還生 Reincarnation

I made the sculpture from the digital work of the same name for my solo exhibition Life After Life: SHHAN Art Exhibition at OCT Boxes Art Museum in Foshan, China. I wanted to express life and death, disappearance and birth as a continuous flow rather than separate events.

I kept the face solid and smooth and built the body from numerous stainless steel rods. I brought the spreading lines of the digital image into physical space, letting light, wind and the surroundings pass through the body.

I developed it through concept drawings, a 3D-printed model, digital modeling and a full-size prototype. Having begun drawing cats to preserve memories of my cat Niki, I also saw this as a way for one being to continue across forms and media. After the exhibition, I permanently donated the sculpture to the museum.