In the hands of Wu Jian’an, the traditional Chinese medium of paper cut is elaborated and used to explore an idiosyncratic range of iconographic source material culled from all over the world. Over time, Wu Jian’an’s works have grown both in scale and complexity as he increasingly conceives individual works as part of larger installations.
Since his first exhibition at Chambers Fine Art in 2006, Wu Jian‘an has established himself as a unique figure in contemporary Chinese art. Having chosen paper-cut as his primary means of expression in his early work, he has continued to use this technique in increasingly complex multilayered compositions and installations that frequently utilize thousands of components. Simultaneously, the range of references embodied in his works has grown enormously, embracing a multitude of mytho-logical, esoteric and contemporary references.