Lampo Leong

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Lampo Leong ("LL") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

LL : Received his PhD from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and his MFA from the California College of the Arts, Lampo Leong is an internationally acclaimed artist and designer, and currently Distinguished Professor, Doctoral Advisor and Director of Centre for Arts and Design at the University of Macau. He is also a Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Visiting Professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and has been named the Weiner Distinguished Professor at the Missouri University of Science & Technology. Leong has presented over 200 lectures across the US and Asia at international conferences and institutions such as Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, UC Davis, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, College Art Association 92nd Annual Conference, Yeongwol Museum International Forum in Korea, Sichuan University, Chongqing University, Wuhan University, South China University of Technology, Shanghai University, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, China Academy of Art, and National Taiwan Normal University. Leong has also served as curator and judge for more than 20 art and design exhibitions and competitions.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

LL : Behind Glory is a photographic documentary of Wugang, the Wuhan Iron and Steel Company. Supported by the Russian and built in 1958, the state-owned Wugang is one of the biggest and most important steel factories in China and once signifying the industrialization and modernization of the country. Through reformation and recent merger with Bao Steel Group, China Baowu Steel Group brings about the second largest steel production in the world. However, such industry causes severe environmental pollution to the city of Wuhan and the surrounding areas. Through capturing the heavily polluted and decaying factory campus with abstract, lyrical and somewhat somber images, this community project reveals the price paid and the consequence behind the glory of modernization and economic prosperity in China, provoking the viewers into the search of a clean and healthy working and living environment.

DL: What is your greatest design, which aspects of that design makes you think it is great?

LL : Lampo Leong's work has been featured in international contemporary art exhibits such as Christie’s, Ravenel, etc., and in art expos and museums/galleries worldwide through 70 solo and over 350 national/international juried/curated group exhibitions, including Salon des Beaux Arts 2019 at the Carrousel de Louvre in Paris, The Art of Writing in Germany, Question at the Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, the International Contemporary Masters at the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art, Shining Stars: 4 Cultural Visionaries of Contemporary Painting at the Pacific Heritage Museum in San Francisco, Art Asia 2019 in Seoul, Singapore Contemporary Art Show, Art Taipei, the Taipei International Modern Ink Painting Biennial, Art of China, the 7th, 11th and 13th National Fine Arts Exhibition in China, Re-Ink: Contemporary Ink Painting 2000-2012 at Today Art Museum in Beijing, The First Nanjing International Art Festival, AS-Helix: The Integration of Art and Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence at the National Museum of China, The Third Shenzhen International Photography Exhibition, Art Central and Ink Global 2017 and 2021 in Hong Kong. Leong has received over 80 awards and extensive recognitions, including a Gold Award at the Creative Quarterly international art competition in New York and A’Design Award in Italy. Additionally, Leong’s video animations and multimedia performances have premiered in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Kauffman Center for Performing Arts in Kansas City, Skaneateles Festival in New York, Musicacoustica-Beijing, Tanghu Museum of Art in Wuhan and University of Macau.

DL: What are you currently working on that you are especially excited about?

LL : Lamop Leong’s works can be found in more than 10 museum and hundreds of notable corporate collections, including the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Guangdong Museum of Art, Macao Art Museum and the Written Art Foundation in Germany, as well as public art commissions for the Columbia City Hall and an 8-meter-diameter granite inset calligraphic medallion design for a San Francisco public park.

DL: Please tell us anything you wish your fans to know about you, your design and anything else?

LL : Besides completed hundreds of design projects, several monographs of Leong’s work have been published and his achievements have been documented in hundreds of reviews and publications in newspapers, magazines, art books, and on TV internationally, including the front cover of New Art International in New York and the Creative Genius: 100 Contemporary Artists in London. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proclaimed November 19, 1999 to be Lampo Leong Day.