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As a child, Xia Hang liked to take apart his toys and household items, such as clocks, and reassemble them.
His early interest, common to many young boys, then became an essential part of his career.
The 38-year-old Beijing-based artist is known for creating sophisticated installations that are made of several thousand mechanical parts in stainless steel. He designs them through computer programming.
The subjects of his works range from motorcycles and insects to the human skull and fictitious characters like Mickey Mouse.
In Xia's current exhibition in Beijing, titled Whisperer, viewers are likely to be stunned by the complex and varied combinations of materials. They are also drawn to his imagined world, seeing how he perceives the changing relationship between people in a digital age.
The exhibition is being held at Parkview Green Art, a venue in the capital's 798 art hub, through July 10.
Xia says his works are largely born out of "a desire to play". He used mechanical parts when he was working with a series of sculptures in 2011. He also reconnected with the childhood passion of rebuilding things and started to develop a new approach to creation that is sculpted by different components.
He spent two years studying how to design detachable parts. But he had to make sure that they would look beautiful after being installed.
Xia graduated with a bachelor's degree in sculpture from the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, of which he is a native.
He is inspired by animation, video games and films. He has been playing the game World of Warcraft, which was recently adapted into a film. He is also a fan of sci-fi films, such as The Matrix.
His works show viewers his methods and his thinking process. The combined power of the numerous components gives a glimpse of his playful mind as well.
"He (Xia) manages to keep a distance from the naive cartoon style to build a new world of his own, a world merging sculptures and game, which is rare in the current art scene of China," says Sui Jianguo, who was Xia's teacher while he was pursuing a master's degree at the Central Academy of Fine Arts a few years ago.
Xia attempts to lead people to one-to-one communication in a fragmented world that is being controlled by both wired and wireless networks.
"We are living in two worlds, the real and cyber. People spend more time in the latter - just look at what they do on the subway, few talking and a lot of playing and chatting over smartphones," he says.
The unreal world seems to be more attractive, he says.
"A few years ago we used to hear the phrase wang yin to criticize addiction of the internet. Now, we are embracing a future where smartphones will be a part of our bodies."
The scenes from sci-fi films will soon become our realities, he adds.
