From Plane to Three-Dimensional: The Spatial Narrative of Landscapes in Carving Art

This paper explores how bamboo stationery carving reshapes traditional Chinese painting and reflects spatial concepts in Chinese philosophy. As a three-dimensional reinterpretation of two-dimensional landscape paintings, bamboo carving not only preserves the aesthetic essence of traditional works, but also reconstructs spatial aesthetic principles, such as the interplay of ‘emptiness and solidity’ through carving. By extending the flat composition of landscape paintings into three-dimensional space, bamboo carving techniques create richly layered and deeply evocative narratives on the limited surface of bamboo. These works embody the philosophical concept of ‘unity between heaven and humanity’ (tian ren he yi) and achieve a harmonious integration of material form, visual expression and cultural symbolism. This paper explores how bamboo carving inherits the spatial concepts of traditional Chinese painting while innovating new methods of spatial representation in sculpture. It contends that bamboo carving offers a philosophical reimagining of spatial narrative, bridging the material and the metaphysical, and providing new insight into the dynamic relationship between form, void and meaning in traditional Chinese art.