PLUSMINUS Celebrates Creativity Tomorrow, 10/16 @ TX Huaihai

How do you fit into this pretty ugly world?

如何在这个《怪·好看》世界里游刃有余？

It’s a question artists, illustrators, and creative minds of PLUSMINUS collective are trying to answer with the new indie zine “Pretty Ugly.” There’ll be exactly 120 pages of pure visual outrageousness, and everything will be revealed for the first time this Saturday at TX Huaihai with the official launch of the issue—a mix and mingle party with drinks, DJs, and a lot of striking art.

艺术家、插画家和PLUSMINUS的创意团队正试图用新创立的独立杂志《怪·好看》（Pretty Ugly）来回答这个问题。这一本整整120页的杂志，每一页都是纯粹的视觉震撼，所有精彩将在本周六的TX淮海，首次面世，这次杂志的正式发行将以交际派对的形式进行，提供酒水，DJ，还有许多非凡的艺术等待你去发现。

With a vast number of creatives from all fields, the collective celebrates independent creativity and the power of mingling with other imaginative souls for collaborative endeavors.The organizers of it all are designer Maurice Latzke and artist and illustrator LuNa. They like to do things in the real world in a tangible and long-lasting form.

坐拥大量各个领域的创意人员，该团体拥护独立的创造力，相信与其他想象力丰富的灵魂合作的力量。这次活动的组织者是设计师Maurice Latzke和艺术家兼插画家LuNa。他们喜欢在现实世界中以有形，可持续的形式做事情。

SHP+ had a chat with Maurice to understand its point and get some first-hand insights on the zine and the launch party tomorrow.

SHP+有幸采访到了Maurice，下面便带着大家了解PLUSMINUS的理念，一窥这本电子杂志的秘密，以及揭晓明天派对的种种细节，一起去看一看吧。

SHP+: Give us a quick intro on yourself, Maurice

SHP+：Maurice简单地介绍一下自己

ML: I’ve been in China for nearly twelve years. I worked with graphic design and somehow got myself into working for an agency and doing pretty nice work for cool brands like, for instance, Adidas Originals. It was interesting, fun, and tough. We made a lot of noise back then, and I learned a lot. But then I felt like leaving the agency to set up my own shop to do things my way, it was called TBC.

ML：我来中国已经快12年了。从事平面设计工作的我，机缘巧合，进入了一家代理公司，为一些很酷的品牌做了很棒的工作，比如，阿迪达斯Originals。这些虽然都很有趣，但也充满挑战。那时大家都十分高调喧嚣，我也学到了很多。但后来我想离开公司，自己创业，按自己的方式做事，于是TBC公司诞生了。

TBC grew pretty fast to fifteen people and had a big office. I was the Executive Creative Director, which was always my goal. Still, I felt more like a manager than anything else. I was running one job after another, chasing clients, facing budgets, and being less able to do hands-on, creative work. After two years, I knew it was time for another reshuffle.

TBC成长迅速，很快团队就有15个人了，还有一个大办公室。我是执行创意总监，这一直是我的目标。尽管如此，我还是觉得自己更像一个经理。我做着一份又一份的工作，追着客户，解决预算问题，亲自做创造性工作的能力却越来越弱。两年后，我知道是时候重新洗牌了。

And that’s why I created PLUSMINUS.

我因此创立了PLUSMINUS。

SHP+:What’s different about PLUSMINUS?

SHP+：PLUSMINUS有什么不同?

ML: PLUSMINUS is more like a studio. I run it with my wife, LuNa. She’s an artist and illustrator, and I’m more of a graphic designer, art director. We work directly with brands like Converse and Crocs, most of them in fashion. They usually come to us with a need, not a brief. We develop our brief. We never pitch, actually.

ML: PLUSMINUS更像是一个工作室。我和我妻子LuNa一起经营。她是一个艺术家和插画家，而我更像是一个平面设计师，艺术总监。我们会直接与匡威和卡骆驰等品牌合作，合作品牌大多数是时尚品牌。他们通常是带着需求来找我们的，而非给我们项目简报的。我们自己设计自己的简报。实际上，我们从不需要投标。

We have a motion video branch, UTV, a self-publishing label UNION PRESS, run by my wife, and a graphic design department run by me. But, we’re only five people. So, instead of having an overhead, we want to be more adaptable.

