As Carren Jao, who curated the 2012 California exhibition writes, ‘Xiyadie’s papercut art makes viewers work to get everything straight (pun intended) in their minds, which makes it even more impactful once we realise what we’re looking at. The artist marks each of his works with a mythological beauty by using multi-coloured papers, cut out to form flowers, butterflies and other symbols, as if to suggest that his works — as daring as they are — should still be seen as an extension of the traditional Chinese canon.’