Shanghai-based artist Hong Yi, aka Red, has already impressed us with her sunflower seed portrait of artist Ai Weiwei and even went on to gain worldwide attention with her portrait of basketball star Yao Ming, which was painted with a basketball. Now, the creative artist who “likes to paint, but without a paintbrush” is back with a new inventive portrait project of pop star Jay Chou, made with coffee cup stains.
Feeling inspired by Chou's music, the 26-year-old unconventional painter set out on this artistic journey on Valentine's Day to reflect the narrative of the singer's song “Secret/??????”. In the song, the first line creates the imagery of lifting a coffee cup off its saucer and continues to tell a story about a girl who travels in time to the future, where she meets and falls in love with Chou. By the end of the song, she has traveled back to her native time and sits sketching a portrait of him. Taking the inspiration of using coffee from the first line, Red has created a remarkably accurate portrait of Chou that even has a dated quality because of its sepia tone.
The incredibly thought out project with precisely saturated rings of coffee to form the singer's visage took the innovative artist nearly 12 hours to perfect. Since completing the large-scale painting, Red has playfully asked for Chou's hand in marriage on her Facebook page. How could he not accept?
