Li Hongbo’s ‘Marble’ Sculptures Are Actually Giant Paper Slinkies

When you say “sculpture”, most people think “marble.” And you’d probably say the same if you were confronted with former book editor turned designer Li Hongbo’s work. It looks like the guy has just copied a few famous sculptures and called it a day. At least until you accidentally bump into one and it expands like you’re suddenly in a bad ’90s music video.

See, Li Hongbo doesn’t work in marble. He works in paper, precisely laser-cutting and stacking thousands of linked paper sheets. Why? So he can do this:

Yep, they’re statues that you can completely pull apart like taffy. Here’s the full, freaky video, courtesy of Colossal:

You have to wear the gloves not just to preserve the art but also because the sheets are stiff enough to give you some pretty agonizing paper cuts. The neatest thing is that these don’t look like paper, even when you get up close; you have to interact with them to reveal their full, Slinky-like nature. These can take the artist months to build, for obvious reasons, but hey, the effect is definitely worth it.

Sadly, nobody knocks one of these down a set of stairs, as that would probably destroy the delicate sculpture. But hopefully he’ll start working in plastic.

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