Timmy Yip
Encyclopedia
Timmy YIP Kam-tim 葉錦添 has worked as an art director and designer for fiction films. He is best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, which won an Academy Award
in art direction. Yip also won a BAFTA award for the film's costume design
. He is sometimes credited as Tim Yip Kam-tim, Kam Tim Yip, Kam-tim Yip and Tim Yip.
, visual and contemporary art
. For his work in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Tim won the Oscar
for Best Art Direction and Costume Design in 2000 and he won the British Academy Film Award for Best Costume Design in 2000.
Tim graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic with a degree in photography. Since working on his first film A Better Tomorrow
directed by John Woo in 1986, he has accomplished costume designs and art direction for many film and theatrical performances over the past two decades. Tim has collaborated with film directors of international acclaim such as John Woo, Ang Lee
, Tsai Ming Liang, Tian Zhuangzhuang
, Li Shaohong, Stanley Kwan
, Chen Guofu
, Chen Kaige
and Feng Xiaogang
etc. Tim has also worked with many renowned Taiwan theatrical groups such as Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Contemporary Legend Theatre, Han Tang Yue-fu Dance Ensemble, Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theatre, U Theatre, with performances that have toured China
, Austria
, France
, the United States
, the United Kingdom
, and Singapore
etc. His striking costume design and art direction for the theatre production Medea, television drama Oranges Turn Ripe, feature films Temptation of a Monk and Double Vision have further attracted worldwide attention to his work.
In earlier works, Tim introduced his concept of the “New Orientalism” aesthetic, making him an important artist
in helping the world understand the beauty of Chinese culture and arts. Since 2002, he has held many costume exhibitions
such as Faces of the Time at the Taiwan National Palace Museum
, Bourges Maison de la Culture in France and a special photography exhibition in Spain, conveying his interpretation of beauty in Oriental art to Western audiences. In 2004, Tim Yip was the art and costume director for the Beijing handover performance at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in Athens. In recent years, he has held various solo art exhibitions in New York, Beijing
and Shanghai
, and in 2005 he was invited by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to participate in the China Red exhibition. The Beijing Today Art Museum
organized his solo art exhibition Illusions of Silence in late 2007. Tim has several publications including Lost in Time, Flower of the Wind, Floating, Circulation, Rouge: L’art de Tim Yip (published in both French and English), Illusions of Silence and Passage.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
, which won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in art direction. Yip also won a BAFTA award for the film's costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
. He is sometimes credited as Tim Yip Kam-tim, Kam Tim Yip, Kam-tim Yip and Tim Yip.
Biography
A renowned artist, Timmy Yip has multidisciplinary works in costume designCostume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
, visual and contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. For his work in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Tim won the Oscar
The Oscar
Oscar Obligacion was a Filipino comedian. He was known as Pantarorong and Kumang.-Personal life:He was married to his wife, Myrna Anderson Quizon, lived in the States with their children.-Television shows:-Movies:...
for Best Art Direction and Costume Design in 2000 and he won the British Academy Film Award for Best Costume Design in 2000.
Tim graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic with a degree in photography. Since working on his first film A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong action film which had a profound influence on the Hong Kong film-making industry, and later on an international scale.Directed by John Woo, it stars Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung...
directed by John Woo in 1986, he has accomplished costume designs and art direction for many film and theatrical performances over the past two decades. Tim has collaborated with film directors of international acclaim such as John Woo, Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
, Tsai Ming Liang, Tian Zhuangzhuang
Tian Zhuangzhuang
Tian Zhuangzhuang is a Chinese film director and producer.Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an amateur photographer and then as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film...
, Li Shaohong, Stanley Kwan
Stanley Kwan
Stanley Kwan is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director and producer.Kwan landed a job at the TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College...
, Chen Guofu
Chen Guofu
Chen Guofu, or Chen Kuo-fu , was a Chinese politician in the Republic of China. He was born in Wuxing, Zhejiang, China . Chen Guofu joined the Tongmenghui in 1911. He participated in both the revolution against the Qing dynasty and the "second revolution" against Yuan Shikai...
, Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
and Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...
etc. Tim has also worked with many renowned Taiwan theatrical groups such as Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Contemporary Legend Theatre, Han Tang Yue-fu Dance Ensemble, Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theatre, U Theatre, with performances that have toured China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
etc. His striking costume design and art direction for the theatre production Medea, television drama Oranges Turn Ripe, feature films Temptation of a Monk and Double Vision have further attracted worldwide attention to his work.
In earlier works, Tim introduced his concept of the “New Orientalism” aesthetic, making him an important artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
in helping the world understand the beauty of Chinese culture and arts. Since 2002, he has held many costume exhibitions
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
such as Faces of the Time at the Taiwan National Palace Museum
National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei. It is the national museum of the Republic of China, and has a permanent collection of over 677,687 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. The collection encompasses over 8,000 years of...
, Bourges Maison de la Culture in France and a special photography exhibition in Spain, conveying his interpretation of beauty in Oriental art to Western audiences. In 2004, Tim Yip was the art and costume director for the Beijing handover performance at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in Athens. In recent years, he has held various solo art exhibitions in New York, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, and in 2005 he was invited by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to participate in the China Red exhibition. The Beijing Today Art Museum
Today Art Museum
The Today Art Museum in Beijing, is China's first private, non-profit museum. The museum's mission is to support the development of Chinese contemporary art....
organized his solo art exhibition Illusions of Silence in late 2007. Tim has several publications including Lost in Time, Flower of the Wind, Floating, Circulation, Rouge: L’art de Tim Yip (published in both French and English), Illusions of Silence and Passage.