Rong Bao creates inflatable sculptures using materials like PVC, silicone-coated fabrics, and nylon mesh. The artist finds inflatables intriguing because they embody absurdity, tenderness, and instability. Her alien-like creatures explore themes of humor, discomfort, and existential instability. Rong spends extensive time on each piece, involving a process of sketching, prototyping, testing, and fabricating. She aims to evoke emotional responses from viewers, balancing seriousness with silliness. Recently, she participated in a children’s TV program and is working on a commission for Harper's Bazaar China, incorporating culturally significant silk fabric.
"My fascination with inflatable structures began when I realized how absurd, tender, and unstable they could be-all at once. Unlike rigid materials, inflatables breathe, wobble, collapse, and revive."
"I see my practice as a playground of soft contradictions-between seriousness and silliness, desire and failure, monumentality and deflation. Many of my pieces are meant to be touched, entered, or even played with."
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