Coconuts Hong Kong recently had the pleasure of meeting Chinese artist Li Hongbo at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hong Kong campus. You may have seen Li’s work through the viral web videos of his beautiful statues being stretched, twisted and manipulated into mind-boggling shapes.
Li’s sculptures are made out of enormous quantities of paper and glue, and are inspired by intricate, but everyday Chinese paper decorations. While Li is perhaps most famous for his sculptures in the shape of busts resembling Greco Roman antiquities, he also brought along a sculpture designed to resemble a block of wood, and a “silhouette knife”.
Despite the finesse and technique required for his complicated accordion-like sculptures, Li prefers using humble materials. Li said that he was drawn to the myriad possibilities that paper provides as a medium, and the compactness and portability of his finished sculptures, which he hand carries wrapped in clingfilm.
Speaking about his choice to combine long-established aesthetics of Classical art with his almost futuristic and certainly innovative concept, Li said that he used to sketch portraits and busts, which he confided were “quite good”, but realised that he wasn’t bringing anything new to an already perfected art.
Instead, he chose to build on it by introducing a tactile, malleable and playful element, and said rather sagely, “You can’t erect a building without a foundation.”
After leaving his former job as a book editor to pursue art, Li has found deserved attention and success for his work. He is currently exhibiting a collection entitled “Irons for the Ages, Flowers for the Day” at SCAD’s Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. The immersive nature of the exhibition allowed Li to re-utilise his honeycomb paper sculptures while experimenting with size and colour to create a coherent experience.
Li is represented by Contemporary By Angela Li in Hong Kong.
Photos: Annette Chan/Coconuts Media
