Sensu
2020
Digital illustration
Sensu (せんす), is a Japanese word that means a traditional folding fan. The inspiration of "Sensu" is originated from those ancient artworks that Chinese people mounted on some fine pieces of cloth. We infused a sense of antique elegancy by using a folding fan shape as the basic composition for each art piece. Moreover, we used rainbow colors as the background in order to add a fresh and lively touch.
The series "Sensu" is about the light sources that can be found in the ocean, lake or river. For examples, the moon reflection in the lake and a glimmer deep down the ocean. You will find a specific coral fish in each art piece, and each cute little fish is acting as the bravest adventurer that spending its whole life to look for the mysterious and finest scenery.
Fallen petals
Have you ever seen coral spawning in the sea? Some say it looks like the soft first snow in the winter, and some say it's like the flowers spread by a page boy and a flower girl. Well, to us, it looks so much alike to the cherry blossoms blooming in the early spring in Japan.
In this artwork, you can see a tiny little fish called yellowtail coris wrasse. Does it look like a pretty girl wearing kimono to join a cherry blossom viewing party? However, this little cute creature is so shy that it would rather spend most of its time in the sand than showing its natural beauty to others.
Dead branches
I used to believe coral was a kind of plant in the sea, isn't it look like those dead branches in autumn? When a friend of mine told me the truth that coral was actually classified as animal, it was like someone just threw a bomb in my head.
Foxface rabbitfish, a cute yellow little fish look alike angelfish as shown in the artwork, is actually a dangerous species in the ocean. Whenever foxface rabbitfish encounters any life-threatening situation, its toxic fins will all stand up to scare predators away.
Moon reflection
Seaweed is so soft and smooth that when it flows, it is like a group of traditional palace dancers showing off their charming movements and postures to you, such a stunning scene, isn't it? This is why, I guess, famous poets in China hundreds and thousands of years ago would love to set sail on lakes to get inspirations for their master pieces.
Lagoon triggerfish, as you can find in the artwork, has a unique body pattern that looks like a oil painting from Picasso. It will hide inside a hole whenever it encounters an life threatening situation. The hard horn on its head will stand up as well so that the lagoon triggerfish will be stuck inside the hole, which gives the predators no choice but to say bye-bye.
Mist in the dawn
"Mist in the dawn" reminds me of some Chinese fantasy games in the 90s ("Chinese Paladin" and "Xuan-Yuan Sword"). The story of "Mist in the dawn" is about a little adventurer (Sailfin tang) found the mysterious fairy isle after countless of difficulties and dangers. The glow of the setting sun turned everything into golden yellow and the blue corn moon rose, everything in the little adventurer's eyes was so magical and breathtaking. At that moment he realized he had already found the treasure he's been long for.
Sailfin tang is a beautiful fish that covered with zebra pattern, the upper and lower fins are very big, it looks like a peacock fanning its tail when sailfin tang spreads its fins. At the tail, sailfin tang hides a tough and sharp spike and this works as its defensive weapon to fight against its enemy.
Glimmer
The inspiration for "Glimmer" is from the little luminous creatures under the sea, such as some types of coral, jellyfish or krill. In the ancient Japanese fairy tale "Urashima Tarō", there is a palace called the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. The writer's imagination was so true that I wonder if he had dived meters down to do some research or fact check XD.
The eye-catching little blue fish is called mandarinfish, and for sure there are bunches of people who would love to keep it as a pet. But actually, mandarinfish has a very specific appetite, which in most cases it will only consume live amphipods and copepods. Therefore, we human should really stay away from it and let this little cute guy be itself.
Waves
The rising sun turns all the rocks into "red", "blue" water pattern has well described the momentum of tireless waves, corals on the rocks emit shades of golden "yellow” under the bright and shiny sunlight. The combination of the three primary colors has given an extraordinary vividness to the artwork with a fresh and lively touch.
The fish shown in this piece is called "Royal angelfish". It is very famous and popular for its beauty and said to be a luxury type of angelfish. However, more and more people wanna pet this precious creature, and thus there are less and less royal angelfish you can find in the wild nowadays......