Until a year ago, Miao Xiaochun had a dilemma. He wanted to create digital images in his next art project, but lacked inspiration. Then he came across a photo-graph of The Last Judgement, Michelangelo's enormous fresco completed in 1541 that covers the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
The dazzling work, with Christ floating in the centre surrounded by hundreds of angels and devils, captures the moment before the final judgment of eternal damnation or heavenly ascent.
'When I saw Michelangelo's picture, I saw two small doors at the bottom,' says 42-year-old Miao. 'I thought, 'What would happen if you went through and saw this fresco from the back?''
Suitably inspired, the Beijing-based artist recreated the composition, with each of the 400-odd figures being a computer-generated, three-dimensional figure based on himself. In his virtual world, Miao was able to look at the masterpiece from different angles and perspectives.
Working with three assistants for a year, Miao used photographs of himself to construct a grey, hairless three-dimensional figure. Calculating the exact position of each figure in fresco, Miao replicated them so they could be viewed from the back, side, top and bottom.
In the original, the naked figures are partially covered in flowing red, blue and green drapery. The sky is blue and the ground is blanketed with a green grass. In Miao's monochrome work, everything is done in shades of grey.