POSTED: 7/12/2011
http://www.e-junkie.info/2011/07/interview-with-jui-pin-chang-incredible.html

Jui-Pin Chang is a professional artist from UK who is a wonderful painter. Her imagination and perception about inner and outer world is very impressive, and this is what makes her a great artist. She has invented an interesting and adorable character 'The Bucketmen' for which she has received much deserved appreciation from all over the world.

"After teaching art for twenty years and having lived in the different countries. I became inspired to explore ideas relating to my own life and experience, as both a woman and a mother. My most recent work blends a sense of menace with a quirky humour, men (with buckets over their heads) make us feel that they are dancing, but maybe at our expense: in awe; having fun; or as if something illusive, enigmatic or ambiguous, intangible or unrecognised, is going on", shares the artist.

Lets know more about her in the interview below and I am sure you're really gonna fell in love with her bucketmen paintings:

Jui-Pin, lets start with a brief introduction of yours.

I was born in Taiwan in 1964 where I studied art at the University of Taipei, mastering traditional Chinese calligraphy and brush drawing, as well as many western techniques, graduating in 1989. I then taught art from my studio in Taiwan before travelling to the USA to further my studies. After teaching there, I moved to Canada, finally moving to the UK in 2003.
What tickles the artistic side within you?

Hmm, that is a good question. Well as a single Taiwanese mother who brought up two daughters while they studied in England, so far from our home (and not just in distance for, as you can imagine, the culture and lifestyle are very different too) I often felt lonely and worried about the future they would face. I would worry as a mother, as a woman, and as a human being. I still worry about the political situation in the world, about the injustice we see every day around us, and about the abuse of human rights. And this unfairness inspires me; it triggers my imagination and so I can start painting, and then through my paintings I can express my feelings. Recently the situation in China with the arrest of fellow artist WeiWei inspired me to start a painting. I felt very strongly about his detention, and it was such a relief when the authorities finally released him. But it is not just in China that human rights are under attack. It happens everywhere. In the West too!

When did you realize that you're meant to be a great artist?

I don’t know that I ever thought I was meant to be a great artist! And I think I am still far from being a great artist yet (although it would be very nice if other people thought I was!). But art gives me an identity, it is my voice. It lets me speak to the world and share my life story as a woman, a mother, and, more importantly, as a human being.

Tell us about this interesting and intriguing character 'The Bucket Men'. I am keen to know about its inception.

My most recent creation is the “Bucketmen Series”, started while I was in London. Bucket men are characters that represent timid little people whose adventures are set in a world filled with chaos. They use the buckets to cover their heads in order to hide the fear on their faces. With the bucket on their heads, they can neither see or be seen. They will only be able to see when they conquer their fears of whatever dangers lay in front of them.

The "Bucketmen" is an image in my dream. In this dream I saw a group of little people with buckets on their heads gradually descending from the sky. They were chanting, holding clubs and hopping around me. I found myself surrounded by fear, not knowing what to do. In the midst of a panic, I picked up a bucket and put on my head. Suddenly and miraculously, with a bucket covering my face, I could no longer sense the danger ahead. All my fear disappeared, I became very brave. So I joined the march of the bucketmen to explore the world. When I woke up, I came to realize that buketmen are little people inside me. I felt a surge of inspiration and urges to pick up the paintbrush. I created to the first bucketman, then the second, the third ... ... When I found that I could not stop painting, I began to think about a variety of reasons. Through the bucketmen, I understand my own needs, the space, and the limits. Bucketmen endow me with the power to explore, the energy to move forward, and importantly the ability to see what I could not see before. I do not know yet where this will ultimately take me to. I shall, with all humbleness, continue to express my feelings through the paintbrush.

Your paintings are beautiful! Would you like to describe your creative work process?

When I start a painting I feel so energetic. I throw myself into my work and never want to stop, even when I grow very tired. Perhaps some of my ideas are radical, but that is not enough. The beauty in my paintings is also important to me – the intricate details and decorations that I painstakingly add at the end. I want people to look at my paintings and be moved by the beauty of them as much as by the ideas that inspired them. So long as people enjoy my paintings, it doesn’t matter whether they appreciate the political motivation behind them or whether they just see them as something beautiful. I find children often enjoy my paintings on a very simple level. They know nothing about the politics behind them or what inspired them. They just see them as fun, and that makes me happy.
You have been a teacher for two years in Taiwan. How did it help you to explore your artistic skills and knowledge?

I discovered that teaching art to children was not a one-way thing. They did not just learn from me – I learnt from them too. They often have so much more imagination and creativity than adults. They don’t have the restraints that we adults often bind ourselves with. They are not afraid to experiment and do things in new ways, and so I also learnt not to be afraid and to experiment with my art.

You've created so many paintings. Which one is your favorite; the one closest to your heart?

My very first Bucketman painting, showing the Bucketmen around the Apple, has to be my favorite. When I first painted it, I never imagined what it would lead to and had no idea how the story of the Bucketmen would keep on developing. So I love that painting the most because it started the whole process. I still don’t really understand how it happened. But it did, and I am so happy about that.


Your work is appreciated all over the web. Share the best compliment you have ever received for your work.

I think the nicest thing was when another woman artist, an English woman, contacted me to say how she identified with the Bucketmen. She said they were also herself and that she felt she could talk to them. She gave me a beautiful poem that she had written about the Bucketmen and I still treasure that.

Do you have any dream project?

Well as I have explained, the Bucketmen are my dream project. They started with my dream. If I hadn’t had that dream, then they would never have existed.

What are the other things that interests you?

Apart from art, I love music. Classical music. Both my daughters are extremely talented musicians and went to an English boarding school which is world renowned for its music teaching. My youngest Anny, who is 17, is still there in her final year and will then go to Vienna to study the violin. Her elder sister Rose, 18, is now studying the piano in Stuttgart, Germany. Although I can read music, I cannot play an instrument myself. Sometimes I like to sing – but my daughters always quickly tell me to shut up so I guess I am not very good!

Many other artists would draw inspiration from you. What message do you have for them?

I think I would say two things. First, be honest, tell your story and view of life. But you must tell the true story. Second, always believe in yourself and trust your talent; in other words, work hard and never get discouraged.

Jui-Pin, thanks for such a wonderful interview. I have really fallen in love with your paintings and I am sure you have a long way to go as an artist! Wish you all the very best!