Glorious paper… it’s hard to imagine getting through a day without it. Here are some artists who show us the wonders of paper as the medium of their creativity. Deceptively simple creativity. By limiting materials to the most basic, and reducing the color palette to only white, the artists who created these works are essentially playing with light.
Born in England in 1984, Richard Sweeney has exhibited his paper sculptures in museums and galleries around the world. His artist’s statement says he uses “the unique properties of often mundane materials to discover unique sculptural forms.”
Ayumi Shibata was born in Japan. Her works have been exhibited world-wide. Her art is inspired by nature. ‘Kami’ is the Japanese word meaning ‘god’, ‘divinity’, or ‘spirit’; but it also means ‘paper’. In the religion of Shinto, white paper is considered as a sacred material.
Matt Shlian was born in the US in 1980. About working with paper, he says “I loved the immediacy of paper as a medium. I also loved the geometry. Figuring out the pieces was like solving a puzzle. I understand things spatially; I have to see something to make sense of it.”
Dana Shek was born in Scotland, and is now based in London and Hong Kong. She works in many materials, and says she is inspired by “texture and color, tactile surfaces and patterns.”
Based in Wales, artist Polly Verity sees paper as a “sensual and yielding” material. She enthuses about her love of paper in this interview.
