Meet the Artist: J.hao

Feb 25, 2021 / Art

Black lines, white space, the pursuit of simplicity that expresses emotions.
- J.hao

About him

Artist and illustrator J. Hao is known for simple line drawings that nimbly capture the ‘moment’ of reality and fantasy. He is an active illustrator whose work has been featured in magazines and exhibitions. Last year, he also executed the art curating for the presidential campaign of Tsai Ing-wen.

This is his first-ever drop to mark a new chapter of life as an artist.

https://dex.lootex.io/stores/j-hao

<Interview Begins>

Hello, could you please introduce yourself?

Hi, I am a northern drifter. I grew up realizing that if I won’t be die of hunger, I should definitely go after my dream. From there, I began to create and record my journey of ‘lines’. Wishing my works could be exhibited in the gallery as well as on the hipster wall one day.

Part of my inspiration comes from reality, such as the pedestrians on the road or the noisy moments with friends, while the other comes from the virtual world, where video games, movies, and comics are the nourishment of imagination.

I thought it would be simpler not to use too many colors, but recently I found that the simpler things are, the more complicated they are, but there is no turning back now.

Where were you born?

Kaohsiung city, Taiwan. I am one of those who went home to vote four times in one year.

How did you get into art?

I was first inspired by an artist named Kerby Rosanes, who used only a black stylus to create delicate and gorgeous images.

I used similar strokes for about a year, and the style was mainly realistic and complicated, often taking five or six hours.

Later on, I met Noritake and Yu Nagaba, two Japanese artists who showed me the other end of the spectrum of black line creation, and I thought that the “simple” style would allow me to spend less time on it.

After I started using the iPad as a tool, I can now enjoy the moment of finding the most satisfying one after trying a hundred lines.

What are some of the past accomplishments you are most proud of?

I’ve been really enjoying my multiple identities lately, and “I started a curatorial company with a friend!” is definitely one of the proudest things I’ve said in the past two years.

We’ve done exhibitions in food markets, where the local elements are concentrated into a booth-sized exhibition space; we’ve also brought the lively elements of commercial IP exhibitions into the presidential campaign headquarters.

We have also started to record podcasts with the aim of bringing more interesting exhibitions to the public, and we have developed different series of programs, which are not yet profitable but have received good response.

Could you tell us your recent collaboration with the VERSE magazine? And how did it begin?

I think my style can easily be categorized as a certain “symbol”, and the collaboration with VERSE coincided with their fundraising phase where they needed to create a representative “symbol” for uncreated merchandise, so I came in handy.

I also drew a few of the characters involved in the project. With a limited budget, illustration seemed like a more better approach than photography. In a commercial case, I would call myself an illustrator rather than an artist, in order to be more cooperative with the owner, but the people at VERSE respect professionalism and my drawings have never been changed.

Tell us about your upcoming NFT drop and what inspired you?

Among my works, “Ghoooooost~” are one of the most popular series, and I have always had the idea to bring them to life. If you look closely, they are all developed from the “bedsheet ghost”, people pretending to be ghosts beneath a bedsheet.

and it just so happens that people from Lootex wanted me to create something different from my graphic works, more in line with the characteristics of NFT, so that’s how they came to life!

What interested you in a collaboration with Lootex?

(Because I want to make a lot of money hahahaha.) In fact, I’ve always thought about how to enter the world of NFT, but I never expected to have the opportunity to enter it as an NFT artist. Another truth is that I would definitely say yes to working with my idol Justine! I’m definitely interested!

Has the pandemic had an influence on your current or future projects?

This epidemic has given me more certainty about the future direction. For example, I was invited to a talk held by VERSE a few days ago, and I introduced “Digital Like Paint”, which allows customers to get digital illustrations directly instead of the traditional hand-drawn ones.

And then, people will directly replace them with their own community stickers, which obviously has more exposure than hand-drawn creations nowadays. This is obviously more exposure than hand-drawn artwork.

In the future, I think I will focus more on the publication of digital works, and the proportion of physical creations will be slightly reduced.

What’s next for you?

I hope to curate my own show someday! I’ll put my name in the curator, venue designer, and artist columns, and maybe use my own podcast to promote it, hoping that people will come to see it.

<End of interview>

Link website: instagram/j.hao_official
Client List: VERSE, IVC
Publications: VERSE 001 Magazine, Home for Tomorrow-New Co-Living Movement

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