Submerge yourself in the hazy vignettes of Xueting Yang's comic collection, Teeth

"I can listen to a friend talk about their everyday trivialities for a very long time. The emotions hidden in the gaps of the psyche - people's private desires, fears, who they once were and who they are becoming - all of this feels endlessly intriguing to me."

"I use hazy, softened tones that make the characters appear as if they are submerged in water - visible, yet not fully clear. This sense of partial obscurity closely resembles the nature of memory, where observation and distance coexist."

"Inspired by Japanese manga artist Mizumaru Anzai, who uses poetry as an anchor for storytelling, Xueting's work is rooted in the expression found in Chinese and Japanese cultural traditions. Mahayana Buddhist traditions prioritise painterly, contemplative expressions that capture the emptiness of the world, meanwhile, in Japan, Noh theatre and the art of the haiku are truly minimalist."

An illustrator draws inspiration from everyday details and human psychology to create distinctive visual work. Influenced by Japanese manga artist Mizumaru Anzai and Eastern artistic traditions—including Mahayana Buddhist contemplative expression and Japanese Noh theatre minimalism—the artist focuses on capturing emotions hidden within psychological gaps, personal desires, and fears. Rather than reading comics, the illustrator draws from novels, creating work that visualizes the unsaid. The illustrations feature domestic spaces filled with carefully drawn everyday objects and unusual hidden images, similar to works by Harvey Pekar and Daniel Clowes. The artist employs hazy, softened tones that make characters appear submerged in water, creating partial obscurity that mirrors how memory functions, where observation and distance coexist.

Read at Itsnicethat