Liang Shaoji, Chinese artist who made art with silkworms, dies at 81

Liang Shaoji, the Chinese artist who made his art with live silkworms, has died at the age of 81.

He died on 13 September following an illness, according to ARTnews in reporting published on 16 September 2026. A separate ARTnews report on the same date confirmed his age as 81.

Liang was born in 1945 and died in 2026. Those dates, carried in the headline of his obituary, frame a working life of more than six decades.

Since the late 1980s, he had dedicated himself to working with silkworms, ArtReview reported in an obituary published on 15 September. He was in his early forties when that commitment began. He continued with it for almost four decades, through to the year of his death.

Collaboration, in this context, has a direct meaning. The worms were not a subject painted from a distance. They were living partners in the making of the work, and the silk fibre they spun became part of what was seen.

That is a slow way to make art. Silkworms feed, spin and change form on a short biological timetable that no studio can hurry. To stay with them year after year calls for waiting and close attention.

What makes this stand out is the patience it required. For readers new to his practice, the point is simple. The insects did what they naturally do, and Liang built his art around that process rather than forcing another outcome.

The news reached a wider public this week through the art press. ArtReview marked his death with an obituary titled 'Liang Shaoji, who made his art with silkworms, 1945–2026'. ARTnews then included the news in a roundup titled 'Father of Late Artist Lucien Smith Speaks Out and More Art News', published on 16 September, which is the most recent of the verified reports.

No further details were given in those published reports. The place of death, the nature of the illness and any funeral or memorial arrangements were not stated. Family survivors were not named.

He leaves a practice defined by a single, long relationship with a small creature. For almost 40 years, moth larvae no longer than a finger helped shape the surfaces and forms that visitors encountered.