I managed to grab Leica hot boy on the rise Ben Story for a quick shoot in Leeds on an autumnal afternoon. Love his shooting style, fast, confident and proficient. Keep you’re eyes peeled for his work, he’s getting about all over the place these days.
Links to the auction and NFT’s if you click the thing below
https://dontbuymeme.com/iamsimonwan
https://dontbuymeme.medium.com/meme-x-simon-wan-f4c3fbe22cb9
By now if you havent heard of NFT’s you probably dont care, so I wont bore you with the details.
Much of the hype surrounding NFT’s as far as I have seen it is in the value and purchase. Not many sites, people, organisations are actually discussing the artwork in itself, and that’s something that has always annoyed me.
The thrill it seems is not in the appreciation rather the acquisition, and perhapsd that’s it’s own new unique artform.
For me, art has to come from a place outside of monetary value. Of course make no mistake, it’s always nice to be paid for your work. I love it when I see pics of my scribbles on people walls, and I love it even more when they tell me how much they enjoy it.
The world of NFT and digital art has become a strange place.
The passive experience of hanging a work of art on a wall has been supersceeded by having it locked in a digital vault.
I wonder how much the artwork of the digital age is actually experienced on a day to day basis. Theres something magical about how a physical work of art become part of your home space, office, playroom and possibly that’s an antiquated view on how art should be consumed.
I know that there are a huge number of people who are buying NFT’s purely for resale and investment opportunities and to the artists that are making millions I saulte you with all my heart. It’s an amazing thing to even sell one image that will pay for a meal, so my hat is well and truely doffed in their direction.
What I struggled with, until now is how to make my NFT’s unique.
I didn’t want to just make an animated 8bit gif, I didnt just want to push my 2D scribbles onto someones laptop screen, so I think I fugured out what to do, and I’m going to do it.
If people dig it, thats amazing. If it slips under the mountain of 3D sculptures and vector loops, that’s also cool, because the project that I’m about to begin means something to me. It has a purpose outside of being valuable. For me art has to purge something in the creators soul, wether its vulgarity, impatience, romance, frustration, pain, horror, bliss or a fucked up blend of all of them.
If it does even one of those things, in my eyes…it’s already valuable.
My new project is called OBLIQUITY. It’s a great word. I hope you get to see it when I drop.
PEACE and LOVE x
Had a great day making this little promo for my friends blockchain project. Some would say that driving a DeLorean under a Jumbo Jet on a runway and then skateboarding on a wooden deck and then jumping to an electric one wheel was a dream come true.
Directed by Gez Medigner, Produced by Robin Schmidt and shot by Oli Kember on a beautiful day on a runway in the middle of somewhere…
…which I guess could be good, seeing as I’m supposed to be an actor.
It’s someting that’s been a part of my face and my life for longer than it hasn’t. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like without it, but I always know how lucky I am to still have both eyes and I can still manage a smile, even though it’s lop sided.
Some of my friends say that they don’t even see it anymore, but for many people with facial scars I’m guessing like me, it’s the first thing see when they look into a mirror or see a photo of themselves and it’s a constant reminder of how ever it happened.
I always see other people’s, and every now and again you get the slightest nod. Sometimes I see people with fresh facial scars and I wanna talk to them. Ask them how it happened. Each and every scar we have tells a story. Some are tales of stupidity like mine and some are more traumatic, but either way I always wanna say, ‘Hey, high five, bigs hugs, I know how it feels when people look at you and judge you because of a mark on your face…’
I can’t speak for everyone, but if you do wanna ask me how it happened, I won’t mind. Respectful curiosity is always welcomed.
I was very lucky with my scar, for some reason the universe decided to let me keep my eyeball, my nose and my lip…
Cheers for that x
Simon Wan
Simon Wan
Simon Wan
I’m really gunna have to get some new head shots soon and I’m dreading it. Being an actor, it’s something that you need. It’s the first port of call when a casting director gets sent your spotlight but man, I hate it with a passion.
I’ll happily dance naked in front of a burning petrol station for a music video or expose my soul in floods of tears in a two hander play about child AIDS and puppy abortions, so why does the thought of getting new headshots make my tummy churn?
