This series explores how AI can transcend the physical limitations of traditional crafts. I use “xuan-paper sculpture” as a speculative medium—delicate figures formed from ultra-thin, hollow rice paper that could never exist in reality. By merging Chinese classical aesthetics with computational imagination, the works demonstrate the potential of AI to expand the visual boundaries of material-based artistry.
This experimental work transforms traditional Chinese ink-line figures from two-dimensional paintings into translucent three-dimensional sculptures made of xuan paper. Inspired by the notion of “bringing life” in Chinese art, it explores how generative AI can extend the painterly imagination into spatial form—where figures seem to step beyond the picture plane and inhabit reality. As a visual experiment, it reflects both the poetic vitality of tradition and the speculative potential of contemporary technology.
Variable size, 2025, AI-generated video
This work presents a series of dynamic visual narratives created from my handmade xuan-paper sculptures. Using MidJourney, I transformed static images into moving sequences, exploring how traditional materiality can be reimagined in virtual form. As a personal experiment, it reflects my ongoing attempt to bridge craft, digital imagination, and contemporary storytelling.
Variable size, 2025, AI-generated video
“Forms Born of Xuan” is an experimental study that reimagines xuan-paper sculpture through the palette of traditional Chinese colors. Unlike abstract modern hues, these historic shades are named with rich imagery and cultural connotations. By embodying these colors in sculpted figures, the work explores how material and chromatic traditions are inseparable, generating unique cultural symbols. Each figure reflects not only the visual tone but also the temperament associated with its color, echoing how ancient naming practices endowed hues with personality and poetic imagination.
Variable size, 2025, AI-generated video
Silhouettes carved from xuan paper take on graceful forms, while quiet thoughts linger, veiled in the fragrance of ink.
By refining xuan paper to its thinnest state, I seek to evoke the most transparent texture, allowing landscapes to emerge upon forms that verge on immateriality, achieving an ethereal and lucid effect.
Plain paper is cut into Song-style robes, each fold concealing the passage of time. Cloud-like hairpins entwine a dream of a thousand years, while flowing sleeves trail mist and fragrance of the ancients.
