Always looking to take on a challenge and try new directions in his working practice, Jacky Tsai has created a lenticular piece, which spectacularly allows his stunning new image ‘Chinese Floral Skull’ to be viewed in 3D. Today we talk more about the new edition,
Chinese Floral Skull Lenticular , which is exclusively available at Eyestorm, below.
Over the past four years that we’ve been working with
Jacky Tsai, his work has become more and more popular with our buyers and he is now one of our most widely-collected artists. What’s great about this is that he’s also one of our most prolific, and before the current project is over he’s often thinking about the next one, and this is what keeps his work so fresh and exciting.
It was back in the spring that Jacky first said to me that he wanted to produce a lenticular for his next Eyestorm edition. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, lenticular printing takes a two-dimensional image and transforms it into a three-dimensional vision when viewed in motion. Alternating fragments of images are placed onto a flat transparent sheet with a series curved ridges that allow light to pass, and through refraction and magnification make a single complete image that changes when either the piece or our line of site moves, thus creating the impression of movement and a third dimension. Artists who have been known to use this process include Julian Opie (with his walking figures) and Chris Levine (portraits of Kate Moss and The Queen), and in 2001 Eyestorm released
Colorado Impression, a small-scale lenticular by artist Dan Hays.
After some research, we came across Hive, who had coincidentally worked on lenticulars for the Alexander McQueen exhibition that took place this summer at the V&A, and went to see them in their Farringdon offices. Jacky was really excited about the whole thing and neither of us could wait to see his fantastic Chinese Floral Skull image transformed into 3D. First they made an animated gif of the two-dimensional image so we could see how the different ‘frames’ would work and how the three dimensions would make the piece come alive, and once a few changes were made, they created the master proof, which did not disappoint. The 3D moving image can be viewed (6Mb file opens in new window
)
here
The image Jacky has created for this piece is just perfect for the lenticular process as it’s quite a complex composition with lots of individual details. For the lenticular, the eyes of the skull which are flowers, have been made to look hollow, more like the sockets of eyes, while the butterflies and birds fly out into the foreground and the house at the bottom of the image sits back in the distance. The landscape that surrounds the skull perfectly frames it as the flowers come forward and the rocks sit back, adding to the whole three-dimensional feel.
The image itself is a stunning one. Taking inspiration from the floral skull Jacky created for McQueen back in 2008,
Chinese Floral Skull Lenticular sees Jacky bring the motif he’s best known for in line with his current works. It's a harmonious image, with birds and beautiful blooms, reiterated by the colour palette, which is vibrant and calming in equal measures.The landscape that surrounds the skull is not dissimilar from previous Eyestorm editions War War War and Save Empress Wu released earlier this year. The Chinese Floral Skull is also available as a unique embroidery work, which will be shown at Jacky Tsai’s upcoming solo exhibition.
None of us were sure how the lenticular would come out, but when we went to see it for the first time, we were pleasantly reassured that Jacky Tsai had done it again and produced another masterpiece to add to his collection.
Chinese Floral Skull Lenticular is an edition of just 18 at a price of £7900.00. View in more detail or buy online
here, or contact us for more images and further information.