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It would be unthinkable to celebrate the New Year or any other festive holiday in China without decorations made of paper cut-out animals, flowers and other motifs. These forms survive today amongst Chinese people as a deeply rooted folk art form. Lu Shengzhong made his debut as an artist in the creation of these paper cut-out works and Chinese New Year Pictures. Since the late 1980s, he has revitalized these traditional folk arts in the contemporary idiom of installation, moving beyond the framework of folk art and won high praise for his works. " ○ " stands in contrast to "Negative Figure of ○ ." In " ○ " the positive, un-cut areas of red form the images, while in "Negative Figure of ○ " the cut-away forms create the image. Both works were created by layering their cut red papers against a background of black paper. The human form is based on the folk belief use of dolls to call back the spirit of a person on the verge of dying. The small figures seen here are an important motif for this artist as he attempts to heal the diseases of contemporary society through his own forms of artistic expression. (RT)