"Art Beggar in Urbana-Champaign Gives Back"
by Janet Kang April, 2017
A plump orange cat makes its way to the center of the Quad, carrying a cardboard box and a tote bag filled with artwork. Today, Lingjun Jiang, better known as Mew, MEW3 and TachibanaMew—is an art beggar.
On Saturday, Apr. 22, the art beggar sat alone, writing the words “Free Art” on her cardboard box in black sharpie. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a handful of people passing by and three or four people left with a piece of artwork in their hands.
“Through this art beggar event, I hope to give away my works to people and let them make good use of them,” she said. “This project shows sustainability—instead of throwing things away, I give them to others as a way to recycle my works.”
Inspired by a Japanese contemporary artist, Makoto Aida’s performance, “Art Beggar in Ginza”, Jiang seeks to bring art into humble, everyday practices. For Jiang, a junior in Studio Art Painting and Art History, the art student is not that different from being a beggar.
“Leaving people with an impression of me as a beggar, as a poor art student in adversity, is true, because doing art is hard,” Jiang said. “You need to make a long-term commitment—it does not really make money for you.”
In Fall of 2016, 4.7 percent of the new U of I freshman class were reported to be enrolled in the Fine Arts Department, compared to 30.5 percent in liberal arts and 19.4 percent in engineering. While the number is small, art students still face the risk of having their studio space revoked and losing the place to store their artwork. As a studio art student, Jiang is no exception. By giving out her art free of charge, she plans to vacate the space as soon as possible.
Tom Porter, a senior in Music Performance and supporter of Jiang’s works, sympathized with Jiang.
“I was definitely surprised she was giving her stuff away [for free]. Again, as an artist that kind of hit close to home…while at first I was shocked that she'd just give it away, I also understood. We work so hard on this stuff but so rarely does anyone else think it's even worth the time to look at and experience let alone pay money for it,” he said.
Currently, more than 20 works are up for grabs. Among Jiang’s signature work is a picture of her imaginary friend, MEW3—an orange cat with a flower on its head. Like most of Jiang’s works, the imaginary friend concept relies on dark humor.
One popular image is that of MEW3 drowning in a box of sake.
“There’s a helpless sense of loneliness and humor. MewMew, the round, plump cat creature in the sake box—it’s very cute but also shows death,” said Jiang.
Combining cuteness and death might be a stretch to some, but Porter feels otherwise.
“I really like her style because it covers a wide spectrum of styles and moods and is very expressive. It ranges from super fluffy and cute to grotesque and disturbing to sexy to ludicrous, and often blends those together, too. I really like her focus on blending absurdity with profundity,” said Porter. “On the one hand her work is really deep but it's also intentionally just really ‘stupid’ and random.”
Jiang has been known for her experimental approach to art.
“Being a student artist gives me so much freedom. I really like it—I enjoy it. It gives me courage to do this kind of silly performance. It gives me courage to explore, to break down my comfort zone, and to do this sort of silly, yet experimental and very provocative performance. Besides freedom, it all depends on the student themselves and what they’re passionate about,” she said.
When asked about whether she will miss her art pieces, Jiang replied positively.
“At least they won’t disappear. They will be with somebody else so I know they are always somewhere.”
Janet Kang is a graduated student in EALC and journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, class of 2017.
by Janet Kang April, 2017
A plump orange cat makes its way to the center of the Quad, carrying a cardboard box and a tote bag filled with artwork. Today, Lingjun Jiang, better known as Mew, MEW3 and TachibanaMew—is an art beggar.
On Saturday, Apr. 22, the art beggar sat alone, writing the words “Free Art” on her cardboard box in black sharpie. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a handful of people passing by and three or four people left with a piece of artwork in their hands.
“Through this art beggar event, I hope to give away my works to people and let them make good use of them,” she said. “This project shows sustainability—instead of throwing things away, I give them to others as a way to recycle my works.”
Inspired by a Japanese contemporary artist, Makoto Aida’s performance, “Art Beggar in Ginza”, Jiang seeks to bring art into humble, everyday practices. For Jiang, a junior in Studio Art Painting and Art History, the art student is not that different from being a beggar.
“Leaving people with an impression of me as a beggar, as a poor art student in adversity, is true, because doing art is hard,” Jiang said. “You need to make a long-term commitment—it does not really make money for you.”
In Fall of 2016, 4.7 percent of the new U of I freshman class were reported to be enrolled in the Fine Arts Department, compared to 30.5 percent in liberal arts and 19.4 percent in engineering. While the number is small, art students still face the risk of having their studio space revoked and losing the place to store their artwork. As a studio art student, Jiang is no exception. By giving out her art free of charge, she plans to vacate the space as soon as possible.
Tom Porter, a senior in Music Performance and supporter of Jiang’s works, sympathized with Jiang.
“I was definitely surprised she was giving her stuff away [for free]. Again, as an artist that kind of hit close to home…while at first I was shocked that she'd just give it away, I also understood. We work so hard on this stuff but so rarely does anyone else think it's even worth the time to look at and experience let alone pay money for it,” he said.
Currently, more than 20 works are up for grabs. Among Jiang’s signature work is a picture of her imaginary friend, MEW3—an orange cat with a flower on its head. Like most of Jiang’s works, the imaginary friend concept relies on dark humor.
One popular image is that of MEW3 drowning in a box of sake.
“There’s a helpless sense of loneliness and humor. MewMew, the round, plump cat creature in the sake box—it’s very cute but also shows death,” said Jiang.
Combining cuteness and death might be a stretch to some, but Porter feels otherwise.
“I really like her style because it covers a wide spectrum of styles and moods and is very expressive. It ranges from super fluffy and cute to grotesque and disturbing to sexy to ludicrous, and often blends those together, too. I really like her focus on blending absurdity with profundity,” said Porter. “On the one hand her work is really deep but it's also intentionally just really ‘stupid’ and random.”
Jiang has been known for her experimental approach to art.
“Being a student artist gives me so much freedom. I really like it—I enjoy it. It gives me courage to do this kind of silly performance. It gives me courage to explore, to break down my comfort zone, and to do this sort of silly, yet experimental and very provocative performance. Besides freedom, it all depends on the student themselves and what they’re passionate about,” she said.
When asked about whether she will miss her art pieces, Jiang replied positively.
“At least they won’t disappear. They will be with somebody else so I know they are always somewhere.”
Janet Kang is a graduated student in EALC and journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, class of 2017.