Papercuts - Virginia Commonwealth University

Transcription

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Born in Australia, France, Czech Republic, Canada and the United States, the artists (Jaq
Belcher, Béatrice Coron, Michelle Forsyth, Reni Gower, Lenka Konopasek, Lauren Scanlon, and
Daniella Woolf) bring a broad range of international perspectives to the contemporary art of
paper cutting. Using all manner of tools and paper, the artists create works that range from
narrative commentaries to complex structural abstractions. Their works are bold contemporary
statements that celebrate the subtle nuance of the artist's hand through a process that traces its
origins to 6th century China. Light, shadow, and color play key roles, transforming this ancient
technique into dynamic installations filled with delicate illusions.
Narrative metaphor and transformative time infuse all the works. Whether manifested as
silhouettes, romanticized fictions, enigmatic reenactments, cryptic scripts or poetic abstractions,
the artists address historical, cultural, and personal identity. By encrypting their content with
obsessive labor intensive processes (cutting, rolling, punching, folding, pinning) the artists
submerge themselves and their viewers in a meditative and liberating experience.
Australian born, Jaq Belcher currently lives and works in New York City and is a studio
member of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Through meticulous cutting and the subtle
repositioning of small elliptical shapes, Belcher creates pristine contemplative works.
French artist Béatrice Coron lived in Egypt, Mexico, and China before relocating to New York
City. Her papercuts are the most reminiscent of traditional Chinese and 17th c European
decorative paper arts. Drawing with a blade, Coron creates eccentric environments that unfold
through puzzling secretive narratives filled with quirky details.
Canadian artist Michelle Forsyth lives in Pullman, WA and is an Associate Professor at
Washington State University. Pattern and illusion are combined in ironic whimsical works that
depict contemporary ephemera photographed at historical disaster sites. Using a process that is
part requiem and part cathartic obsession, she translates these images into thousands of
intricately cut and stacked paper flowers. Delicate traces of mark and color imprint her presence
while evoking ideas of memory, loss and grief.
Virginia based artist, Reni Gower is a Professor of Art in the Painting and Printmaking
Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. For her papercuts, she creates unique
stencils derived from historical Celtic knotwork designs. Using only a box cutter and large
sheets of paper, the motifs are traced and hand cut into interlocking patterns. The intricate works
seem both lacelike and architectural. By addressing issues of beauty and handicraft, her works
are an intimate vehicle for reflection or reprieve.
Born in the Czech Republic, Lenka Konopasek currently lives in Salt Lake City and teaches at
the University of Utah and Westminster College. By focusing on man-made and natural
disasters, she creates thought-provoking works that belie her playful “pop-up” techniques. In
much of her work, the tornado is a personal metaphor for the seductive beauty of violence.
Southern born and raised, Lauren Scanlon is an independent, interdisciplinary artist. Her
background in cultural anthropology is revealed through her re-contextualization of romance
novels and vintage bed sheets. Time worn and faded her works delicately pun incongruous
meanings; such as trash as rubbish or smut versus treasure as sentiment or sentimentality.
California based textile artist / painter, Daniella Woolf re-creates private histories from remnants
that are either fabricated or collected. Focusing on paper products that contain handwritten
elements as well as industrial printing, she cuts and sews fragments into strips, which are coated
with encaustic and hung in grid like patterns. The luminous effects of encaustic enhance the
works’ allusion to identity, privacy and memory.
FACT SHEET / Papercuts
Born in Australia, France, Czech Republic, Canada and the United States, the artists (Jaq Belcher,
Béatrice Coron, Michelle Forsyth, Reni Gower, Lenka Konopasek, Lauren Scanlon, and Daniella Woolf)
bring a broad range of international perspectives to the contemporary art of paper cutting. Using all
manner of tools and paper, the artists create works that range from narrative commentaries to complex
structural abstractions. Their works are bold contemporary statements that celebrate the subtle nuance of
the artist's hand through a process that traces its origins to 6th century China. Light, shadow, and color
play key roles, transforming this ancient technique into dynamic installations filled with delicate illusions.
SIZE OF EXHIBITION: Approximately 2085 square feet / 288 running feet
Additional works available for larger spaces when funding permits
NUMBER OF WORKS:
23 wall mounted works, 2 pedestal works, 1 floor installation, and 4 suspended works
Condition Report with detailed installation instructions included –
o 2 pedestals required / minimum base dimensions 30" width x 36" depth (Konopasek)
o Low 8’ x 8’ platform or 2 sheets 4’ x 8’ mdf board painted gray (Forsyth)
o 2 sets of 30 magnets required / (¼" diameter x ½" thick) / available at
http://www.emovendo.net/magnet/14x-18-disc.html (Coron)
o Miscellaneous hardware required as itemized on Installation Instruction Sheet
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT MATERIAL PROVIDED BY VENUE:
Confirmation letter / contract to exhibition coordinator, invitations, mailing, e-vite, gallery signage and
labels, press material to appropriate media list, reception, and $1,000.00 rental fee
TRANSPORT:
All work packed in reusable museum quality crates for freight climate controlled transport (53' cab / truck)
Each venue to provide one way shipping to the next venue
o Free shipping estimates available through TCI International
o Contact Colleen Kennelly: [email protected]
o See prospectus for detailed crate information and shipping estimates.
