This article was originally published on Neocha and is republished with permission.
The philosophy of Taiwanese artist Pan Chunling is perfectly summed up in the first line of her Instagram bio: “Every little thing has a small story behind it.”
Whether it’s a street vendor grilling sausages, a cyclist biking through a narrow alleyway, or an old man waiting his turn in front of a packed barbershop—these quotidians scenes we come across are often quickly forgotten, replaced in our short-term memory by more important matters. However, these seemingly trivial moments are what gives a city its vivacity, and they’re the moments that Pan chooses to highlight in her work. Her art looks away from the extravagant side of city living, focusing instead on street-level happenings and the minutia of daily life. These are the stories that she finds to be the most meaningful, the most cinematic. Using pen and watercolor, she recreates moments of urban connection in calming colors.
One of Pan’s favorite pastimes, aside from traveling and drawing, is people watching. “I’ll observe someone and take in their every movement,” she says. “When you look close enough, there’s a lot of beauty to be found in the ways a person interacts with their surrounding environment.”
In 2016, on a solo trip to Melbourne, Australia, she experienced frequent bouts of loneliness. But whenever that feeling sunk in, she’d open up her notebook, find a bench, and begin sketching strangers who caught her eye. These sketches wound up as the earliest entries of what is now Microart, a collection of works that showcase everyday life as she understands it. With passing time and more stamped passport pages, her sketchpad began to fill up with some of her fondest memories of Beijing, Taipei, Thailand, and more.
Even the most ordinary of scenes have the potential to light Pan’s creative spark, and under her touch, these mundanities simmer with emotion. “I’ve been asked, ‘Why look to these unremarkable moments for inspiration?’” she says. “But to me, these moments form the very fabric of a city’s personality.”
You won’t find bombastic colors or exacting line work in her art. Pan’s works like the hazy recollection of a distant memory—not quite perfect but no less beautiful. There’s also a warmth that she imbues through the use of watercolor, one that feels real and human. Pan’s artworks are also designed to be easily understandable. The scenes are minimal but straightforward, and the succinct information that’s offered on each page leaves room for viewers’ to fill in the blanks. “I’m not that technically proficient,” she confesses. “I use simple colors, and I’m not great at drawing light and shadow. But the negative space I leave is intentional. It helps draw attention to the main subject and whatever they’re up to.”
The bustle of modern life can be overwhelming, and within the urban cacophony, it can be hard to appreciate simplicity. People are too caught up in the pursuit of money, fame, and recognition, but Pan is indifferent to these vapid aspirations. She recognizes there’s plenty of meaning to be found in mundanity. “Real life shouldn’t just be a nonstop highlight reel, and art shouldn’t be made in hopes of attaining fame or fortune,” she says. “I do what I do because I want to show the world through my eyes. There’s a gravitas to ordinary moments, and it’s what I want to show. This approach has made me more mindful, taught me how to quiet my mind, observe the world around me even more closely, and made life that much more interesting.”
A simple image can carry a wealth of meaning and the humdrum of life can still be poetic, all you need is the right perspective. That’s the ethos Pan hopes to pass on. With her art, she hopes to encourage more people to look closer at the world around them so that they too can discover magnificence in the ordinary.
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Instagram: @panpanmicroart
Contributor: Pete Zhang
