Gazing at the Moon
Wu Jian'an
邬建安
Production date
2011
Object Detail
Media
laser cut paper, tinted by hand, waxed and sewn to paper support
Measurements
250 x 200 cm
Notes
Beijing-based artist Wu Jian’an creates ambitious works using the traditional folk-art medium of the paper cut. Yet these are no ordinary paper cuts – Wu has pushed the technique far beyond its usual limits to create large-scale works that comprise complex iconography drawing upon Chinese and global mythologies, folk tales, philosophies while referencing the contemporary world.
Wu Jian’an studied at the Central Academy of Fine Art’s Experimental Art Department, where he was taught by Lü Shengzong, famous for his incorporation of paper cuts into contemporary art practice and a significant influence on the work of many contemporary Chinese artists. During the last global pandemic of SARS in 2003, during his years as a graduate student in Beijing, Wu Jian’an was self-quarantined and began to make a series of paper cuts to alleviate his depression, anxiety and isolation. A series of works that reflected on the seemingly unstoppable mutations of viral life forms became his first solo exhibition in Beijing.
Since that time Wu has continued to innovate and experiment with his chosen medium, using laser-cutting, dyes, ink painting and even introducing 3D forms cut in steel and other materials. The works in the 2011 ‘Mountain Ranges’ series become relief sculptures, each made up of thousands of feathery, writhing figures that are layered onto the surface in brightly coloured masses.
Wu Jian’an studied at the Central Academy of Fine Art’s Experimental Art Department, where he was taught by Lü Shengzong, famous for his incorporation of paper cuts into contemporary art practice and a significant influence on the work of many contemporary Chinese artists. During the last global pandemic of SARS in 2003, during his years as a graduate student in Beijing, Wu Jian’an was self-quarantined and began to make a series of paper cuts to alleviate his depression, anxiety and isolation. A series of works that reflected on the seemingly unstoppable mutations of viral life forms became his first solo exhibition in Beijing.
Since that time Wu has continued to innovate and experiment with his chosen medium, using laser-cutting, dyes, ink painting and even introducing 3D forms cut in steel and other materials. The works in the 2011 ‘Mountain Ranges’ series become relief sculptures, each made up of thousands of feathery, writhing figures that are layered onto the surface in brightly coloured masses.
Accession number
2011.109