Paper in art making

Paper has had a definitive role in shaping art, culture, history and politics in China and across the globe. 

The sensational fusion of xuan paper and ink has enthralled Chinese painters, calligraphers and audiences for centuries. In the form of rubbings and printed books, ink and paper have contributed to the formation of a popular canon of classical art that has been emulated and challenged in all eras. These seemingly simple elements continue to inspire creative innovation today. 

Join Dr Shuxia Chen, Curator of the Museum's China Gallery as she talks to Chinese Australian artists Ah Xian, Guan Wei, Jiawei Shen, and Tianli Zu to explore the diversity and versatility of paper in artistic practice. 

Ah Xian was born in 1960 in Beijing. He is a self-taught artist who has lived in Sydney since 1990. He has taken various artist-in-residence including at Tasmanian School of Art and in Jingdezhen, China. Ah Xian has won multiple awards and fellowships, including the inaugural Australian National Sculpture Prize (2001), the Clemenger Contemporary Art Award (2009) and Australia Council Fellowship (2002–04). 

Guan Wei graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Capital University in 1986. Working between Beijing and Sydney, he has held over 70 solo exhibitions and has been featured in Shanghai Biennial, Japan Osaka Triennial, the Third Asia Pacific Triennial, the Adelaide Biennial, among others.

Jiawei Shen was born in Shanghai in 1948 and moved to Australia in 1989. Largely self-taught, he became a well-known artist in China in the mid-1970s during the Cultural Revolution. As a leading portraitist, Jiawei Shen was commissioned by the Australian government to paint official portraits for Pope Frances (2013), Princess Mary of Denmark (2005) and previous Prime Minister John Howard (2009). 

Tianli Zu is an award-winning Chinese-Australian multimedia artist. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, she moved to Sydney in 1988 and obtained a PhD from Sydney College of the Arts in 2014. Zu's diverse practice includes papercuts, sculpture, painting, animation and installation. 

Header image: Eight treasures masks, Zu Tianli, Sydney 2020, mature rice paper, watercolour, fabric hand-cut and sewn. Image courtesy of the artist.