The outstanding art of the ordinary

A handful of rice, a piece of paper, a red thread and a cob of corn are turned into pieces of eye-catching art under Wei Shangsheng's ingenious maneuvers.

Different from many art forms carrying abstract and abstruse themes that might have the audience scratching their heads in search of implied meanings, Wei's works feature mundane items in the form of creative posters that convey self-evident connotations.

"I want my audience to easily associate the theme with their own experiences," says the 30-year-old poster designer from Wenzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province.

Wei's works have instantly tugged at the public's heartstrings and become an internet phenomenon.

In mid-November, China Central Television used his poster featuring an ear of corn to demonstrate individuality among the world population when the United Nations announced the figure had reached 8 billion.

"I made a little adjustment by changing the color of a single kernel using computer software," Wei says.

"I guess they thought of it as being pertinent to the theme of the news," he adds.

The small, yet creative poster is one of Wei's many works that took the public's breath away.

Wei started to share his posters on the social media platform Xiaohongshu in November last year, and immediately attracted followers.

His first post, under the title of It Is More Than a Piece of Paper That You Throw Away, was that of paper crumpled into the shape of a tree to hammer home the importance of environmental protection.

"I thought if I could get 100 fans, I would consider myself lucky," he recalls.

But the number of followers broke 10,000 on the first day and reached 50,000 in the first week.

To date, Wei has more than 400,000 followers on Xiaohongshu.

"It just hit me how the pieces of paper we are throwing away are part of a tree," says Qin Qin, one of Wei's followers.

"The whole picture is simple and clean, but packs an alerting punch," says Qin, adding that she admires Wei's novel ideas and masterful arrangement of details.

The work was actually a prize winner a decade ago, when Wei was studying package art design at the Hangzhou Dianzi University.

"I was attracted to poster design after taking related courses, especially with elements that took my fancy," Wei says.

In 2012, he used old newspapers and plastic bags which he kneaded into the shape of fish, turtles, crabs and trees for half a month and featured them in a series of posters on the theme of environmental protection.

Wei then submitted them to the Creative Responsibility Tomorrow competition hosted by STDecaux, a Shanghai-based subway advertising company.

He got a silver medal and prize money of 5,000 yuan ($702).

The competition was open to students and professional designers.

"I was a student then, and the silver medal was not easy to obtain, especially facing other contestants who were basically all professional designers," Wei says.

The contest gave Wei faith to settle on a career in poster design, which he says allows him to easily satisfy his strong desire for artistic creation and materialize abstract concepts in a more vivid and powerful way than words.

"Initially, I just wanted to express my sentiments through the design of some creative posters," Wei says.

"It's basically anything that comes off the top of my head, such as my own experiences," he adds.

Sometimes, it takes him an hour or two to conceive a poster idea, while sometimes it just takes five minutes for him to have an epiphany.

He first arranges the props in the way he wants, and then photographs them before turning them into a poster.

They cover not only household items such as scissors, wrenches, pins, matches and cotton swabs, but also fruit, such as durian, persimmons, pears, strawberries and watermelon.

"I have basically used all the household items I see around me," Wei says.

The fruit will be enjoyed after serving its purpose.

Wei is now running a design company and helps to make strategic plans for brands.

To him, making posters is not for money.

"It's mainly for my own interest, and I'll squeeze in time to make a poster every day," he says.

To date, he has developed more than 600 posters, each of which has a backstory.

On May 22, he posted Enjoy the Cool Under the Grass and Dream of a Life of One Meter, which pays tribute to "the father of hybrid rice "Yuan Longping, who passed away a year to the day.

He was inspired while scrolling through his WeChat moments, where he saw some of his friends at Yuan's memorial hall.

"It touched my heart seeing Yuan's photos," he recalls.

Consequently, he took out some grains and made a poster featuring a rice-paved road and the silhouette of a figure bending and toiling away on the side.

It didn't mention Yuan's name, but his audience cottoned on to the theme.

The poster raked in more than 3 million views and many reposted it to show their respect to Yuan.

Wei has also made a point to call more attention to the "empty nesters", old people who are left alone at home.

He used red threads and needles to form the Chinese characters for "mother", because his mother used to work in a sewing factory.

"My family's living conditions were not very good during my childhood. My clothes were torn, my mother would sew and mend them with the treadle sewing machine at home, and she would also knit sweaters," Wei says.

He also created posters based on his grandfather, who he thought was lonely living on his own after his grandmother passed away in 2020.

Wei feels guilty that he cannot go back home often to see his parents because of work, and he hopes more people, including himself, can see their family as much as possible.

"If we can't, we should call them more often," he says.

Speaking about why his works are so popular, Wei thinks it might be because his ideas are simple and fun.

"Everyone can understand, and the bar is not that high," he says, adding that the content is all from life, which anyone can easily relate to.

As for his future plans, Wei says he will continue to create posters and invite more professionals to share their understanding of creative design, thus enriching his works.

"The small goal is to deliver 1,000 posters," Wei says.

"Everyone living in society can feel love, friendship or pressure from daily life, and I hope my works can evoke more public empathy."