This is the second in my series of throwback interviews, this time with the incredibly talented May Xiong.

STROKES 2/MAY XIONG

If there’s a moustachioed man, covered in mackerel vertically streaked with a smudge of mauve and he’s looking straight at you, you have to ask yourself “why?”. That’s exactly what I did when I first saw May Xiong’s conceptual series of portraits entitled ‘Strokes’, but I found myself drawing a blank.

Seattle-based photographer May Xiong’ work draws you in with its bizarre beauty and then leaves you hanging with just enough wonder that you keep asking “but why?”. Her conceptual portraits are accumulating ever increasing buzz across social media, with spotlights on some of the more popular art Tumblrs and interviews abound on blogs.

“My goal isn’t to try and stand out, but to simply create photographs out of being passionate and having the thrive to continuously share how I see the world through my artistic vision.”

Xiong started in 2005 when she was 15, after being given a digital camera for her birthday, and she quickly found that photography could be an outlet to explore and capture narratives. Those narratives are today mainly disseminated online, quite often under the title MX photography.

“Everything is uploaded online and from that we are able to allow ourselves to share what we know, what we do and or create.”

TROUBLED KID PT.2/MAY XIONG

The stories May’s photographs tell are often fantastical, and rely on viewer interpretation. But, because of their soft, almost hypnotic aesthetic the viewer is never made to feel uncomfortably lost. Rather, you are given a sense, under the direct gaze of the subject, that her images are part of a tale you already know, and simply need to remember – the same deja vu you get when a real life experience resonates with something encountered only previously in a dream. That’s where the strength in May’s photography lies, the sense of the familiar that pervades in even the most defamiliarised images.

“My conceptual work explores oddity, beauty, and attention to detail in portraiture. The arrangement of the subject and the environment often plays a big part in balancing the two. A mixture of portraiture and fine art, these constructed pieces are shaped by the idea of skewing one’s perspective, leaving the viewer to define the emotion behind each photograph.”

CHILDHOOD-MEMORIES/MAY XIONG

When and why did you decide to start putting your work online?

I started putting my work online since I first started my photography back in 2005. But it wasn’t until 2-3 years ago during the middle of college when I realized that perhaps it was something I should take more seriously. It was more of a way to get critiques and feedback on my work and grow from it.

You often just use your initials when labelling your work (MX Photography) what was behind that choice?

I’ve gone back and forth on using my full name and then just the initials when labelling my work over the past few years. I’ve always enjoyed minimalistic aesthetics when it comes up to design and so choosing “MX” was simple and easy for me to decide on.

You’ve recently started being featured on some of the bigger curation blogs, I think I scrolled past some of your work on cross connect, what importance do you place on that kind online community of publicity?

I believe any exposure you get as a growing artist is very important, whether it be online or not. But I have to say that the online art community has grown so much in the past years and having the accessibility of showcasing your work through social networks, has become so much easier and faster. I feel that whether we’re a business, an artist, a news anchor, a journalist – everything is uploaded online and from that we are able to allow ourselves to share what we know, what we do and or create.

After that kind of feature, especially on Tumblr, your work starts to be reblogged and, more problematically perhaps, reposted. What are your thoughts on the culture of the credit-less image and transient ownership of work that’s started to be cultivated online?

Every artist deserves their credit for what they do. Tumblr, I’ve noticed over the past 4 years has changed drastically. People are posting or reblogging things they find interesting or pretty, which is fine, but when it comes up to their actual own posts and sharing photographs from other photographers/artists without proper credit, it starts to become a problem. Being an artist, I put so much effort, time and dedication into taking my photographs and to have my name be stripped from the images, feels like it’s tearing a part of me away from all my hard work/creative vision, for which I’m sure others feel the same. So it is very upsetting to see artists constantly go through this wave of not being credited properly.

Quite a lot of your conceptual photography has digital overlays, do you go into shooting a piece imagining the final composition or do you develop as you go along?

The creation behind my conceptual pieces are balanced by both a constructed and an improvised vision, so the final composition is sometimes different. But I believe that being able to allow myself to explore my creativity, has definitely made me create pieces that have made my work become more noticeable, such as my photograph titled, “All Around Us”.

ALL AROUND US/MAY XIONG

You said that allowing yourself to be more creative has made your work more noticeable. How conscious are you when working of how a piece will be received or how it will stand out from the swathes of photography on the internet?

When creating my work, I don’t think I’m too conscious at all about how my work will be received/stand out from other photography on the internet. I simply create what I envision and try to bring it to life. To construct these images in a light that I feel will carry a narrative, subtle details and how perfect a moment can be and make one see everything at the same time through my own style. My goal isn’t to try and stand out, but to simply create photographs out of being passionate and having the thrive to continuously share how I see the world through my artistic vision.

Is the narrative you’re trying to create exist in the single photographs or the larger sets you create, and how do you feel your ability to alter how your images are displayed (especially online) alters that?

