To experimentalist Liu Heng, totemic Chinese character artwork is a career-long love that allows him to represent the beauty and value of Chinese characters.
CFP Photo
Liu is from the central Chinese city of Chenzhou, in Hunan Province. In 2012, he got the idea to recreate Chinese characters in his own way, turning the concepts and evolution of Chinese writing into installation art, an artistic genre that turns one's comprehension into three-dimensional works.
CFP Photo
CFP Photo
Liu has completed 17 original series of his Chinese-character works and is busy working on his latest set, which involves turning over 500 Chinese surnames into totems.
The Book of Family Names is one of China's fundamental literary works, as studying family names is a way to learn about the cultures, movements and settling of ethnic groups throughout Chinese history. Turning Chinese family names into totemic art makes them more approachable, more readily connecting people to the values attached to the characters.
The installation artist is trying to communicate the civilization of China through morphed calligraphy of Chinese. For six hours a day, he writes and draws with abandoned craft paper he's collected, and spends the rest of his time researching to prepare to make more works. It's estimated that his Family Name totem collection will cover a square kilometer when finished.