For his debut exhibition at Chambers Fine Art - First Encounter - in November 2001, Lu Shengzhong introduced a series of works from the extended series titled “Calling Soul.” From the mid-1980s when he graduated form the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Lu Shengzhong has worked almost exclusively in the field of paper-cut although he has transformed this traditional decorative folk art beyond recognition. During his travels throughout China , he has become an authority on Chinese folk art and has published extensively in this field but in his own work he has moved far beyond the relatively limited functions of traditional paper-cutting. He was selected as one of the first Chinese artists to represent his country at the 50 th Venice Biennale.

Using paper and scissors to create designs of extraordinary complexity, Lu Shengzhong has exhibited widely in the last decade, in locations as varied as the hutongs of Beijing , Adelaide and St. Petersburg . For the present exhibition, he has produced a series of works devoted to the theme of the “book.” From a rural background where books were in short supply, books have always been of major importance to Lu Shengzhong.

On this occasion he has produced a series of “book-sculptures.” Using his customary red paper bound in book form, he cuts into its many layers and “liberates” countless Little Red People, as these archetypal forms which proliferate in his work have come to be known. Suspended above the matrixes from which they have been removed, these long strands of ur-figures move gently in the breeze.

Although part of the talented generation of artists who emerged in China in the mid-1990s, Lu Shengzhong has followed a highly individual path, building on a neglected Chinese tradition rather than following international trends. This individual path was noted in The New York Times review of Lu Shengzhong's American debut exhibition at Chambers Fine Art by noted critic Holland Cotter, “Mr. Lu's interest in playing around with the cultural traditions and the look of language … he has come up with a look very much his own, at once whimsical and hushed, part circus, part sacred space.”

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