Joyce Sum
Extensive Research🎨📚
1. GOTTE
Hamster Sukerokuno Nichijo is the pet of the illustrator GOTTE. At first, GOTTE just painted Sukeroku doing various human trivialities casually for fun and leisure. Later, the more he painted, the better, and it became more and more popular on social media. Under the illustration of GOTTE, Hamster Sukeroku's life is very joyful, colorful and diversify. For instance, Sukeroku is a stranger, a gourmet, a film connoisseur, a student or a worker. Sometimes when Sukeroku gets tired, he stays at home and slides his phone, and then he goes on the journey with his phone. Hamster Sukeroku succeeded in capturing countless fans and has more than 310,000 supporters on Instagram. Hamster Sukeroku’s impact to his fans is really amazing.
助六原是插畫家GOTTE的寵物倉鼠，初時GOTTE只是隨意繪畫助六進行各種人類瑣事，後來越畫越出色，在社交媒體上越來越受歡迎。助六的生活十分多姿多彩，艷煞旁人──他是個美食家、電影鑑賞家、學生或是打工仔，有時累了就窩在家裡滑手機，叉足電就再繼續旅程。小倉鼠助六成功俘虜無數粉絲，在Instagram上已有超過31萬名支持者。
In addition to Hamster Sukeroku‘s past adventures, there have also been an exhibition in Hong Kong recently (i.e. the new "Sukeroku Tour Hong Kong" series - the little hamster ‘Sukeroku’ visited Hong Kong, had a full view of Hong Kong's sceneries and tasted different kinds of food in Hong Kong. This is the first time GOTTE has released an original work outside Japan. Sukeroku's trip to Hong Kong was fascinated by the colorful neon lights and kept taking selfies. So many viewers resonate with Sukeroku, and of course I am no exception.
除了過往的歷險故事外，近來在香港也有出全新「助六遊香港」系列──小倉鼠助六飽覽香港景色、嘗遍香港美食的五張全新作品。這是GOTTE第一次在日本境外放售原作。助六的香港之旅，被五彩繽紛的霓虹燈光迷倒，不停自拍。所以很多觀眾都會與助六產生共鳴，當然我也不例外。
I like the work and style of painting of this illustrator (GOTTE) very much. The tone of all his watercolor paintings are harmonious. In addition, he uses his cute little hamster as the protagonist who will perform the daily tasks of human beings such as washing face, having breakfast, going to school and so on. All these resonated with the audience of GOTTE. By watching hamster Sukeroku's cute appearance in the paintings, people feel relaxing and being healed.
我很喜歡這位插畫家GOTTE 的作品和繪畫風格，他用水彩繪畫的所有色調都較和諧，再加上用可愛的小倉鼠做主角並做着人類日常生活的事情例如洗臉、吃早餐、上學等，令所有觀眾都產生了共鳴感，同時看着助六可愛的模樣也令人有被療癒和放鬆的感覺。
2. Shu Yamamoto (山本修)
Shu Yamamoto was originally a Japanese illustrator, and he loved cats since he was a child. In 2007, he began to "catify" each of his famous paintings. Shu Yamamoto’s idea was in fact stimulated by his youngest son’s painting. He said, "one time I cleaned the room and saw my youngest son copying "Self-Portrait with Bandages in Ears" in junior high school. Upon closer inspection, he found that Van Gogh's face had become that of a cat." Shu Yamamoto smiled and began to think about other famous paintings. Can it also become a cat?
So Shu Yamamoto tried to replace the humans in the famous paintings with cats, starting from the famous works of the Renaissance (i.e. Da Vinci’s "Smile of Mona Lisa", Botticelli’s "The Birth of Venus"). He then tried styles of Distinct impressionism, including Baroque, Realism, Asian art and other different styles. All in all, he accumulated more than 500 cat-like paintings in 10 years.
