On Paper: New Paper Art - Softcover

Thomas, Jane; Jackson, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858941458 ISBN 13: 9781858941455

Publisher: Merrell Pub Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Paper is one of the most versatile of all media. We can all relate to the simple pleasure of crumpling paper in the palm of the hand, if only to toss it into the waste-paper basket. Whether folded, cut, or molded as pulp, its rôle need not be restricted to that of support for other media. However, until the mid-twentieth century such techniques as papier mâché and origami were accorded the status of little more than curiosities, certainly not to be regarded as vehicles for serious creative endeavor. Attitudes changed after artists of the standing of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque began to explore the nature of paper, taking it from the flatness of collage toward the three-dimensionality of sculpture. Over the last fifty years, a growing number of practitioners from disciplines as diverse as textiles, ceramics, sculpture, painting, and design have used paper as their principal material. On Paper explores the development and recognition of paper as a medium of expression, combining personal recollection with historical overview, and comprehensively illustrated with a whole range of the different creative uses to which paper has been put by artists from all over the world.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Thomas is Exhibitions Officer at the Crafts Council, London. Paul Jackson is an origami artist residing in Israel. His work is based on organic form and the mathematics of nature.

Reviews

Long undervalued in the scheme of Western art, paper sculpture has manifested itself as a serious medium in recent years. This work, the catalog of an exhibition recently at London's Crafts Council and set to travel through Great Britain, displays an extraordinary collection of 100 three-dimensional works of paper. Taking its cue from Japan's deft and often witty art of paper folding, which we know as origami, this collection starts with classic folding, plaiting, and weaving techniques to create various representational or abstract forms. Moving into more adventurous territory, exhibition artists created cast shapes and handmade paper of interesting fibers. The use of text and imagery on paper and its logical concomitant, the artist's book, are well represented. Paper is also used in a fabriclike way and in beautiful installations, including one made of 1.5 km of toilet paper. Well photographed and beautifully reproduced in color, the objects displayed here go a long way toward changing the second-tier craft status of paper as a medium for art. Highly recommended. David McClelland, Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Merrell Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858941458
• ISBN 13: 9781858941455
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128