My introduction to art with paper was when I saw the work of an Indian artist who made book sculptures and paper jewelry, in 2012. Her book sculptures transformed old, unread and unwanted books into beautiful art. I knew immediately that this was something that I wanted to do.
For the next two to three years I basically worked with books only, all with hard covers and thick, solid paper. I felt I was giving the old books a new, aesthetically beautiful form and life. In the process of sculpting the book, I gave them the respect they deserved for their old life as also slowly introduced them to their new beginning.
This is why I never cut or paste the pages of any of the books. All the books have individually folded pages, and each page has a role to play in the transformation to a sculpture. Whereas I do have an initial concept of what I would like the sculpture to look like, the result is very often a wonderful surprise to me. One can unfold each page and re-read the book, it remains intact throughout.
After creating around 60-70 book sculptures, I literally ran dry of ideas! Also, working within the confines of the hard covers, never cutting or pasting did put a restriction on my creativity and I wanted to try something else.
In late 2015 I started working with loose sheets of paper – cutting, folding, gluing. Paper is a fascinating and versatile medium and can take truly amazing forms or create wonderful effects. The artistic result is very dependent on the type of paper, the thickness, the weave of the fibers and its tenacity. You can cut, fold, wet fold, use both methods…the list of possibilities is endless!
I feel I have succeeded in transferring some of my emotions and joy in working with paper in these works. They reflect nature, the effect of light on colour and depth and the tensile quality of the medium of paper.
For the next two to three years I basically worked with books only, all with hard covers and thick, solid paper. I felt I was giving the old books a new, aesthetically beautiful form and life. In the process of sculpting the book, I gave them the respect they deserved for their old life as also slowly introduced them to their new beginning.
This is why I never cut or paste the pages of any of the books. All the books have individually folded pages, and each page has a role to play in the transformation to a sculpture. Whereas I do have an initial concept of what I would like the sculpture to look like, the result is very often a wonderful surprise to me. One can unfold each page and re-read the book, it remains intact throughout.
After creating around 60-70 book sculptures, I literally ran dry of ideas! Also, working within the confines of the hard covers, never cutting or pasting did put a restriction on my creativity and I wanted to try something else.
In late 2015 I started working with loose sheets of paper – cutting, folding, gluing. Paper is a fascinating and versatile medium and can take truly amazing forms or create wonderful effects. The artistic result is very dependent on the type of paper, the thickness, the weave of the fibers and its tenacity. You can cut, fold, wet fold, use both methods…the list of possibilities is endless!
I feel I have succeeded in transferring some of my emotions and joy in working with paper in these works. They reflect nature, the effect of light on colour and depth and the tensile quality of the medium of paper.
