The Bizarre, Flexible Paper Sculptures of Li Hongbo

What at first look like delicate works of carved porcelain are actually thousands of layers of soft white paper, carved into busts, skulls, and human forms by Beijing artist Li Hongbo. A book editor and designer, the artist became fascinated by traditional Chinese toys and festive decorations known as paper gourds made from glued layers of thin paper which can be stored flat but then opened to reveal a flower or other shape. He applied the same honeycomb-like paper structure to much larger human forms resulting in these highly flexible sculptures. Hongbo recently had a solo show at Dominik Mersch Gallery in Australia who made the videos below, and you can see much more of his work on their website.