In recent years, Ma Cong and his non-heritage innovative brand Hundredicrafts have gained international recognition, winning numerous awards such as the German "Red Dot" Design Award, Italian A'DESIGN Award, and multiple gold awards at the Chinese Arts and Crafts "Baihua Cup". They have also been frequently invited to showcase their work at prestigious design events like Milan Design Week, Milan Triennale, Milan International Furniture Fair, London Design Week, and Paris Design Week.

From "Running Cloud" praised as "the most beautiful work of the show" at the 100% Design Exhibition in London, to "Floral Window: the Sparks of Literary Mind" which made it to the "TOP 30" at Milan Design Week 2018, and then "RUYI" in collaboration with Italian furniture brand Savio Firmino in 2019 - Ma Cong's team has established a distinct international identity based on the contemporary transformation and innovation of Chinese traditional culture. This time, however, the team has set their sights on a more challenging, contemporary, and socially relevant art form - fashion IPs based on contemporary art.

The Universal Value of Contemporary Art

As fashion IP like KAWS, Bearbrick, and Yayoi Kusama have become globally popular, becoming symbols of pop culture embraced by the new generation around the world, contemporary art is no longer considered elitist. Instead, it has sparked a trend of discussing art on social media and gained widespread social and commercial value through fashion IP. This cultural phenomenon has attracted attention from all sectors of society, particularly artists who are keen to explore: Can contemporary art, through the popularity of fashion IP among the global young generation, go beyond individual contemplation and provoke public reflection on the current social context with a contemporary perspective and critical consciousness?

If Ma Cong's "All/Pig is Well" at the Venice Biennale in 2019 was a brilliant response to the theme "May You Live in Interesting Times" - a Western misconception and misrepresentation of Chinese culture - then this year's "All is Well" IP at Milan Design Week expands its scope to a global level, addressing the significant "trap" beneath the prosperous surface of the information age: the rampant spread of rumors, fake news, and asymmetric information on global social platforms due to overly simplistic, rapid, and cheap information dissemination channels and access methods.

During Milan Design Week this year, in the Tortona district, visitors will see the pig head emoji from "All/Pig is Well" transformed into a wearable "headgear" for IP characters. This design pays homage to Anton Chekhov's classic work "The Man in a Case" - contemporary individuals immersed in an information deluge but lacking sufficient vigilance may be just another group of unaware "men in cases."

Black Humor and Artistic Subtlety

Based on the delicate balance between critical realism and pop culture symbols, the artist deftly presents intriguing conflicts in the "All is Well" IP-related works that evoke both amusement and reflection, reminiscent of absurd light comedies.

Take the IP sculpture series "Guess Who I Am" as an example: "Guess Who I Am" is a children's game chant. In the works, the cute IP characters cover the eyes of classic sculptures from both Eastern and Western cultures in a seemingly playful manner, with some scenes even replicated from the artist's childhood memories. The juxtaposition of solemn historical sculptures with pig head IP images creates a comical sense of dislocation, while the exaggerated body movements and ambiguous "Emoji" expressions of the IP characters suggest a deeper, more profound reality: Is contemporary society's reliance on social media, primarily for entertainment purposes, becoming a shackle on the narrative of our times?

Such interpretations are not the only correct answers, but it is certain that each viewer may have their own understanding when facing the "All is Well" IP sculptures. This varied and subjective perception is precisely what the artist pursues: to provoke thought without giving answers, to reveal without showing everything - a artistic subtlety full of Eastern implicit romance.

It is worth mentioning that even in the new presentation of trendy toys and collectibles, Ma Cong and his team still deeply grasp the delicate balance between traditional Eastern culture and contemporary aesthetics. For example, the limited edition art IP collectible "Cultural Heritage" combines multiple traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage techniques and new materials such as gold leaf, lacquerware, ceramics, mortise and tenon joinery, velvet flowers, filigree, and acrylic resin. It perfectly presents a unique aesthetic blend of ancient and modern, East and West, adding a rich Eastern flavor to the international trend IP field.

Background Introduction:

"All/Pig is Well"

In 2019, the Venice International Art Biennale, known as the "mother of all biennales," featured the theme "May You Live in Interesting Times." This phrase is widely circulated among Western politicians and is believed to originate from an ancient Chinese curse.

Coinciding with the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Pig, artist Ma Cong from Nanjing, China, responded to this Western misreading and misrepresentation of Chinese culture with his "All/Pig is Well" series. Using the pig as an element, he created exaggerated pig head images with ears covering their eyes, incorporating "Emoji" symbols prevalent on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, and QQ. Through this globalized and black humor-filled contemporary artistic language, the artist found a subtle intersection between fun and criticism, presenting a Chinese perspective on "interesting times" and winning accolades from viewers worldwide.