Author Description

The Chinese folk art of paper-cutting is ancient, but Lu Shengzhong's artistic practice, which employs it, is thoroughly modern. His signature Little Red Figure, a slightly devious-looking splayed personage, is as distinctive as a Haring graffiti man, and in Lu's installations, just as ubiquitous. The artist fills a room with the individually replicated form, which seems at once both whimsical and frightening. This catalogue of an exhibition at Chambers Fine Art in New York is a work of art itself, featuring a red paper cover embossed with scissors and one of the red figures. Inside, studio shots reveal Lu Shengzhong's involved work process, and pages from his cutout books are reproduced. This bridge between ancient and contemporary Chinese art is essential for fans of both.