Wang Tiande is best known for his burned landscapes on layered paper specially commissioned by a traditional papermaking workshop in an ancient village along the Fuchun River in Zhejiang Province. Using a lit incense stick, he burns intricate networks of marks through layered sheets of handmade paper or silk, allowing absence rather than ink to construct mountains, rivers, and calligraphic forms. Fire’s destructive capabilities are used in this way to create something altogether new through the gesture of erasure.