The narrative that I create in my photographs exist in both the single photos and my larger sets (series). These photographs are meant to be paired together but also have a strong narrative pull to it that makes each one photograph stand well alone, at the same time. Sometimes when posting one photograph at a time instead of posting them all at once as a batch, people may get different views of the series as a whole – at least that’s what I can try and make out of it. So in some ways, my ability with that tends to shift here and there by my audience’s views of my work.

UNTITLED/MAY XIONG

Speaking of narratives, do you ever look back over your own archive of work to see how your work has changed? And if so, how do you feel about that change and your earlier work?

There has been many times when I’ve gone back and looked at my own archive of work and have noticed the drastic change. If anything, the drastic change has been such a wonderful experience. Being able to go through photo shoots, learning through my success and failures has helped me grow and shape myself as a photographer and how I view things artistically. With the change, it makes it easy to say that my work now shows more concentration, depth and direction as to where my old work didn’t have the solid foundation of those things.

Where do you think that concentration and depth is going to take you next?

I feel that that concentration and depth is only going to make my work stronger as time goes on, whichever route I take with my photography. Allowing myself to grow within myself as an artist and a photographer, perhaps my viewers will be able to see that in my work and future work.

You can find more of May Xiong’s work on her website, Facebook, or Behance.

This time last year, and the two years before, I was going back to university. It seems weird not to be going back now. As a nod to that nostalgia, I thought I’d post up a series of interviews I did for The Oxford Student with some of my favourite artists in 2014.

VERY FIRST ACCIDENT/ZEREN BADAR

“Oh no! I’ve just cracked an egg on the old master that was casually on my kitchen counter, that so wasn’t a frying pan!”

This is how I like to imagine the internal monologue of self-professed “penniless photographer” Zeren Badar as he created his ‘Very First Accident’ in the ‘Accident Series’. However, the consciously constructed nature of its composition may suggest other wise.

STARS/ZEREN BADAR

Tongue wryly in cheek, “penniless photographer” Zeren Badar ‘accidentally’ layers found objects (cereal, fridge magnets, rubber bands) on top of cheap reprints of older, often classic, paintings to create temporary Duchampian readymades. The juxtaposition of these seemingly incompatible materials produces fun works that question how we value the art work we see, how we see the genre of still life and how the creative capacity of our breakfast could be embraced if only we were to slip by a DaVinci.

“It is like 99 cents store meets with Mona Lisa.”

The accidents themselves aren’t what we as viewers interact with, rather we are given photographic evidence of the action. Zeren toys with the saturation, contrast and shadows in these photographs to make them feel hyper-real.

“I destroy my ready-mades at the end unlike Duchamp because my final artwork is a photograph. It is very conceptual work. I’m the owner of the final work naturally.”

ONE HAPPY BLUE PILL/ZEREN BADAR

Zeren’s use of cheap commonplace objects as the dominant aspects of his images elevates the everyday to being gallery worthy without every feeling like he’s devaluing the print he’s defaced.  The playful aspect to his work is both rebellious, fighting the good fight Duchamp & Co. began, and rejuvenating, in the sense that it seems to hark back to the creative confidence of a child making art.

“But even if I had incredible budget of Jeff Koons, I would keep the childlike look of my artworks. I think that is my niche.

Actually! Even daydreaming about these feels so good….”

HOMAGE TO GUSTAVE KLIMNT/ZEREN BADAR

I first saw your work on Tumblr, how important would you say social media, and the internet in a more general sense, are to artists working today?

I believe it is very important as an artist to use social media to promote my work. I’m one of many artists who don’t have a gallery contract. Internet or social media is my only tool to show my work to a wider range audience. My work got so much attention after being on tumblr radar. I’m so grateful to tumblr team.

In these days every artist must be using social media very often. They have to be careful not to overdo it. In my case I post one image a day (or less), which disciplines me. I have to create something for my Instagram and tumblr each day. Otherwise I would be postponing and get involved with other things.  I strongly believe every artist should take advantage of social media, but they should use gracefully.

You mentioned the importance of being on Tumblr radar, what are your thoughts on online curation and selecting the best works from a saturated market?

There are so many websites and digital magazines out there. Online curation is extremely popular now. I cannot say I find most of them successful. Their job is not easy either. I’m sure they get absurd amount of submissions on a daily basis. The art scene is very plural. Picking sophisticated artworks is not easy. I think the curator should have great taste on art to begin with. They have to know art history and follow the current art market.

Some of online curators only pick major household names to be on the safe side, which is very boring and uninteresting for me. They should give opportunity to emerging artists. Anyway! Museums are full of those household names. Haven’t we seen Cindy Sherman enough? Why not discover new upcoming artists? It is risky but it is much more interesting.

You’re currently a part of Saatchi online, what do you think being featured on a site with such a recognized name in the non-virtual art world offers? Do you think that websites like Saatchi online are where the art market is heading towards in the future?

