Doubled Yet Distinct: A Dreamlike Diary in Blue — Guesswho Studio’s Risograph Collaboration
Written by Chenyang Nie
Step into the world of Guesswho Studio, and you’ll find that beneath their soft, dreamlike visuals lies a profound meditation on coexistence and difference. In their risograph projects completed during our residency, twin illustrators Chenxin Luo and Chenyi Luo created what feels like a quiet diary of duality — a visual reflection on the intricate dance of being together, yet individual.
During the residency, alongside a cohort of fellow artists, they completed two projects: a postcard series and books. Despite having little prior experience with risograph printing, they quickly grasped the technical language of the medium and, more importantly, infused it with their distinctive narrative sensibility.
“We felt that risograph’s vivid, sometimes neon colors and textural qualities were a perfect match for the Dollhouse Dreams series,” they shared. The series, which explores surreal domestic spaces through the lens of twinhood, has already been exhibited in New York, Paris, and London, and featured in major art publications. Rooted in the concept of being “doubled yet distinct,” their work explores how two individuals can occupy the same world while offering entirely different perspectives.
The file preparation phase was both challenging and rewarding. Decisions around color separation required constant experimentation — at times, even frustration — but each mistake yielded unexpected beauty. What was initially a simple black outline, under the suggestion of their mentor, was reimagined in metallic ink, resulting in a shimmering softness neither of them had anticipated. “Sometimes a slight misalignment is exactly what brings the image to life,” they said.
For the book project, they drew inspiration from a unique binding sample at Lucky Risograph. Through long conversations with their mentors, they conceived a stream-of-consciousness artist book co-created from start to finish. The imagery moved fluidly between memory and imagination, logic and intuition. Symbolic characters emerged — extensions of their identities and temperaments — and through these characters, they captured the subtle, shared moments of twin life: arguments, reconciliations, silent companionship, journaling side by side.
Blue was chosen as the project’s dominant hue — “a quiet color,” they said, “with a slight sense of detachment, yet full of warmth.” The graininess and layering of the risograph gave the pages a tactile intimacy. Even the imperfections — a blur here, a shift there — became pauses in a conversation, moments that felt real, unedited, and deeply human.
For Chenxin and Chenyi, the residency became more than a technical exploration — it was a continuation of their lifelong dialogue. They captured the glimmers of their shared life and sealed them into paper using a process that is both mechanical and poetic. These works feel like a dream diary written together — a tender archive of how they live, grow, and listen alongside each other, always doubled, always distinct.
