In the realm of art, where brush meets canvas or fingers glide over clay, there lies a delicate dance of blade and paper known as papercutting.
On a cold and rainy New England winter day in 1997, a splash of vibrant origami paper recalled the California sun. In that moment, Jian felt an urge to resume an art form that she had learned as a hobby growing up in China. What began as memory slowly evolved into a personal language.
Bio
Jian Gao is a contemporary papercut artist based in the Boston area. She taught herself the skills of Chinese papercutting as a child and completed more than one hundred works before the age of eighteen. In 1990, she came to the United States as a visiting scholar before becoming a Chinese language teacher the following year. She returned to papercutting in 1997 as a hobby while continuing to teach and write textbooks.
Working entirely by hand with a craft knife, Gao has created more than 500 original papercuts over nearly three decades. Built upon the structural principles of Chinese papercutting, her work reflects an artistic vision gradually shaped by decades of life in the United States. Over time, papercutting has become her artistic language.
Statement
My work usually begins long before the knife touches the paper.
Landscapes, changing seasons, birds in flight, shimmering water, and moments that have quietly moved me begin to surface in my mind. Over time, they return again and again until one day I feel compelled to preserve them in paper.
My tools are simple: a craft knife and a single sheet of paper. Each time the blade touches the surface, I ask myself: What should remain? What should be removed? Every cut is a search for balance—between presence and absence, movement and stillness, solidity and space.
As the knife rises and falls across the paper, the image gradually takes shape, and a quietness settles within me. The repetitive rhythm of carving slows me down, allowing me to return to a place of inner stillness.
Through papercutting, I preserve fleeting moments from the passage of time. I hope my work invites viewers to pause, look closely, and discover stories and reflections that belong to their own lives.
Selected Exhibitions
2027 Art Capital — Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Grand Palais, Paris, France, Feb 24-27, 2027
2026 Country (Group) Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro MA
2026 Love, Actually! (Group) Art Garage, Delray Beach, FL
2024 Papercut Poetry (Solo) Weston Public Library, Weston MA
2023 Papercut Poetry (Solo) Eastham Public Library, Eastham MA
2008 Colors (Group) The Landau Gallery, Belmont MA
Publications www.chinesewithease.com
All Right Reserved By Jian Gao