我们还有一家视频工作室，UTV，一家由我妻子经营的个人出版公司，UNION PRESS，还有一个由我经营的平面设计部。但是，我们只有五个人。所以，比起运营经费，我们更在意适应性。

SHP+:And that’s how the creative collective comes in

SHP+：所以这就是为什么需要与创意团体合作

ML: Exactly. Our slogan is “union-made creative supply.” The supply part relates to the above. Union means that if we have a bigger project that requires additional talent, we reach out to our network and friends. That’s why we call it “the union.” That means we’re more adaptable to different jobs rather than just focusing on one field.

ML：没错，我们的口号是 “供应集体创意。” 供应部分与上述有关。集体意味着，如果我们有一个更大的项目需要额外的人才，我们会联系我们的社交网络和朋友。这就是“集体。”这意味着我们更能适应不同的工作，而非只专注于某一个领域。

SHP+: Can you give us an example?

SHP+：可以给我们举个例子吗？

ML：Sure. Converse recently looked for us to design a style, graffiti-inspired jacket. Although we love it, we didn’t have this style in-house, so I presented a variety of artists from our union, and they chose one. We managed this project because we know the client so well, so we can help to direct the details. But sometimes, I prefer not to be involved because I don’t want to be the manager. And I don’t want to get a cut just because I found a job for someone. If it makes sense for the client and the talent to work together directly, I’m okay with that.

ML：当然，匡威最近找我们设计一款涂鸦风格的夹克。虽然我们很喜欢这种风格，但我们内部并没有擅长这种风格的艺术家，所以我邀请了来自我们联盟的各种艺术家，他们选择了其中一个。而我们管理这个项目是因为我们很了解客户的需求，所以我们可以帮忙指导细节。但有时候，我不想参与管理，因为我不想当谁的经理。我可不想因为帮别人找了份工作就要分一杯羹。如果客户和人才直接合作才是有最意义的，我完全OK。

SHP+: When you handle the projects, what is it like to connect these brands with these artists?

SHP+：做项目的时候，把这些品牌和这些艺术家联系起来是一种什么感觉?

ML: Sometimes you have to manage brand expectations and artists’ egos. But quite a lot of the illustrators who join our magazine have agency experience. So they are super creative and really experienced, and reliable for commercial work. For instance, they know how to deal with print settings and color settings, so that’s quite cool.

ML：有时候你必须去管理品牌的期望值和艺术家的心态。但是很多加入我们杂志的插图画家都有代理经验。所以他们不仅非常有创意，还经验丰富，这对商业项目来说相当可靠。例如，他们知道如何处理打印设置和颜色设置，这样就挺酷的。

SHP+: And how do you find all these wonderful artists?

SHP+：你们是怎么找到这些优秀艺术家的？

ML: I’ve been building a creative community around me since I arrived in China because of all the projects I’ve worked on. I also created a collective before, but I was young and crazy and couldn’t keep a grip on it. Now I’m revisiting this vision. I’m older and more organized. To keep us together, we make use of the magic of WeChat. We have our PLUSMINUS group for art and creative enthusiasts. For the zine, we have an artist group to keep them updated. Community is also a good word for all this.

ML: 自从我来到中国，得益于参与过的过往项目，我一直在自己身边建立着创意社区。我以前也创立过类似的集体，但当时太年轻疯狂，手忙脚乱。现在，我向着理想再次出发。如今的我成熟很多，更年长，做事也更有条理。为了让大家紧密联系在一起，我们利用了微信的魔力，为艺术和创意爱好者设立了PLUSMINUS小组。对于杂志，我们有一个艺术家小组来时常更新。“社区”也是一个很好的词，可以形容我们所做的这一切。

Artists featured in “Pretty Ugly” zine edition

SHP+:Cool! So, tell us about the zine.

