Sculptor's works rekindle links with cultural icons

Chinese sculptor Li Xiangqun, 55, brings to life ancient Chinese cultural icons, such as Su Dongpo, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) writer and statesman. He does this to bring these distant figures closer to modern-day Chinese.

The Beijing-based artist's works produced earlier this year include four statues portraying "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)". The collective term refers to Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Wu Zhen and Ni Zan, imperial painters who are revered to this day as exponents of the Chinese literati painting style.

He depicts the four figures differently, interpreting the lives of these ancient Chinese artists and scholars.