Opening Reception - The Weight of Lightness: A Paper Art Trio Exhibition

Bluerider ART London•Mayfair is honoured to present “The Weight of Lightness – A Paper Art Trio Exhibition,” featuring three internationally acclaimed artists who transform paper into profound artistic expressions: Cao Jigang (China, b. 1955), Angela Glajcar (Germany, b. 1970), and Bay Tang Jiaxin (China, b. 1995). Each artist explores the dual nature of paper—lightness and weight, fragility and resilience, simplicity and complexity—imbuing this everyday material with deep spirituality and artistic significance. This exhibition not only showcases the limitless potential of paper but also redefines its meaning through a cross-cultural and intergenerational dialogue, allowing viewers to witness the transformation of paper from an ephemeral medium into an eternal artistic form.

The paradox of lightness and weight coexists in paper, making it a unique artistic medium. While paper appears delicate and fleeting, it has long served as a vessel for human civilisation—carrying history, knowledge, and thought. It is both a medium for expression and a recorder of time, simultaneously the most transient and the most enduring material. “The Weight of Lightness” seeks to explore how this seemingly fragile substance, through artistic refinement, becomes a carrier of strength, memory, and thought. 

Throughout Eastern and Western art history, paper has served not only as a surface for writing and painting but also as an experimental and evolving artistic medium. From Chinese Xuan paper craftsmanship and origami to European collage, paper sculpture, and pulp molding, artists have continually pushed the boundaries of paper, transforming it into sculptural and spatial forms imbued with societal and conceptual significance. Today, paper is no longer confined to its conventional roles but has been reimagined as a medium for profound artistic and philosophical exploration. In “The Weight of Lightness”, these three artists continue this tradition, with distinct techniques—weaving, tearing, and piercing to elevate paper into new realms of artistic expression.

Cao Jigang (China, b. 1955) 

Renowned for his tempera landscape paintings, Cao Jigang explores a new creative direction in this exhibition by using paper as his primary medium. Integrating the traditional Chinese landscape painting principle of the “Three Perspectives” (High Perspective, Horizontal Perspective, and Deep Perspective)—with the structural aesthetics of contemporary art, Cao transforms paper from a two-dimensional surface into sculptural, multidimensional forms. Through cutting, layering, and assembling xuan paper, he employs abstract, rational, and geometric symbols to interpret the perceptual, aesthetic, and elusive spatial concepts of the Three Perspectives: the abruptness of High Perspective, the overlapping depths of Deep Perspective, and the diluted openness of Horizontal Perspective. In this series of three works, Cao utilises a variety of xuan papers, deliberately preserving the irregular edges naturally formed during the papermaking process. By minimising human intervention, he honours the inherent expressive potential of the material itself. These organic, uneven edges become central visual elements within the composition, shaping the overall form of the artwork.

Angela Glajcar (Germany, b.1970)

Angela Glajcar’s hand-torn paper sculptures embody a delicate balance between destruction and rebirth. Her works emphasise movement and depth, where the raw edges of torn paper become elements of composition, reshaping disorder into rhythmic, sculptural forms. Each tear is an intentional mark, a trace of memory, and a means of reconstructing new orders from fragmented elements. Through her artistic process, Glajcar challenges the notion of fragility, reflecting the human condition—our vulnerabilities, transformations, and the resilience found within destruction.

Bay Tang Jiaxin (China, b.1995)

As the youngest artist in this exhibition, Tang Jiaxin presents a distinct approach to paper through intricate needle-piercing techniques. By delicately lifting the fibres of the paper with fine needles, she creates an almost imperceptible texture, engaging in a meditative creative process. Her method embodies a silent, repetitive rhythm, emphasising the paradoxical strength within fragility. Each minuscule puncture in her works represents the accumulation of time, spiritual introspection, and a contemporary redefinition of resilience and delicacy.

“The Weight of Lightness” not only explores the materiality and artistic potential of paper but also invites viewers to reflect on the subtle relationships between fragility and resilience, lightness and gravity, transience and permanence. Through distinct artistic vocabularies, Cao Jigang, Angela Glajcar, and Bay Tang Jiaxin redefine the possibilities of paper, transforming this humble material into a vessel of introspection, memory, time, and emotion. In their works, we witness not only the physical weight of paper but also the profound thoughts it carries. 

Participating Artists: 

Cao Jigang 

Angela Glajcar 

Bay Tang Jiaxin

“The Weight of Lightness” – A Paper Art Trio Exhibition

Press Preview: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 14:30- 18:00

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 29, 2025 18:00-20:00 

Exhibition Dates: May 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025

Bluerider ART London·Mayfair 

47 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4JW

Open daily, 10:00-18:00

[email protected]

T: 020-39037827