Paper Fragments

This collage assembles fragments of Chinese cultural memory into a single, layered composition. The artist combines ink rubbings of ancient bronze vessels, their inscriptions and ceramic titles with ink-and-color painting, printed book pages, calligraphy models, and book covers. As described in the artist’s inscription, ritual vessels from the era of Confucius, the basin of King Tang of the Shang dynasty, and the bricks and tiles of the Qin and Han are brought together, collapsing historical time. At the lower right appear Zhou Cang and the famed horse of Guan Yu, while above is a plum-blossom beauty. The work transforms literati tradition into a dense, living archive of history, text, and image.