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“Red” Hong Yi is a Malaysian artist-architect who creates brilliant and unconventional works of art. Known as “the artist who loves to paint, but not with a paintbrush,” she uses mascara, foundation, and other cosmetics to give rise to misty mountainsides, vibrant fire crackers, and shimmering ponds.

Ethnically Chinese, Red’s family moved from their home in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and settled in Malaysia, where Red was born. She currently works in China and draws inspiration from the culture of her ancestors in her art series titled “Make-up meets Chinese Art” and another series published during Chinese New Year 2014. Here’s a small sample of her beautiful artwork:

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「福到了!」"Good fortune has arrived!" 💎💰💴Today I'd like to tell you a bit about this Chinese character 福 (Fu, pronounced foo) which you'll see a lot during Chinese New Year. It means "good fortune". Notice that I've created an upside-down "Fu" character? That's because "upside-down" sounds like "arrive" in Chinese. So "upside-down Fu" sounds very much like "Good luck has arrived"! Many Chinese decorate the entrances of their homes with "upside-down Fu" to wish for prosperity and good fortune upon their families! So…I wish a year of "upside-down Fu" or 倒福 for you!❤ (This is part of my make-up art series; I'll be posting them throughout the 15 days of Chinese New Year! This one's made of crushed blusher, representing burnt firecrackers scattered on the ground. And my granny was my hand model!) #makeupart#redhongyi

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20 day challenge: Make-up meets Chinese art!! Here's #1: goldfish drawn with mascara. 💄💅🙋 ***Chinese art requires a lot of precision and skill – one stroke can make a huge difference, and many times, less is more. I felt that this is similar to how a woman carefully puts on her make-up. Over the next 20 days leading up to mid-Autumn festival 「中秋节」 I will be challenging myself to rethink how make-up can be presented differently by incorporating Chinese art into it. I'll be in Shanghai and Beijing this month and will be trying to learn this beautiful art which I really am not familiar with, though I'm ethnically Chinese…(I'm Malaysian, btw!) If you have any ideas or suggestions, let me know! :) here's to looking at eyeliners, blushers, BB cream etc differently this month! xx

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Red doesn’t only use cosmetics; showing off her creativity, she uses a variety of tools. Here’s a portrait she did using a football:


Red also has an entire series of flower petal art:

▼ Here’s how she did it.


You may have even seen her flower artwork featured on Google (if you happen to be in Malaysia):


She also created a portrait of Jackie Chan using 64,000 chopsticks!

 

▼ Check out a video of the chopsticks Chan!


We are absolutely in awe of the talent this young artist possesses. If you’d like to check out more of “Red” Hong Yi’s work, be sure to visit her website and instagram! And for a behind-the-scene look at the making of some of her art installations, head on over to her YouTube channel.

Source: Naver Matome, Red Hong Yi
Images: Instagram (redhongyi)