It’s always interesting for me to learn about others who have moved from the Sciences to the Arts, so it was great when Taiwanese illustrator Emma Cheng appeared on one of my design news sites this week. I find her style, and use of pencil crayons, quite unique. She describes her work as “a drama series called Health, in which warmth, quirkiness, and whimsicality play together.”

Emma spent years of working as an MD and an illustrator, illustration being something that she practiced in her spare time. Eventually she felt, “I was in a place where both sides needed me to invest more effort in order to break through. It's like dating two people again and again. You'll have to decide at some point.” When she had to move to the US for her husband’s work, she took the opportunity to wholeheartedly pursue illustration. 

It was when I finally had to really to commit to medical school that I decided to go to art school instead. While studying for my neuroscience degree, I had always studied art as well, so I had built up enough work to put together a portfolio to apply. I always thought I could go to medical school if things didn’t work out. Well, things have come full circle, and I have founded MOTHandRUST, where we do a lot of work for science organisations.

Emma is often asked how something as unrelated as science can inform her art. She says it perfectly when she conveys one of the challenges of moving from the Sciences to the Arts: “A challenge I faced was the lack of a clear career plan. As a doctor, there is already a ladder for everyone to climb in the industry. Basically, what you have to do is pass one test after another. You don't have to worry too much about your future in general. However, as a freelance illustrator, you must build the ladder yourself.” 

Read the complete article on Creative Boom.

Emma Cheng's site.

As someone who runs a design studio, it is not uncommon to hold a design degree. However, I do have a neuroscience degree as well, and when people find this out, they always ask, “why?”

Hello the MLE,

Like me, have you ever wondered the meaning of that French painting Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters (ca. 1594)? 

The woman with the light hair is Gabrielle d’Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France, and the other with her dark hair is her sister, the Duchess de Villars. They turn half towards the viewer as they sit in a bathtub lined with silk. The hand of the woman on the left pinches the nipple of the woman on the right, her index finger and thumb forming a perfect “C.” 

What is going on here?  Well, there are three interpretations…

1) A sexualized queer and incestuous scene
- In France during the 16-century, lesbian relationships were not completely unknown.
- We can assume the presence of female viewers as well as male, queer as well as straight.
- Throughout history the painting has been received as though it depicts a lesbian relationship (eg, the 19th century, for instance, a Louvre museum official reportedly covered up the “lewd” painting with a sheet).

2) A coded announcement of a royal pregnancy
- The fingers wrapped around Gabrielle’s nipple symbolizes her fertility, an allusion emphasized by the presence of the figure sewing baby’s clothes in the back of the painting.
- Most art historians interpret the painting as an announcement that Gabrielle is pregnant with the King’s illegitimate son.

3) A male hetero erotic fantasy
- The emphasis on the erotic possibilities between sisters.
- Gabrielle’s status as a mistress.
- Gabrielle sexualized and stripped even when relaying a pregnancy announcement.
- The boring fact that depictions of something resembling lesbian arousal is often in the eventual service of male heterosexuality.

So there you go!  Have a nice weekend!

Suzan

Hello the MLE,

I left the exhibition and stopped to watch all the people everywhere, each with their own particular identities, their own particular façades, each looking like a Cindy Sherman character… One of those special moments when you can really feel that art has slightly changed your outlook on the world (as cheesy as that sounds).

I was lucky to catch this major retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery here in London, that covered the development of Sherman’s work from the mid-1970s to present day. Sherman is famous for her use of make-up, costumes, props and prosthetics to create complex and ambiguous photographic images. She invents fictitious characters, photographing herself in imaginary situations, inhabiting a world of pure appearance.

My sister commented about how she always likes to imagine what the artist behind the work is really like as a person. Would she like to be friends with them? But she had no idea what Cindy Sherman would be like, judging by her art. And that is the point. Her art is “a lesson in throwing followers off a trail, keeping up a legend and putting on a disguise, hiding in plain sight and going undercover.” 

My favourites were the series called, “Socialites,” a series of well, ageing socialites (a few featured here). I found the description particularly funny that it was a bit of a sensitive issue, as these characters could easily resemble some of her art collectors!

Suzan