JUN HUANG
Type: Public Art Installation
Role: Lead 3D Artist
Nuo(2016)
Dashahe Chinese Nuo City
This project explores the transformation of Nuo ritual culture—a traditional Chinese folk belief system known for its expressive masks and guardian deities—into contemporary digital-to-physical sculptures.
The goal was to reinterpret Nuo visual language through digital sculpting and bring the design into physical form for cultural and artistic presentation.
Nuo Culture & Visual Language
The visual basis for the project comes from Nuo culture, with its distinctive carved masks, exaggerated features, and strong symbolic roles in exorcistic ritual and festival performance. The sculptures draw on these sources without copying any single artifact. Facial structures, horns, teeth, and ornamental elements are recomposed into new configurations that remain recognizably Nuo-inspired but read as contemporary forms. Bold silhouettes and clear profiles are prioritized so that each figure holds its own at architectural scale and remains legible from a distance in an open square.
From 3D Model to Physical Sculpture
Once the compositions are set, the digital models serve as the basis for fabrication. Clean, production-ready geometry is prepared to guide scaling, armature design, and surface treatment. Fabricators use these files as templates for full-scale construction, translating the virtual forms into physical materials suited for outdoor installation. The process preserves the sharp contours and layered planes of the digital designs while adapting thicknesses, joints, and supports to structural and safety requirements.
Digital Modeling
The work begins entirely in 3D, using Nuo cultural references as the foundation for a cohesive series of figurative sculptures and grouped compositions. The modeling focuses on full sculptural forms—characters, accompanying creatures, and supporting elements—designed to function both as standalone pieces and as interrelated ensembles.
Digital sculpting enables precise control over proportion, gesture, and surface rhythm while maintaining a balance between stylization and recognizability. Key features and decorative layers are developed as modular components, allowing multiple variations to be tested efficiently before finalizing each sculpture. Working in a fully digital environment also makes it possible to evaluate how the pieces read from different angles and viewing heights, and to plan spatial relationships so individual sculptures interact visually across a set.
Installation & Presence
Installed in a public plaza, the sculptures stand at human and larger-than-human scales, positioned so that visitors can walk among them, look up at them, and see them against the changing light of the day. At ground level, the faces and carved-like details recall the intimacy of mask performance; at a distance, their clustered silhouettes become a new landmark in the urban environment. The project closes a loop between intangible ritual imagery, digital modeling, and built form, using contemporary tools to return Nuo motifs to shared public space in a new guise.