SHP+：好酷！现在我们来聊聊电子杂志吧。

ML: So, this is our second volume. We launch it annually. It’s self-published and funded by our design business. We also want this magazine to show clients we’re outside the digital content. Millions of people see social campaigns. They grow fast, but they’re also forgotten just as fast, and the viewer moves on to the different content from the other brand they need to digest. We like things that are lasting and tangible. The zine represents this.

ML: 这此发布的是我们的第二期。我们是每年发布一次的年刊。这本杂志是我们自己出版的，由自己的设计公司提供资金。我们还希望这本杂志向客户表明，我们不仅从事数字内容。数百万人看到了社交活动。社交媒体发展得很快，但发布的内容也很快被遗忘，观众的关注瞬间转向其他品牌的不同内容。我们喜欢持久和有形的东西，zine代表了这一点。

Volume I “All my Idols”

SHP+:This year’s theme is “Pretty Ugly.” Cool title. Tell us about this volume, please.

SHP+：今年的主题是《怪·好看》, 非常酷炫的标题，请跟我们聊聊这期杂志吧。

ML: I feel like contradictions are good starting points to create something original. They make you think. We thought of this theme last year while still working on the first volume. Then we thought, let’s throw it out there, artists can choose one side for inspiration, or maybe they can find a balance—that’s the crazy part of it. There’s some hilarious stuff inside this volume. There’s some serious stuff, too, like social commentaries about pollution, waste, and beauty norms. We want to let the visuals speak for themselves, so we have very little copy. About 15% of it is text, and all the rest is visual. In numbers, we have fifty artists, 120 pages, and 600 editions.

ML: 我觉得矛盾是创造原创内容的好起点。矛盾让你思考。我们去年在写第一期的时候就想到了这个主题。然后我们想，把它抛出去，让艺术家们可以选择任意一边找灵感，也可以去找一个平衡，这是最疯狂有趣的部分。这本书里有一些搞怪好笑的东西。也有一些严肃的主题，比如关于污染、浪费和审美固化的社评内容。我们想让画面自己说话，所以只有很少的文字。大约只有15%的内容是文本，其余的都是视觉内容。在数量上，我们有50个艺术家，120页，600个版本。

SHP+:Do you do an open call for artists?

SHP+：你们会公开招募艺术家吗

ML: Not yet. We felt that, for these first two issues, we wanted to handpick the talent. This zine represents us and our name, so we need to feel super comfortable about the contributors. But we think next year might be when we can do an open call or a hybrid model. It can be a good way to discover unknown artists.

ML: 暂时还没有这方面的计划。我们认为，对于前两刊，我们想要精心挑选合作艺术家。这本杂志代表着我们和我们的品牌，所以我们需要知根知底的投稿人。但明年我们可能会公开招募，或者一半一半。这是发现未知艺术家的好方法。

SHP+:What about Saturday? What’s going to happen there?

SHP+：那么关于本周六的派对，会有什么活动安排呢？

ML: We have a pretty large space this time, so we’re bringing to life a lot of the artwork from the zine in installations, including an interactive one. Some artists are graffiti artists, so we’ll also have a bit of that. Plus, we’ll also have DJs and drinks. It’s free. You just need to RSVP. These events are not making money. They’re about gathering communities around some really fun art.

ML: 这次我们安排了一个相当大的空间，所以我们把杂志上的很多艺术作品都装置了起来，包括一个互动装置。我们有一些涂鸦艺术家，所以届时也会有一些涂鸦艺术。另外，我们还会有DJ和酒水。免费享用。大家只需要回复预订即可。我们组织这类活动并不是为了赚钱，而是想要带大家体验真正有趣别致的艺术作品。

“Pretty Ugly” Volume Launch Event Details
《怪·好看》年刊发布活动信息

Oct. 16 (Saturday) 14:30 – 22:00

Place: TX Huaihai｜Youth Energy Center

No. 523 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai

地点：上海淮海中路523号TX淮海 | 年轻力中心

Read about some of the artists featured in the zine: