Stop-motion animated clip "Mr. Sea" ignites interest among art and film enthusiasts. (Photo : Women of China)
A 2014 stop-motion animation short film based on a gloomy folk tale entitled "Mr. Sea" has ignited curiosity among Chinese art and film enthusiasts since the beginning of 2015.
Based on a story tackling sadness of human beings and ghosts, "Mr. Sea" was chosen from over 500 supernatural folk tales known as the "Strange Stories of a Chinese Studio" of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi in Chinese written by popular Chinese writer Pu Songling during the Qing Dynasty.
Also known as "Hai Gongzi" in Chinese, "Mr. Sea" was created by female Chinese artist Geng Xue, a graduate of the Sculpture Studio of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
According to a report from the Women of China, the story begins with the journey of a young explorer called Mr. Sea of a porcelain-made world to an island and "falls into a spiral of passion and death," something the report described as akin to the mythical tale of "Ulysses and the Sirens."
After being adapted into film, Mr. Sea, the porcelain protagonist of the story, was brought to life to a breathtaking world of stop-motion animation through the combination of light, shadows and porcelain.
"The stop-motion film draws and reshapes the 'porcelain world.' Porcelain to me has been something of a true friend, with a kind of sympathetic love and affection. I think of it as the material and language of not only myself but of art, which is the thing that I am most passionate about delving into," Geng explained during the unveiling of her exhibition at the Zero Art Center in Beijing.
She also added that the integration of the new artistic technique into filmmaking was her way of showcasing her "love and enthusiasm" for all things made of porcelain.
