Cool paper and other inspirations

Galleries:
paper objects
table top works
bamboo & paper
wall & floor works
earlier work
drawings
Shows:
Yours unless you stop
Wait 10 days
Meaningless & Sure
We like ‘em like that
other shows

Saint Gudula Church in Lochem, the Netherlands.

Peter Gentenaar

is a rock star. His flax and bamboo constructions are stunning and soaring. Just google the guy. He uses craft to produce art. The paper is the means but not the point.

drying overbeaten flax and bamboo strips, detail from film of Peter’s interview by Anne Gentenaar

Until recently, he was tight lipped about how he makes the work. Then he released a video in which he discusses his process (lots of bull clips attached to string and weights, fans, large brain and decades of growing his knowing). They include some time lapse sequences of pieces drying under his guiding hand. (The original is 2018 in Dutch. The link is for the 2019 version that’s subtitled in English.)

Work that is tediously made often imparts a sense of drudgery that dulls the experience of such work. Not so with Gentenaar’s, his labor intensive pieces just inspire profound admiration of his mastery of the exuberant.

Eve Ingalls

uses paper like Gentenaar to make exciting sculptures that focus the viewer first on the work and later on her mastery of the material. The piece below is no genuflecting meditation on water, cellulose and the miracle of hydrogen bonding. Please also see Barbara’s interview

Drawing Earth show 2010 at Soho20

Drawing Earth 2010 (amazing photographer not known)

Roberto Mannino

works with paper in many ways. The work that has always gotten us jazzed is what he can do with high shrinkage fiber especially when there is some graphite handy. Please also see Barbara’s interview

*flax, abaca, tracing paper, graphite and mixed media*

*We believe this is flax & pigmented abaca. The simple interaction of 2 fibers drying together presents a powerful image of interdependence of elements.*

Alexis Granwell

is a Philadelphia artist who has made some rugged abstract sculptural forms from handmade paper (well, papier mache) that rest on spare, fabricated supports. Their power is in the interdependence. The forms alone seem unenunciated, unresolved. The supports alone are sturdy and elegant stands or in some cases a cinderblock. Together, they're tremendous.

Turn to Earth (Installation) 2017. Individual works (l to r) Invisible Eye, Equal Waves, Opponents, Mending Hole, Katabatic 2016 2017 handmade paper, papier mache as well as wood, cement or cinder block — *Turn to Earth* (Installation) 2017. Individual works (l to r) *Invisible Eye, Equal Waves, Opponents, Mending Hole, Katabatic* 2016 2017 handmade paper, papier mache as well as wood, cement or cinder block

Marcel Janco,

an early Dadaist, made these amazing masks for performers at the Cafe Voltaire. The Art Story describes them as “created from scraps of cardboard, paint, glue, and sack-cloth, all crumpled and torn, with ragged edges and patchy paint. The finish was purposefully left rough and crude.” 2 masks below are from 1919 and now in the Pompidou Center in Paris. They are roughly life-size.

Mask Portrait of Tzara Pompidou — *Mask Portrait of Tzara* Pompidou

Anthony Caro

made paper sculptures at Kenneth Tyler Graphics in 1981 and 1993. He already knew how to make steel look like paper. Here he makes paper look like cast steel, giving it a welcome gravitas. The graphite lines are an amused nod to paper as mute bearer of communication.

Anthony Caro Paper Sculpture No. 98 1981, handmade paper, pencil, chalk, acrylic and (base) Tycore on cardboard tubes filled with leadshot. Private collection London (dimensions not available) source Art New England Photographer Eric Roth — Anthony Caro *Paper Sculpture No. 98* 1981, handmade paper, pencil, chalk, acrylic and (base) Tycore on cardboard tubes filled with leadshot. Private collection London (dimensions not available) source Art New England Photographer Eric Roth

Paper sculpture no. 4 ‘Big White’ 1982 prints, paper, pencil, chalk, acrylic paint 32” x 38” x 6” (81 x 97 x 15 cm) National Gallery of Australia — *Paper sculpture no. 4 ‘Big White’* 1982
prints, paper, pencil, chalk, acrylic paint
32” x 38” x 6” (81 x 97 x 15 cm) National Gallery of Australia

Sonia Gomes

contrasts ungainly parts, constrained and bulging with the taut, gestural elegance of the forms. Her works have a barely finished feeling of accessible immediacy. The ragged jumble of materials and colors force a scattershot of attention that never really strays from taking in the whole. These works hold the floor or wall well.

Sonia Gomes, Correnteza from Raiz series 2018 stitching, bindings, fabrics and laces on wood 35” x 100” x 35” (90cm x 260cm x 80cm) Photo by Bruno Leão. Image courtesy of MASP — Sonia Gomes, *Correnteza from Raiz series* 2018 stitching, bindings, fabrics and laces on wood 35” x 100” x 35” (90cm x 260cm x 80cm) Photo by Bruno Leão. Image courtesy of MASP

Mendes Woods DM gallery and a March 2020 article from Hyperallergic

Monika Grzymala’s

installation work turns galleries into life-sized boxes that can barely contain her ricocheting linear energy. The works on paper are embossed with strapping that meander and circle around the paper as if carefully recapitulating interesting tangles and fights.