Female artist uses stickers to show pop culture

The installation Mandala by Ye Hongxing is made of stickers and toys. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Ye Hongxing is presenting works that use thousands of stickers to render well-known pop culture images.

Her ongoing show at Beijing's Opposite House also displays her installations and sculptures.

Among her installations is Mandala, a large thangka painting－an innovative take on the traditional Tibetan Buddhist art form－placed flat on ground with a pagoda standing on it. Both the painting and pagoda are made up of countless little things－the former by stickers and the latter by toys.

Snow White, the Smurfs, Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, fighters from the game Contra, dragons and all recognizable images from pop culture are made of stickers and toys.

Ye explains that people visit a temple or church to get spiritual enjoyment, which they now often obtain from going to shopping malls instead. The Beijing-based artist speaks in the context of the pagoda and thangka painting, both of which are important symbols of Tibetan Buddhism.

"The pursuit of happiness is the same. But the destination changes."

Ye started to overlap stickers on her canvases in 2009. Before that, the playful pieces were just decorative material she stuck on her phone and computer. Once she began, she was fascinated with these colorful pieces and produced many paintings featuring them.