Artist Lu Yiying: Cross-Cultural Creation and Emotional Expression

Lu Yiying is a cross-cultural artist whose creative journey embodies the essence of diverse cultures. Born in Shanghai, she was educated in Sydney and London, ultimately finding her creative home in San Francisco. Lu's work reflects her ability to communicate across languages and cultures, while also embodying the influence of Silicon Valley culture.

Lu is known for his iconic work "Failing Whale", which became the mascot for a social media platform's outage in 2008. Originally titled "Lifting a Dreamer", the illustration depicts a white whale being lifted by eight orange birds with ropes, symbolizing the emotional weight of distance and the longing for closeness. This image resonated widely, earning Lu a large fanbase.

In 2016, Lu advocated for the addition of a dumpling emoji. The following year, she designed five food emojis, including dumpling 🥟, bubble tea 🧋, chopsticks 🥢, takeout box 🥡, and fortune cookie 🥠. In 2018, she also designed the peacock emoji 🦚.

With the rise of NFTs, Lu has actively participated, releasing limited edition and unique NFT works on multiple platforms. She donated the profits from the "Whale of a Time" series to marine conservation organizations.

After three years of accumulation, Lu is about to launch a new NFT series as part of a certain platform's "Get Based" event. This series will explore human experiences and emotions, and may pay tribute to her iconic whale image.

Lu believes that growing up in a culture with Chinese characters as the written language has had a profound impact on her artistic creation. She points out that the differences in language structures between the East and West influence people's ways of thinking. For example, languages in the Latin family, such as English, have a more rigorous and linear structure, while Eastern languages like Chinese rely more on context.

Lu regards NFTs as tokens that carry energy and symbolic meaning, conveying profound significance in the digital world. She emphasizes that although artificial intelligence is entering the realm of artistic creation, human artists remain indispensable, as the essence of human life is fundamentally a process of storytelling.

In the upcoming "Get Based" series, Lu hopes to create works that bring joy and emotional connections to the audience. She believes that colors and shapes have healing powers and aims to bring a sense of ease to people through art. Lu has a particular fondness for water and animal themes, especially whales, and she has proposed the concept of "Emotional Ocean."

As an artist, Lu feels a responsibility to guide conversations about mental health through her work. She has observed that mental health issues have become more prominent after the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus hopes to create works that can heal and help others.

Lu emphasized that art should convey meaningful messages. She believes that although crypto art is essentially made up of bits and code, it can impact the real world and people's lives. She hopes her work can elevate emotions and transform seemingly unpleasant things into uplifting experiences.

Lu Yiying's artistic creations continue the dialogue she began many years ago. She is dedicated to creating works that can transport people into different emotional states, with a particular focus on the concept of "emotional ocean." In the upcoming World Ocean Month, she plans to explore the theme of whales as symbols of emotion and dreams through her artwork, reflecting on the immigrant experience and the vast wisdom of the ocean.