COMD1112-Designer Research

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“Give me liberty or give me death”

——Seven, the artist with freedom and rebellious 

Seven, or we should call him “切尸红人魔”（the red devil is cutting death body), is an illustrator. We can sense his Bohemian, free-loving soul from his  name. His real name is CAI Qi’an, a low-key and introverted boy from Zhejiang province who graduated from Beiyi Environmental Art Major. He become a high-profile young cartoonist in recent years, published several early on a need to comics, then signed a contract with sen rain culture, have issued a “Red Angels”, “Chinese Queer” such as reputation and sales are good works, his painting style, his works well to achieve a balance between the artistic and commercial. Now he lives in Hong Kong. The cartoons of this young Chinese artist are deeply rooted in the social reality of China. As a film lover, he was inspired by contemporary Hong Kong cinema. His book, The Red Angel, was published in France in 2016 by China City Press. Although Seven is in a young age, his paintings are not at all immature, sometimes a bit decadent, a bit dark, and sometimes filled with youthful atmosphere. 

Seven’s painting style is very recognizable. However, his comics published in 2013 “Did you eat shit today?”, it doesn’t seem to have a trace of his recent painting style, it can be said to be a recognizable  lower Japanese comics. In 2014, he published a short comic “The hills,” it made great changes have taken place in the upper works. Seven’s painting style in this work has started to take shape.In his words, “The painting style of “Have shit” was still popular in that period. At that time, I was  still in high school, and I could only touch the computer once every half a month. So I drew casually. When I drew “The Hills”,that was in my  freshman year. But why so much difference, in fact, I do not know.May be, in senior year, I participated in a variety of training, broaden a lot of horizons.” Seven failed the college entrance examination in 2014 and went to a third-rate university. At that time, his failure in the college entrance examination hit him hard, so he didn’t paint for almost half a year after entering the university. Seven had also tried to stick on the bar for contributions, but from beginning to end no one asked. Later, during the winter vacation, he published a short cartoon, which contained all his thoughts during that time, including disappointment, madness and some things he wanted to say to himself. It was because of this short story that we first got to know him.

Since the end of 2019, Seven have published 1 to 4 chapter of “Chinese Queer”on his Weibo( A  Chinese blog web), which is composed and painted by him. “Chinese  Queer” tells a story that Tian Fushi , senior students before graduation，is a gay who is more than two hundred pound. He never left the city he live since he was born. He will be all life’s happiness and unhappiness comes down on the city, in loose in the university, he met some  people, have a few things, finally to decide whether to leave, in another life. Many people attach great importance to the label of “gay” in “Chinese Queer”. In fact, in Seven’s words, it is not. This label is the weakest in the story, and the concept of love in it is the same with heterosexuality. The protagonists also talk about love, will be dumped, will have sex, but the object is a man. And the theme of the whole story has nothing to do with gays, it’s a state. But then again, it’s not unusual for people to care about the label, because in today’s Chinese society, the role is so marginal that it’s hard not to be surprised to see it on the stage. In 2020, “Chinese Queer” is selected for the Angoulême International Comics Festival Award.

From Seven’s paintings, we can feel his rebellion against life and society. He wanted to express something that other people could feel. He created his unique style by using sensitive subjects and used paintings to express his ideas.

Some Seven’s works:   

Sources：

Paint lover, “What seven brings me”, Sohu blog, July26. 2018, https://www.sohu.com/a/243529880_100127162

Sarbacane, “Chinese Queer”,Book edition website, Sept 2.2020, https://editions-sarbacane.com/bd/chinese-queer

“Comic strip, Angoulême Festival 2021: the official selection”, Nov 21.2020, https://www.world-today-news.com/comic-strip-angouleme-festival-2021-the-official-selection/ No author

Madaoooo, “A strange buYt funny Comic”, comment blog，Aug 30.2018， https://book.douban.com/review/9623954/

Egunbilu, “Interview of Seven”, Nov 28.2020, http://www.drh2010.com/news-7/36795755.htm

Seven’s profile ,Youyaoqi Chinese comic website, https://i.u17.com/2390882/