Artist Xuanjun Ke  @jot803.p j featured in the current illustration exhibition

1. Who are you & what is it that you do?

I'm PJ from China. I use illustration as a kind of portal & tool to express what I'm interested in expressing/explaining, and I want to experience as much new ways to create exciting works as possible.

2. Why is it that you do what you do?

I like working with my hands, also very into dancing and listening to rock music, doing these things gives me energy (feels like flying). I enjoy the process of new projects; feels similar to just travelling along, on the road, not at any destinations yet. I'm very happy when I discover connections between different disciplines through making illustrations.

 3. How have you been spending time during the pandemic, and how (if at all) has it informed/affected your practice?

In the beginning (Jan - Feb 2020) I drew a 2020 calendar for myself, with some famous rock albums in oil pastels. Then I started designing personal calendars as commissions for some friends, also practiced with acrylic & oil pastel paintings.

I didn't really make any pandemic-related art because I felt detached and instead discovered my new and lasting passion for rock music and old concert recordings from the 70s.

Coming to the pandemic in the UK I was confined to on-line uni, but all the same did fun observation practice while traveling, and created some more stories & books with different approaches to the ones back home.