, and looked at us with his professional stare, and politely asked the photographer, “can I pass?” and my photographer at the time was especially clam, and without even turning his head, he waved his hand and said, “Hold on a second.” And the police car actually just parked there. After, I asked him if he was scared? He said, he was nervous at the time, but under that circumstance, he had to tough it out, the worse case scenario was for us to wrap up and leave. The cars behind saw this situation thought was some kind of film shoots with privileges since the police was there to keep things in order, and have all parked quietly, none of them honked. Coincidentally, the “thinker” had a special privilege, and the shoot completed oddly smoothly. Li: The second series is Herdsman in Fairytale from the fairytale series, and the Horse Rider in Fairytale with that theatrical scene?Yi: That’s right, and the third series was Staff Holder in Fairytale, that was shot during the SARS crisis. Li: What are the differences between these works and with the previous Thinker in Fairytale?Yi: There aren’t any conceptual differences, but just to extend my ideas. For instance, Herdsman in Fairytale, in a common situation, how can one herd animals in that particular scenario? I was on the roof of a high rise, and behind me was the urban landscape. In fact what I wanted to convey was the helplessness when friction is created between ideals and reality. Li: After this was the series you have shot in Guangxi?Yi: Yes. Li: This is a series that can be considered the most spectacular among all your works, either in its composition or finishing, it had perfected in conveying your inspiration, and it also seemed to be technically demanding. I like the one sitting on the chimney and on the swings. Yi: Because technically it was also very advanced. Li: This was also because you have built a complete set of working method. Yi: That’s right. Li: Why don’t you talk about this series? (Golden Fairy Tale-Keep night watch, 90x120, 2003)Yi: I went to Guangxi because I was invited by the International Sculpture Theme Park in Guilin. They saw my earlier photographs, and asked me to make a series of work there, and they would pay for the cost, and their trade back was to keep some of my work. Before this shoot, I never had ideal equipments, once I got there, I asked for better photography equipments and they were able to meet my requirements. Also, the working environment for the shoot was also conducive for my ideas. I have basically extended my previous concept, yet the difference in scenario allowed my expression to be more detailed. Like The Cave Treasure in Fairytale Study, Eyes Seeing a Thousand Miles in Fairytale Studies, Beauty of the Water in Fairytale Study. Li: Language usually has multiple meanings, in the end it comes down to the fundamental techniques, for this series the techniques were well executed. Yi: That was the experience I have accumulated, or instance, with regards to the fabric for costumes, make-ups, because I had a few assistants, and my working condition was improved, and many aspects I didn’t have to worry about. Many people look at my pictures, and think they were easily done, but because I take the photograph on site - a working process in which you have to accommodate to many issues, issues related to locations of the shoot, interpersonal relationships and such. The time spent planning for each work is usually simpler than its actual implementation, because when it comes to the actual shoot, I have to worry about the location as well as how to get the ideas across with the people involved, it is not like those works that depend partially on the photography, and partially are simulated by a computer. Compare to that, on site shoots are more difficult. For example, when I was shooting Specimen Fairytale, my plan was to photograph it in a storage for specimens that meant I had to discuss it with the storage keeper. Prior to this, I was rather unfamiliar with the making and managing of specimens, when I was implementing this project. I realized making specimens is an isolated profession. They are irrelevant to our lives. Specimen making is an advanced expertise, and is highly secretive among different sub-branches, so to shoot this photograph required a lot of convincing. When I first discussed it with the sample maker, he did not allow me to photograph, and there was no room for further discussion. Then, I thought of various ways, find connections, and made many appointments, it was such a hassle, in the end, I was in luck, and found a point of break through, this sample maker studied painting before, and we talked about paintings, and talked about painters he enjoyed Surikov, Repin and the Itinerants, and on our third meeting, I finally shot my picture around ten at night. The actual shoot took just over an hour, but to negotiate with him took more than three days. Li: This was the working method you have built. Yi: I remember you saying, you are more interested in the serialization of artworks, to gradually strengthen one’s own characteristic, the level of difficulty of the artwork and the sense of humor in the artwork. Among which, the serialization and sense of humor can be executed by the artist, the only difficulty would be controlling the level of difficulty, especially for photographic art, its difficulty is to negotiate with others, and it is way beyond your so-called pursuit of art.