We caught up with the brilliant and insightful NYSomeTimes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

NYSomeTimes, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was in the path of becoming an engineer or scientist for almost ten years all the way up to PhD. Witnessing other passionate peers during that long period of time made me realize one thing: you can’t be great without passion and love. I can’t do things just because I can. I have to do things because I love. Yet, I didn’t know what I love and where to go to until I visited MET. I was moved especially by the POP ART collection. I feel power, passion and love from those masterpieces. I can’t stop thinking about the simple lines by Keith Haring. I want to be someone like him, delivering joy and power to everyone. I want the freedom to express myself and create something by me and only me. The primitive instinct of making a mark in this world as a human being drives me into art world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

NYSomeTimes (Qianying Guo) is a contemporary artist exploring immersive art in daily life. She quits PhD and start art practice right before the defense after graduated from Tsinghua University with a bachelor in Chemical Engineering. Her unique scientific research background gives the artist the lens of science and art for both eyes to see this world together. Applying the rules and logic from real physical world into art practice, the artist is creating a both rational and romantic art world.

The age of 29 was a watershed moment in NYSOMETIMES’s life. Before the age of 29, NYSOMETIMES studied chemical engineering and bio-chemical engineering at Tsinghua University, and then went to the United States for a Ph.D. Theories such as nanotechnology, fluid mechanics, and the laws of thermodynamics have become her weapons for her road of scientific research. After the age of 29, NYSOMETIMES resolutely decided to drop out of school before the dissertation, and went to The California College of the Arts to start in a different path. Since then, brushes and spray paint cans have become the freest way for NYSOMTIMES to think about life and record the current state.

NYSOMETIMES believes that form is only a medium for carrying ideas, and honesty to one’s own work is the most important thing. Anyone who sees her work will notice that there are three breasts in each piece. boob thus developed into booob under the pen of NYSOMETIMES. Booob, stemming from the artist’s former study experience ), science will always provide people with new ways and perspectives to understand the world.

Today, CRISPY technology can edit DNA in the lab. NYSOMETIMES imagines a future based on this, where everyone’s DNA can be edited, just like taking medicine, and in the future: race, gender, body, sexual orientation, etc. Existing labels are not important anymore and all relevant boundaries are dismissed.

At the same time, when NYSOMETIMES studied the human body, it was found that many people’s bodies are not “standard bodies” in biology textbooks. Some people have six fingers, some people have uneven breast size, some people really have three tits, people try to correct or hide their innate differences from so-called “normal” people, which caused the artist to reflect.

We all know that there is no absolute equality in the world, nor will there be no prejudice. A utopian future where everyone is equal seems to be a big and distant dream. In the 17th century, Velázquez described the toughness of the dwarf, the sadness in his eyes, and satirized the nobility’s teasing and playfulness of the dwarf with physical defects in “Sebastian the Dwarf”. Today, NYSOMETIMES uses the image of booob to call on people to let go of prejudice and respect biodiversity.

NYSOMETIMES has lived in the United States and China for more than 30 years and realized that there is a huge body anxiety and appearance anxiety in society, especially for women, so the artist decided to make Booob plump and happy, just like the artist’s artistic creation.

Enlightenment figures – like Keith Haring, NYSOMETIMES hopes that her works can bring people a direct sense of happiness and satisfaction, and hope that all people can live in a world full of love. She believes that to love anything or anyone, you have to love yourself first. She also uses the #NYSomeTimesLoveAlways slogan in her creations. The artist hopes that booob will make everyone trapped by “judgment” happy and loving.

“I am often asked what influence my previous scientific research experience has on my creation. I feel that for me, I have experienced a spiritual practice in science.

When I look at the world, the left eye of science and the right eye of art is superimposed together, conveying a rational and romantic physical world in the brain. By creating Nerd Art, a fusion of science and art, I am eager to express the world I see.”

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think the mission driving my creative journey is the same as my life journey : making myself happy. Everything else in life is a path or method to achieve happiness in my opinion. The ultimate goal is always having a happy life.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Many people came to ask my suggestions knowing my story of becoming an artist after quitting a promising career. Many people want to become an artist. Yet, they are so worried about the unstable income. My answer to them is to check whether you have the bed to sleep tonight and bread to eat tomorrow. If you do, just follow your heart and passion.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: NYSomeTimes