Born in Jilin, China in 1974, Li Hongbo is a world-renowned artist who uses paper to make his original living sculptures. The first time you observe one of his works you think you are facing a solid, classic piece, until someone approaches it takes it with both hands, lifts it up and the sculpture opens, moves, twists... That's when you discover that you are not facing a piece made of marble or plaster but before a paper sculpture.
Li Hongbo's expandable sculptures can be found in countless museums, have featured in numerous gallery exhibitions, and his art is listed as UNESCO Intangible World Heritage. The artist began creating them under the influence of folk traditions in China, where paper is commonly used to make all kinds of garlands, lanterns and other decorations. Hongbo himself explains that he uses "a centuries-old technique in China, used particularly during the Christmas period, when there were paper decorations that opened up like my sculptures."
Hongbo uses sheets of tissue paper, glued and folded using these ancient techniques that he has perfected, and turns them into solid blocks. Some of his works comprise 30,000 sheets. Once the block of paper sheets is ready, Hongbo, wearing white gloves, sculpts it with an electric saw, gradually creating the desired shape. When the sculpture is finished, he sands it carefully to remove any imperfection that might reveal the secret inside.
That's when a Franklin bust, or great Piety, becomes a paper accordion that, without any problems, recovers its original form. In order to appreciate their techniques in exhibitions, works must be manipulated by a person. There are numerous images that circulate through the networks about the works of Hongbo. The artist himself produces videos showing how he is doing his works.
In some statements, the artist explained that when he began to study art his teachers made them draw busts of renowned sculptors. From so long these busts ended up becoming something of theirs and precisely to revitalize them recreates them through their own mode of expression, the paper. Hongbo highlights a Chinese saying that marked him “life is as fragile as paper.” From him he reflects that life is as pure as a piece of paper when it is born, but also vulnerable and transitory. Like his sculptures.
Li Hongbo has received several awards throughout his career. He recently won the Nomination Award from the Chinese government and in 2017 won the Grand Prix of the Sovereign Asian Art Foundation. He currently lives and works in Pequin, China.
