Capturing Yin and Yang on paper

IN the earlier part of his career, Chinese artist Liu Guosong found himself at a major crossroads. He was torn between his love of Oriental ink paintings, and his unwillingness to follow his peers down the traditional route.

His solution? Invent an entirely new kind of paper and develop his own original style of ink painting.

This paper is now called Liu Guosong Paper, and was developed in 1963 when the artist was 31 years old. He explains: "Chinese paintings are formed by points and lines that are always black. So I thought it would be nice to have white ones instead. Plus, to practise the dualism of Yin and Yang, I needed to create white lines. So by spreading paper fibres on paper first, and then removing the fibres after finishing the paintings, white lines and points could appear."