architect-day: PAPER ART

Simon Schubert is an artist who lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Born in 1976, he studied Liberal Arts and Sculpture at the Duesseldorf Academy of the Arts under the tutelage of Irmin Kamp.In his paper art series, Schubert meticulously folds sheets of paper, creating a very shallow relief or bas-relief. When the lighting is right, the paper comes to life with depth and contrast. Each ‘sculpture’ is made from a single sheet of paper using only creases and folds. No additional colour is added to the works.Schubert cites his inspiration most often comes from literature, philosophy, film and fine art. He said a defining moment of inspiration came from the work of Joseph Beuys, which opened Schubert’s eyes that art could be, ‘more than just something decorative and influence into life directly’.

Rogan Brown is an Anglo-Irish artist that specializes in intricate hand cut paper art sculptures. Currently living in the ‘wilds’ (i.e., in a forest on the side of a mountain) of Southern France, Brown explains:

“I look for patterns and repeated motifs that run through natural phenomena at different scales, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from individual cells to large scale geological formations.

I am inspired in part by the tradition of scientific drawing and model making, and particularly the work of artist-scientists such as Ernst Haeckel. But although my approach involves careful observation and detailed “scientific” preparatory drawings these are always superseded by the work of the imagination; everything has to be refracted through the prism of the imagination, estranged and in some way transformed.

I want to communicate my fascination with the immense complexity and intricacy of natural forms and this is why the process behind my work is so important. Each sculpture is hugely time consuming and labour-intensive and this work is an essential element not only in the construction but also in the meaning of each piece. The finished artifact is really only the ghostly fossilized vestige of this slow, long process of realisation. I have chosen paper as a medium because it captures perfectly that mixture of delicacy and durability that for me characterizes the natural world.”