Paper at the Cutting Edge

This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.

Paper art – the use of paper itself as a means of expression in Fine Art, rather than simply as a support for drawing or painting, only began to emerge around the mid 20th century. Now there are paper artists on every continent – working with papers from different fibres, using manufactured papers, recycling printed ephemera and maps into artworks which range from monumental minimalist constructions to intricately folded origami, or hand made books, while sculptural paper structures are to be found in products such as paper lights, paper jewellery, clothes and even furniture. OCA Textiles tutor Pat Hodson reports:

The First Cut is on at Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL and the Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Rusholme, Manchester, M14 5LL but only until only until 27 January. This exhibition, rather than trying to show all these different strands, has largely focused on artists who cut into paper as all or part of their process. That most of it was done by hand is astonishing given the complexity and degree of craftsmanship of some of the pieces I saw. There are several sub-themes – Imaginary Worlds; Drawing with a knife; Off the page; Mapping new Territories and Papering the Body. While the main part of the exhibition is at the City Art Gallery, Papering the Body is separated by a bus ride at Platt Hall Costume museum. I suspect that some may feel tempted to skip this part of the show, but it would be a pity. There were not only some ethereal and fragile crumpled sculptural dresses by Violese Lunn hanging in one of the salons, but a Susan Cutts ballet dress and shoes beautifully formed and placed with a distinct memory of the body left. Susan Stockwell’s dresses, made largely from maps and banknotes are sculptural rather than decorative and make political statements.

In the City Art Gallery, as you walk through from the old part of the building to the new wing is Andrew Singleton’s Ice sculpture – hanging between floors. It was inspired by “ice formations such as icicles and frozen waterfalls.” Then as you enter the main exhibition room the first thing you encounter is ‘Wonder forest’ by Manabu Hangai. In this installation, saplings hover just above the ground, quivering and turning as you walk through them. He uses seaweed to construct the oversized translucent web like leaves. On the opposite wall, Claire Brewster’s Harbingers are intricately cut birds – each different – cut from pages of an atlas. Simply mounted to the wall of the gallery with pins like specimens, they seem to flutter away, casting shadows. In the corner is a monumental lace like hanging construction by Andrew Singleton, while on another wall, rising to the ceiling is an amazingly finely cut black ‘paper scale installation’ by James Aldridge which at first glance is decorative and romantic, until you see that the moths are trapped in web like tendrils and thorns – and well might be bats – while the birds are predatory and threatening.
An unusual and visually satisfying two dimensional piece is Beatrice Coron’s ‘Chaos City’ a stark reminder of crowded apartment blocks at night. It has a structure of strong dynamic diagonal lines contrasting with tiny silhouettes of lively figures through the windows – playing out the stories of their lives. I found it interesting that although this exhibition was about paper, her pieces are cut from Tyvek – a polyester non woven fibrous substrate, which textile practitioners will know as something they can melt and manipulate but is also often used for digital printing of outdoor banners.
Some of the smaller pieces were the ones which I found the most interesting. The exquisite miniature ‘exploding’ matchboxes by Sarah Bridgland and book sculptures by Sue Blackwell, while the layered tunnel structures by Andrea Dezso are story book stage sets.
My favourite piece I think was by Anderson M Studio, ‘going west’. They literally make ‘books come to life’. The main exhibit is a screen animation where trees, railway lines, houses and simply seem to pop out of pages of a book, whizzing past, replaced by new shapes, while a voice describes the journey. The original, a hand bound oversized book sits alongside in a showcase with the pop up scenes cut from its pages. (disappointingly only one page is on view.) This stop frame animation is a ‘must see’ and can be viewed online at designboom.com
I loved the way I had to find one piece, which was placed in the craft and design section of the gallery, amongst the permanent collection. Then, a surprise; tucked away in this room, a video featuring Tanya Schmoller talking about her world class collection of decorative paper which she gave to the MMU special collections library some years ago.
More information on paper art and artists from IAPMA (International papermakers and paper artists click here).