For long time, I was not sure to put my work on Saatchi Online or any online gallery. I changed my mind because Saatchi Online was very popular. They had big collector base. I’m also collaborating with another online gallery which is called Kids Of Dada. But this doesn’t mean I’m trying to sell my entire artwork online. They are couple of photographs are on sale via these websites. They are limited editions.

I still believe traditional galleries are very important. A traditional gallery can support and increase value of my photographs tremendously.

I think an artist should work with online galleries and traditional galleries at the same time. When I sign with a gallery, that’s something that needs to be decided between me and gallery owner. Decision has to be mutual.

Visibility in this art world is very important. The more internet coverage I get the more audience I reach.

Being visible and selling online is the future of art market. It doesn’t mean my art is less valuable. It means my art is getting attention globally.

LADY GAGA/ZEREN BADAR

Have you ever felt there is a danger that your work will be taken and reused without your permission as it is so easily copied and pasted from the web? Have you had any experience of anything of that kind?

So far I have never had a bad experience. Hopefully! I won’t. I heard so many horror stories about this subject. Couple of websites and magazines used my images without my permission to write review about my art. Reviews were always very positive. It didn’t bother me. If someone copies and prints my work, they will be getting in touch with my lawyer. That requires a lawsuit.

I put very low dpi images online, so none can print high quality. I sell limited editions and sign every photograph of mine. Those photographs have almost no value without my signature. I sell my photographs to collectors and art dealers. They are very high quality prints and signed. Otherwise they would have value of posters.

Your work uses a lot of repurposed/reworked readymade images, I’m thinking particularly of your Accident Series, how does that feature into that idea of image ownership?

When you look at the history of modern art, most artworks are references to classic artworks. I use very low dpi images which I download them on internet. I change them dramatically. I even change the colors of paintings before I print them.

I put found objects, food on top of each other. I change the painting intensely which are almost not recognizable. The final work is my creation. The painting becomes a completely different piece of art.

In this age, it is very common that artists use pre-existing artworks and turn those into something else. I’m not the first artist who works in this manner, but I have my own distinct style. I use these old paintings to create new Duchampian ready-mades. I destroy my ready-mades at the end unlike Duchamp because my final artwork is a photograph. It is very conceptual work. I’m the owner of the final work naturally.

You reference Duchamp as a point of comparison for your works. Do you consider him a major influence on your choice of style, and if so (or not) who else would you put on that list?

Yes, Duchamp is definitely the main influence on my work. He had certain dry humor in his art. It is very difficult to create humorous pieces in art. He created his own category, which nobody had thought about before.

I was influenced by Kurt Schwitters as well. I found his aesthetic of collages very inspiring. They have exceptional compositions. They are very delicate.

I can give couple more names such as Sigmar Polke, Urs Fischer and Gerhard Richter

SEA WORLD/ZEREN BADAR

How do you go about selecting the readymade paintings/canvases for your works?

I searched for paintings on the Internet. There are great sources out there such as pinterest, museum websites and personal art blogs. I look for portraits with facial expressions.

Since I reduce the details of paintings, the remaining parts should have some kind of emotion.

I look for low dpi images because I like the contrast. The ready-mades I put on paintings are always sharper than paintings. I have certain themes in my mind such as love, hands, mother & son or daughter.

I developed a strong instinct after a while. When I see the painting, I get the sense right away that painting will work.

FEMINISM/ZEREN BADAR

Could you explain a little your choice to pair these older, classic artworks with incongruous items such as food and paper clips?

That’s the most difficult part of this project. Not every object or food works with paintings. I found that round shapes and flowy materials work much better.

I got ideas from everywhere. Searching for materials is constantly in my head. It is exhausting actually.

I found 99 cents stores are very inspiring. I know! It sounds odd. Flea market is another good source. I have a certain budget for the ready-mades. I don’t want to spend more than $5 or $8. To be honest that is the initial idea of this project. I wanted to create art from cheap things.

I wanted to transform banal everyday objects into extraordinary masterpieces!

It is like 99 cents store meets with Mona Lisa.

Of course I cannot afford very expensive materials at this point as well. I’m not one of those artists who has unlimited budget.

I wish I had Jeff Koons’s astronomic budget — I would create so many masterpieces. One day maybe….

Where do you think your work would go if you had Koons’ astronomical budget?

That would solve so many problems of mine! First! I would rent a great size studio. I wouldn’t try yo create everything in my living room. I would quit my day job and focus on my art completely. I have been thinking creating 3D print sculptures from Accident Series. I would definitely spend a lot of money on developing sculptures. I do have so many ideas for performance art projects. I have two other photography projects in my mind. One of them is text based. Other is internet related. But even if I had incredible budget of Jeff Koons, I would keep the childlike look of my artworks. I think that is my niche.

Actually! Even daydreaming about these feels so good….