“Swaying Vessels”: Amazing Sculptures by Muyan Gao Made of Paper Mâché as an Eco-Friendly Material

Muyan Gao (高木妍) is a visual artist born in 1991 in Shanxi, China. She is known for her innovative work with paper pulp and paper-mâché, creating sculptures that explore the relationship between form, functionality, and nature.

Muyan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Glasgow School of Art and a Master of Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design in the UK. She currently maintains studios in Beijing and London.

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Her art reflects a deep interest in natural forms such as fossils, organisms, soil, and seeds, but she does not seek to replicate nature literally. Instead, she uses highly saturated colors and gradient techniques to convey vitality and emotion, often representing the concept of containers as metaphors for the human body and its inner world. Her sculptures blur the lines between functional objects and pure art, aiming to engage viewers in reflections on life, identity, and the relationship between humans and nature.

Muyan has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, including solo shows like Paper Islands in Shanghai (2023) and Urban Confession in Beijing (2021). She has been featured in prominent publications such as Visual Art Journal (USA) and Vogue Beauty (China), and participated in notable group exhibitions like ALCHEMY in London and the China National Arts and Crafts exhibition in Guangzhou.

Her artistic process involves sketching, modeling, and layering paper pulp until achieving desired shapes, followed by careful painting to enhance a sense of life and closeness in her works. Sustainability and environmental consciousness are also important themes in her practice, as she uses recycled materials and eco-friendly methods.