Meet the S’pore artist who draws Nezha in a cropped top, on public transport doing millennial things

When I met Sharon Yang, she was dressed in a vintage-style plaid frock and (arguably hypebeast) pastel shoes, with large metallic dragon earrings and blue dip-dyed hair.

Yang is better known by her moniker Paynk (an edgy spin on the word pink, which happens to be her favourite colour and also the colour of her hair before she dyed it blue).

And at first glance, I thought the 29-year-old freelance illustrator looked like the typical hipster creative in Singapore.

However, as I would discover from our meeting, it is difficult to talk about Yang as a typical anything given her deeply quirky and eclectic approach to things and life.

As an artist, Yang is full of surprises -- apart from drawing Chinese zombies, she has also drawn fasciated plants, mermaid ladies, and sketches of other people.

Oh, and here’s her painting of an easter bunny in a cup of chawanmushi.

Making traditional Chinese characters relevant

But if there’s one thing that she could be known for, though, it would be her drawings of Chinese-themed characters, especially those from Chinese mythology, with a modern twist.

Even though she derives inspiration from traditional Chinese watercolour paintings in the way she draws formless things like water, smoke and waves, Yang always manages to find a way to make her pieces distinctly contemporary.

Basically, making traditional Chinese characters cool and relevant.

Like this piece that Yang drew for a joint-exhibition, which is apparently an edgy self-portrait of herself “doing a million things at once”.

Referencing Nezha’s powers of having three heads and six arms, the piece depicts what Nezha would look like as a modern multitasking girl on public transport.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu0ts8GAnuD/

Or this modern rendition of Chang’er with platform heels:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2_VjeYn3gc/

Fascination with Chinese culture

Yang’s keen interest in exploring aspects of Chinese mythology in her art can be traced back to her experiences as a kid.

As a child, Yang said she gravitated towards the Nezha-inspired space buns hairstyle -- a motif that she has always been (and still is) incredibly fond of drawing.

Born in China and raised in Singapore, Yang shared that her parents would take her to Haw Par Villa as a kid, and they would visit the 10 levels of hell and go for the log rides together.

She grew up listening to bedtime stories from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin.

She also watched tapes that her parents would buy, including Journey to the West and her favourite, Nezha.

Yang continues to be deeply fascinated by ancient Chinese culture as an adult.

As a Yanxi Palace fan who also watches period films such as Red Cliff and Curse of the Golden Flower, Yang said that “there is something about the ancient times that is super epic”.

In our conversation, Yang rattled off excitedly, describing the vast expanse of Emperor Qin’s tomb and marvelling at how the terracotta warrior statues were created.

“It’s just damn fascinating, not just the craft of the soldiers but also the whole environment and historical context that led up to something so epic.”

Young Sharon Yang loved art

And while it is clear that her love for Chinese mythological elements has influenced her art, Yang’s tender curiosity for a wide range of things means that her art cannot be boxed in to a single style or concept -- or articulated, even.

Always on the look-out for fresh new ideas to draw, Yang can always be found doodling or scribbling something. She told us that this could be anything ranging from drawing facial features to sketching girls doing “random activities, like acrobats or something”.

It is perhaps this affinity for creating art that explains why she has always enjoyed drawing, even from a young age.

As an only child, Yang would find ways to entertain herself by drawing characters she saw on TV.

“But my parents said I was very disciplined, I never drew on walls!” she hastily clarified.

10-year-old Yang would also look forward to art classes every weekend, where she learnt the techniques of traditional drawing, including drawing live models, fruits, and landscapes.

These art classes, she explained, also taught her valuable life lessons, such as taking a step back and always being aware of the larger picture. (“Sometimes you get too absorbed in a detail, like a nostril!” she said.)

Her love for art would also lead her to take art as an O level and A level subject, before she eventually graduating from Nanyang Technology University (NTU) with a degree in Visual Communications in 2012.

“I feel that I would be too sick of art if I did it 9 to 5”

Apart from just gaining technical qualifications, Yang has also already achieved the following as an artist:

• Illustrated for books,
• Had her art pieces featured in various magazines such as Tatler, Salt Magazine and Kult,
• And more recently in 2018, she had her first solo exhibition at Sprmrkt.

In December this year, she also moved into a shared space at Tai Seng so she could have a dedicated studio to paint or work on her drawings and commissioned pieces.

A social media marketing executive by day, she would carve out several hours in her day to work on her drawings at night.

This includes commissioned pieces for clients, or what she calls “fun drawings” that allow her to explore different themes.

Despite her love for art, she thinks that she might actually get “sick of art” if she did it as a full-time, nine-to-five job.

“At least now when I go home, I will still feel like drawing something,” she said.

Going with the flow is how she rolls

While she has a detailed process for conceptualising and executing commissioned works, she is a lot more easy-going when it comes to what she calls “fun drawings”, which is purely led by her creative whims and fancies.

Going with the flow is just how Yang rolls as a “really easy-going” person.

“I’m not geeky about gear,” she told us, and she is able to create art with just about whatever materials are available -- pens, pencils, markers, oil paints.

She also confessed that she is rather disorganised (“But I can find my things!!” she added), and hardly expects her drawings to turn out as “masterpieces”.

Especially if she’s doing it for fun.

“A lot of times the idea just pops into my head before I draw...I like to see where it goes.”

Despite her free-spirited approach to art, she shared that working on commissioned pieces is actually a welcome challenge.

The themes and constraints set by her clients push her creatively to think about how she can approach a mythological character or motif in a story differently.

A project she particularly enjoyed working on was a children’s activity booklet that she did for the Asian Civilisations Museum Port Cities exhibition, which included paper dolls that can be dressed up in various traditional clothing.

Her next challenge, however, will be the upcoming REMIX Urban Art exhibition at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, where she will be featuring her modern interpretation of Eight Immortals crossing the sea.

According to the mythological tale, she explained that each of the Eight Immortals have different ‘identifying features’. Zhang Guo Lao, for instance, is identified by his mule.

During our interview, Yang shared that her goal for this exhibition was to come up with different ways to present the Eight Immortals by giving their distinct identifying features a contemporary spin.

What’s next for her?

Always thinking of her next adventure in her artistic journey, she said that she is “not sure what she’ll be doing if she’s not doing art”.

What does someone, as unpredictable and wonderfully strange as her, want to achieve next?

Yang was conservative with her dreams at first, revealing that she hopes to challenge herself with more large-scale drawings.

After a longer pause, she exclaimed: “I also wanna be a tattoo artist!”

In other words, Yang is considering trading her pen for a tattoo gun, and using skin as her canvas.

“That’s another medium that I really like. It’s kind of like, I like to draw with a pen because it cannot be erased. I like that commitment to one drawing that you can’t get rid of.”

Guess Yang wants to make her artistic mark with a modern hipster twist permanent.

REMIX Urban Art Exhibition

As part of Singapore Art Week, Yang’s artworks will be displayed at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre in the REMIX Urban Art Exhibition.

The exhibition will feature contemporary artists from various disciplines coming together to reinterpret traditional Chinese myths and legends for the 21st century.

Located at Level 10, Practice Room, the exhibition will run from Jan. 10 to 12, from 11am to 7:30pm.

Admission is free.

Top photo composite image: Photo by Juan Ezwan & Instagram/PAYNK

This sponsored article by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre reignited the author’s love for the space buns hairstyle. Which she cannot pull off, by the way.