I’m in the middle of growing my hair so I look like half a rocker and half a mental patient. Either way, its gunna have to happen soon, so I’m prepping myself with some luckily well lit selfies. Wish me luck, cause I’ll need it! The thing is, without moving around I just never think any picture looks like me, I look at the pics and think who the fuck is that old wrinkled weirdo. (yes, I know it’s actually me…)
Lately on set I’ve had, oh you look like…
CHINESE JONNY DEPP
LESS HAIRY KEANU REEVES
ADAM ANT (IF HE FUCKED CHINESE JONNY DEPP)
CHINESE JOEY TRIBIANI
and most recently ORIENTAL ELON MUSK.
So if they ever make a biopic where ELON MUSK goes on a revenge rampage because someone stole his pirate ship but ends up drinking coffee in a new york cafe while he invents a space ship that can read the minds of magical llamas…I hope someone gives me a call.
SIMON WAN 2019
SIMON WAN 2019
SIMON WAN 2019
SIMON WAN 2019
So, last April while performing in a play called, Why Not Us, by Rebekah Harvey and directed by Elif Knight, I got a call to see Fiona Weir. After signing NDA’s and reading for a juicy part I heard nothing for months. Then the call came. It was strange. Limo’s to set, lunch in trailer’s and rubbing shoulders with the biggest Hollywood stars I could name. I was treated like a VIP and I wont lie, I loved it. The set was huge, the pressures were real and the screen time….well, this is the thing.
I saw the screener and I’m just about in the film. If you blink you WILL miss me, but being a named character in the Harry Potter world seems to have given me a little sparkle. If at least for the premiere and the days and nights and weeks I was on set. It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had so far. I feel like a tiny teeny bit of a fraudster for getting so much love from friends and super star treatment from the press for which is essentially a few shots and a couple of looks. (But I’ll take it) What I did get from the whole experience is that I now know that I can hold my own on set with the big players. I had a one on one with David Yates, impressed Fiona Weir, hung out in make up trucks with all the principles and made a lot of good friends along the way.
Seeing my name pop up as Auror Chang has been a blast. Turns out I am Cho Chang’s grandfather and as a life long Harry Potter fan, it does give me feels. I loved every second of this little journey to the blue carpet and I’m glad I got to share it with my little brother. Even if we did, um, kinda miss the end….So, thanks JK Rowling, Tom Fitz, Fiona Weir, David Heyman and David Yates, let’s do it all again. (this time chuck us a bigger role, I wanna wand fight with Jonny Depp! ) X
As much as I love acting and writing, sometimes it’s nice to get messy with some good old felt tip pens. I smashed out some art work based on my super secret sharpie and magic technique and we hijacked a small corner of the Images Art Festival.
Big shout out to the people of New Symrna Beach, was a fun couple of days in the sun.
Seems like everything is bigger, wider, faster and louder in Florida. So far I’ve met a renegade pirate, an ex BMX rider who loves to build fires and a golf cart music loving Bruce Willis. It’s been interesting, the fauna and flora of Florida life is paced very unusually.
It’s a pace that’s taken me a couple weeks to get used to. I’ve also met an incredibly interesting woman. Ex cheerleader, works nights in a busy bar and owns her own cup cake bakery. We were going to go to Disney Land on Sunday, but as the tale of my love life has recently taken a dip for the cancel, she cancelled, but, her cupcakes are very delicious, as are her beautiful dark hazel eyes.
I’m going to be writing a stage version of Love and a Dozen Potatoes while I’m here with an idea to get it on stage in London for the critical eyes of the casting directors. I’ve also invented a new style of art which I’m really quite excited about and no doubt will be posting some work in progress gubbins as it gets nearer completion, annnnd am about to start some dream projects (yes, me on a skateboard) with the formidable Focal Point Videography, based right here in New Symrna Beach.
CLICK HERE FOR FOCAL POINT WEBSITE n TINGS
CLICK HERE FOR SWEET CUP CAKES n ALSO TINGS
That’s it. Bring on the sunshine and a date with Princess Cupcake!
SIMON WAN 