(14 Mar 2014) LEAD-IN:
Heads that can be stretched until they are a metre wide. Wooden blocks that suddenly expand across the room
It's all part of the unusual work of Chinese artist Li Hongbo
STORYLINE:
A sculpted bust of a woman from classical times - or so it seems until artist Li Hongbo grabs her head and starts to pull.
What looks like marble or plaster is actually thousands of thin sheets of paper. Li can stretch the woman's head until it's more than a metre long.
It's an unusual way of looking at the world, but it's one that came naturally to Li, a former book editor.
"I studied in college for many years, so I was poor and had economic problems. As a result I chose the cheapest and most ordinary material as my resources to create. Since I had experience in the editing and printing field, I decided to choose paper as my medium," he says.
Li's sculptures start as a stack of fine paper glued together in specific areas. An average sculpture has about 6,000 sheets of paper. The largest ones can have as many as 25,000 sheets and require several people to lift and carry.
"The most difficult thing (about sculpting paper) is the production and creation. Due to the flexibility and durability of paper, we have to be careful when we choose and layer different kinds of paper," Li says.
Li works on his creations in an unheated warehouse in a run-down neighbourhood on the outskirts of Beijing.
Before working on his sculptures, Li puts on protective gear. He zips up a plastic bodysuit then dons protective goggles and a respirator mask.
"These days I still don't know if I would consider myself a real artist. I prefer to regard myself a practitioner of art. I couldn't judge my own works and their merit," Li says.
Once in his suit, paper fragments fly as Li sculpts a statue. Li uses power saws, grinders, and sandpaper to transform blocks of paper into his creations. He works under plastic tarps in one corner of the warehouse to keep the dust under control.
An average sculpture takes him about a month to complete, but larger ones can take as long as six months.
Li's artwork has started to attract international attention. An exhibit of his works titled "Tools of Study" recently opened at the Klein Sun Gallery in New York.
"(My art) lets people reconsider the nature of things, and break stereotypes to be able to think in new and fresh ways," Li says.
Some of his latest creations are truly global in their reach. One of his newest projects, "The World", consists of paper sculptures shaped like the outlines of 200 different nations around the world.
China becomes an abstract explosion of colours as Li plays with it.
"I think different countries are all equal to each other. Each country has its own population, it's own unique culture. We shouldn't try to change their characteristics for any specific benefit or aim," says Li.
Li's studio has wooden crates filled with 'paper countries' from Australia to Greenland.
He exhibited them in Sydney in 2011. Now they're wrapped in plastic, packed up and ready to be shipped out again when needed.
"Tools of Study" at the Klein Sun Gallery in New York runs until March 22, 2014.
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