山本修原本是一位日本的插畫家，從小就很喜愛貓。2007年開始將一幅幅名畫「貓化」。「有次打掃房間，看見小兒子在國中臨摹《耳朵包著繃帶的自畫像》，仔細一看，才發現梵谷的臉變成了貓咪的臉。」山本修莞爾一笑，也開始思索其他名畫是否也能變成貓的模樣？
於是山本修嘗試將名畫裡的人類換成貓，從文藝復興時期的知名作品開始，達文西《蒙娜麗莎的微笑》、波提且利《維納斯的誕生》，接著又嘗試風格迥異的印象派，包含巴洛克、寫實主義、亞洲藝術等各種不同風格，10年間累積超過500幅的貓化畫作。
In order to present the famous works faithfully, Shu Yamamoto chose to paint them with the same media, such as watercolors, sketches, and composite images. He would also follow the brush strokes of the original works. Moreover, since the proportion of cats and humans in the paintings are different, he would adjust the proportions accordingly. A few years ago, he began to print the paintings into albums, and at the same time shared them on social media and networking websites. He received very positive feedback from all over the world. After that, he held art exhibitions around the world, named as "Cat Art Museum". In February 2021, I knew about this painter in an art exhibition in Hong Kong.
為了忠實呈現，山本修選擇用相同媒材來繪製，像水彩、素描、合成圖，筆觸也會臨摹原作。而且，因為貓與人類的身形比例不同，需要調整比例。幾年前，他開始將畫作出版成畫冊，同時分享在社群網站，收到了來自世界各地的回饋。之後就在世界各地舉辦畫展「貓．美術館」，而我也是在香港的畫展中認識這位畫家。
I like Shu Yamamoto’s cat paintings very much. It is because he not only makes the paintings more vivid and interesting, but also exhibits his excellent skills in drawing and painting with great detail. For example, he will mix and match the characteristics of cats with the historical background of the paintings and the objects inside original works, so that the audience will look at these “catified” paintings with a sense of cuteness, freshness and a sense of familiarity at the same time.
我十分喜歡他的貓化畫作，因為他不但讓貓咪令整幅畫作更有趣，而且也臨慕得十分細緻。他會根據畫作的時期背景和當中的物件，再與貓咪本身的特性混合，令觀眾看著這些貓化名畫的時候多了一些可愛和新鮮感同時又有一些熟悉的感覺。
3. 趙永夫
《晨曦》"Dawn"
《滿天星》"Gypsophila/Baby's breath"
《清夏》"Qing Xia"
Zhao Yong Fu was born in Lintao (China), and now lives in Tianjin(China). He loved art painting since childhood. He was graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. He is now a member of the Chinese National Painters Association, a national first-class artist, and a painter of the Modern Fine Brushwork Painting Academy of the Ministry of Culture.
He gave up a lot for the art of painting and calligraphy. He neglected food and sleep and works around the clock for a special piece of work. As a result, what he reaped was the joy of success. He is willing to devote his life to the art of calligraphy and painting He says that the end of art is the end of his life.
趙永夫，生於甘肅.臨洮，現居天津。自幼酷愛繪畫藝術。畢業於天津美術學院國畫系。現爲中國國畫家協會會員、國家一級美術師、文化部現代工筆畫院畫家。
他爲了書畫藝術放棄了太多，曾經爲了某幅作品而廢寢忘食、不眠不休，收穫的是成功的喜悅 。他願意爲書畫藝術奉獻一生，藝術的終點即是生命的終止。
He mainly paints Traditional Chinese Fine Brush Painting of figures . I admire his works very much because not only he depicts the facial features of different characters meticulously in detail, but also makes the whole painting standing out and the appearance of the characters bringing out different looks. The characters in his paintings are gorgeous, and the beautiful and delicate works always give people a sense of tranquility and elegance. At the same time, the graceful facial expressions and body lines of women are brought out through different postures and movements of the females.
他主要是畫人物的中國工筆畫。我十分欣賞他作品，因為他不但很仔細地描繪了不同人物的五官，還令到整幅畫和人物的樣子帶出了不同的神情。 他所畫的作品裏的人物都十分美麗，唯美細膩的作品總給人一種寧靜淡雅的感覺。同時以不同女性的姿態和動作帶出了女性優美的臉部、身體的線條。