Daydreams marks this young artist's debut solo exhibition. As a pupil of Lu Shengzhong, the foremost paper-cut artist working in China today, Wu Jian'an developed an interest in this traditional medium, not only from an academic point of view but as a medium capable of a wide range of expressive possibilities.

Wu Jian'an has given a vivid description of the circumstances that led to the creation of the ambitious series of paper-cuts included in the present exhibition. Afraid to go out during the SARS epidemic, he reached for his scissors one day and cut a small smiling head that relieved his sense of isolation and depression. "It is as if they were my doubles," he said. "To be more precise, they were the manifestation of a positive attitude, and together we were on guard against the virus. No matter whether it was day or night, they were always smiling. Sometimes, I just sat quietly across from them and communicated with them silently. Then I would use my scissors to provide them with new companions."

The works in the current exhibition are remarkable for their virtuosity and wildness. Employing a wide variety of symbolic forms to describe the inner turmoil of his mind during this terrifying moment when SARS seemed to be unstoppable, Wu Jian'an's paper cuts differ from the more orderly world of his mentor, Lu Shengzhong, in their sinuosity and anarchic sense of humor. It is as if the hallucinogenic vision of Salvador Dali and the spatial inventiveness of M.C.Escher have been reduced to maze-like ribbons of paper, flattened and mounted on sheets of colored paper. Dazzling and high-spirited, they nevertheless emerged at a moment not unlike today when the threat of bird flu looms large.

Art in China today is multi-faceted. Oil painting, conceptual, photography and multi-media work prevail in international exhibitions. Less well-known outside China is the flourishing world of paper-cut that has moved beyond its original decorative purposes in Chinese society to deal with social, moral and philosophical issues. Lu Shengzhong paved the way and Wu Jian'an, formerly his pupil and now colleague, is poised to develop his own, highly idiosyncratic use of scissors and paper.

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