从黄色笑脸这一个视觉符号出发，来讨论它的廉价感和泛用性以及背后所涉及的结构性问题。
黄色笑脸起初由Harvey Ball用了十分钟为某个保险公司设计出用于鼓舞人心，并命名为Worcester Smiley，后由Franklin Loufrani 盗窃式的抢注了版权。时至今日黄色笑脸作为一种当代符号就像他的所属权一样充满矛盾的荒诞性：廉价，昂贵，反叛，喜悦。。。他既可以是的地下文化的反叛标签；同时又出现在从唐人街流行到全球的免费塑料袋之上，成为了迎合刻板印象的隐喻。讽刺的是疫情期间这款充满正能量的笑脸符号又一次受到市场青睐。基于黄色笑脸引发的复杂现象，使得他成为了一个含义模糊的符号。在身份政治成为某种意义上的普世价值观的今天，不难想象当这个黄色笑脸被置换成更深的颜色黑色褐色其他颜色会引起什么样的波澜，但这种推想触及甚至突破了“政治正确性”的底线的话，那更应证了黄色笑脸背后的在过往传播中所存在的系统性问题。黄色代表着什么？微笑又又代表着什么？从这个角度来看，这黄色笑容并不具备普遍性，反倒是显得十分廉价。
*本期随刊产品为3个CHEAP YELLOW SMILE口罩。
Starting from the yellow smiley face as a visual symbol, this edition delves into its perceived cheapness, universality, and the underlying structural issues.
The yellow smiley face was originally designed in just ten minutes by Harvey Ball for an insurance company to boost morale and was named the Worcester Smiley. Later, its copyright was controversially claimed by Franklin Loufrani. Today, this yellow smiley face, as a contemporary symbol, possesses an absurdity as contradictory as its ownership: cheap, expensive, rebellious, joyful... It can be a tag for underground rebellious culture, yet it also appears on free plastic bags popular from Chinatown to the world over, becoming a metaphor for pandering to stereotypes. Ironically, amidst the pandemic, this positive smiley symbol once again gained market popularity. Due to the intricate phenomena surrounding the yellow smiley, its meaning has become blurred. In today's world, where identity politics has, in some sense, become a universal value, it's intriguing to speculate on the ripples caused if this yellow smiley was recolored to darker shades or other colors. If such speculation touches or even breaches the line of "political correctness," it further attests to the systemic issues underlying the past dissemination of the yellow smiley. What does yellow represent? What does a smile signify? From this viewpoint, the yellow grin isn't universal at all; it seems rather cheap. The product accompanying this issue is a set of three 'CHEAP YELLOW SMILE' masks.
about EggPlant鹅卵茄
在对 “eggplant“ 英文一词的凝视中，我们意识到茄子的命名可能是由一颗形似鹅蛋的白茄子而来，这个单词成型背后包含了类型学，造词现象，图像翻译等可发散讨论的方向。受此启发，我们将EggPlant译为鹅卵茄。鹅卵茄旨在发现艺术家和个人，共同探索艺术和商品之间的缝隙的可能性。
Staring at the term “eggplant” , we realized its name likely got from a white oval aubergine in 19 century. The structure of the term could extend to a discussion of typology, phenomenon of coinage and image translation, and so on. Inspired by this mishmash experience, EggPlant aims to collaborate with artists and creative individuals to explore the possibility of the niche between art and merchandise.
about TISSUE ISSUE
TISSUE ISSUE是鹅卵茄EggPlant于2022年创办的期刊zine项目。TISSUE ISSUE字面翻译为纸巾问题，也可以是薄纸杂志。是一本⻚数不确定，关注点发散，定期更新的爱好者杂志，为艺术爱好者们提供出版物与产品之间的对话。
TISSUE ISSUE is a periodical zine project founded by EggPlant in 2022. Each issue focus on omnivorous subjects, in the form of flexible pages, to create the conversation between publication and product for artist and amateur.
