I posted this video in February years ago. It may still be my favourite video yet. It's a portrait of singer Jay Chou, made of thousands of coffee cup rings stamped and layered into an image of Jay. I painted over a cold weekend in Shanghai in the office I worked in (thanks for the coffee!). Inspired by his song "A Secret I Can't Tell" - the song begins with him drinking a cold cup of coffee, reminiscing the past...
"As the cold coffee leaves the coaster / 冷咖啡离开了杯垫
I desperately tried to hold my emotions far behind / 我忍住的情绪在很后面
Fighting hard to restore the past / 拼命想挽回的从前
On my face you can still see ever so clearly" / 在我脸上依旧清晰可见
The song ends with him singing about broken leaves being scattered everywhere. Jay's songs were a huge part of my teenage years and will always bring me back to my high school days when every word in his songs meant so much to me with each heartbreak I went through (hah!). I hope that the sepia tone of this piece would evoke a feeling of nostalgia to its viewers.
