Huang Hai

"Does the grille indicate a prison cell or a room with window? For a Padawan, will he or she see despair or hope? Everyone will come to their own conclusion. Star Wars is a universal story. Wherever we come from, we can always relate to this story and arrive at an understanding of our own. […] In my eyes, Star Wars is a story for the world. It's a story that shows we share so much in common. It's a story that every storyteller dreams to create."
―Huang Hai[2]

Huang Hai is a Chinese poster artist who created numerous Star Wars posters for Lucasfilm. He[2] is known online under the handle "艾儿天空" and created the promotional posters for the 2020 Chinese web-novel The Vow of Silver Dawn.[3] Huang also marked Chinese New Year in 2021 with a Star Wars–themed illustration informed by Chinese culture named "MASTER · Tribute."[2]

Huang Hai's "MASTER · Tribute"

Huang Hai's "MASTER · Tribute"

Having first experienced Star Wars through the prequel trilogy, Huang saw that the Jedi of George Lucas were similar to the Xia Ke (俠客) martial artists of traditional Chinese wuxia novels, and for his tribute poster, the artist spent four months considering how to explore the nature of the Force via Eastern aesthetics and traditional Chinese art forms apart from ink painting and calligraphy. Believing that a Jedi "embodies a kind of culture" in Eastern philosophies and that cultures are "always interlinked," Huang chose to respond to the idea of "looking into oneself by looking into the Force"—specifically, a Jedi Padawan learner's introspection from within the mask of the dark side and its temptations to find balance, since maintaining a balanced mastery of the Force, rather than one's skills, made a Jedi Master. The grille of the helmet of Darth Vader could indicate an oppressive prison cell or a room with a window to the world beyond, and the Padawan could see despair or hope; while the artist believed that each person would come to their own conclusion, Star Wars is a "universal story" with which each person could relate in their own way.[2]

Sources

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Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Premium-Era-real Huang Hai on Dark City Gallery (backup link archived on January 25, 2025)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 StarWars.com “Star Wars is a Story for the World”: Artist Huang Hai on His Stunning Jedi Poster on StarWars.com (backup link)
  3. ↑ Premium-Era-real 起点大神国王陛下携手迪士尼进行星球大战IP中国本土化开发，你看好吗？ (Chinese (simplified)) by Huang Hai on Zhihu (backup link archived on February 21, 2021)