o 2012 estimate Indianapolis to Boca Raton:
$1892 Climate art shuttle truck, with air-ride, lift gate, dual drivers / art handlers
INSURANCE: Wall to Wall / Provided by Virginia Commonwealth University
AVAILABLE ON REQUEST:
High Resolution Digital Image Files
Gallery Talk / Panel presentation / workshops by artist(s) when funding permits
Installation Assistance by artist(s) when funding permits
Catalog available through http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2542593 at venue expense
ITINERARY:
Centre for the Living Arts’ Space 301, Mobile, AL; Oct 14 – Dec 17, 2011
Georgia State University, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Galleries, Atlanta, GA; Jan 12 – Feb 3, 2012
Columbus State University, Norman & Emmy Lou P. Illges Gallery, Columbus, GA; Mar 22 – Apr 24, 2012
Herron School of Art and Design / IUPUI, Herron Galleries, Indianapolis, IN; Sep 26 – Nov 10, 2012
Florida Atlantic University, University Galleries, The Ritter Gallery, Boca Raton, FL; Jan 18 – Mar 2, 2013
Hollins University, Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Roanoke, VA; May 31 – Sep 14, 2013
The University of Akron, Myers School of Art, Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, OH; Oct 28 – Dec 6, 2013
Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI; Jan 9 – Mar 16, 2014
Purdue University Galleries, Lafayette, IN; Jul 1 – Aug 9, 2014
Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL; Sep 18 – Nov 8, 2014
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA; Mar 2 – Apr 10, 2015
This exhibition is sponsored in part by Virginia Commonwealth University and VCUarts
JAQ BELCHER
www.jaqbelcher.com
My work explores consciousness and alternative states of being. It also references ideas found in
eastern and western meditation practices, inner alchemy, esoteric philosophy and sacred
geometry. Through cutting, I utilize a reductive and repetitious process that fosters and requires
stillness. The process also hones concentration and harnesses the power of the mind to focus.
The result speaks to the beauty of silence and embraces being in the ‘moment’ and completely
'present'.
I began exploring this idea while pondering the beauty of a single expanse of white paper.I
wondered how I could enhance such a simple and beautiful void. Through reflections, I reveal
the full spectrum of light on the pristine surfaces of the all white work. With the addition of cast
shadows, my works become beautifully patterned and complex.
Bhakti 2009 39½" x 39½" Hand cut paper (6451 cuts)
JAQ BELCHER
www.jaqbelcher.com
Transition
2008
31" x 31"
Hand cut paper (4408 cuts)
JAQ BELCHER
www.jaqbelcher.com
Solace 2009
108" x 108" Hand cut paper (12960 seeds) - Suspended
BEATRICE CORON
www.beatricecoron.com
Italo Calvino wrote Invisible Cities in 1972. In this multi-leveled book about consciousness,
memory and imagination, some cities consist of garbage, others are constantly in construction.
Nearly forty years later, rather than illustrating Calvino's cities in my papercuttings, which
would be impossible, I was interested in taking a voyage of my own in the structure of his
narrative.
My "Invisible Cities" are nine-yard long papercuttings showing a world in transition. By cutting
paper I look for hidden secrets behind the surface. My work tells stories. I invent situations,
cities and worlds. These compositions include memories, associations of words, ideas,
observations and thoughts that unfold in improbable juxtapositions. These invented worlds have
their own logic and patterns. The "whole nine yards" format requires viewers to discover the
territories as in an atlas, where every place is connected and each viewer has to find his or her
way.
Middle Detail - Invisible City
2008
45" x 324"
Hand cut Tyvek
BEATRICE CORON
Left Detail - Invisible City
2008
45" x 324"
Hand cut Tyvek
BEATRICE CORON
Right Detail - Invisible City
2008
45" x 324"
Hand cut Tyvek
BEATRICE CORON
Reef City
2008
48" x 31"
Hand cut Tyvek
MICHELLE FORSYTH
www.michelleforsyth.com
Consisting of watercolor, gouache, screenprint and cut-paper, my work focuses on subjects
associated with tragedy and loss. My sources range from eyewitness accounts and photographs
of large-scale disasters to smaller-scale depictions of human suffering and accidents
downloaded from the Internet. Through these images I explore my personal experience in
relation to tragic public events.
Most recently I have been traveling to disaster sites pictured in historic news photographs.
I re-photograph the ephemeral qualities of each site, while focusing on fleeting impressions and
things left behind. Using a process that is part requiem and part cathartic obsession, I translate
these characteristics into thousands of sinuous loops of undulating color and intricately cut and
stacked paper flowers. Through layers of diluted watercolor, I inscribe these images with traces
of my gesture to test the imprint of my presence while simultaneously evoking ideas of memory,
loss and grief.
Detail - February 4, 1999 2010 36" x 54" x 2"
Paper, watercolor, gouache, screenprint, felt, beads, pins
MICHELLE FORSYTH
For March 24, 1989 2011 120" x 120" x 8"
MICHELLE FORSYTH
New York Times, July 18, 1996
2008 21" x 31" Hand punched paper
RENI GOWER
www.renigower.com
I design stencils based upon Celtic knotwork, which are traced and hand cut into interlocking
motifs. These papercuts are installed floating off the wall to maximize the cast shadows and
reflected color. Decorative references and complex visual layers are integrated to create
delicate illusions that hover in space.
Using only a box cutter, I employ a slow and labor intense process to produce works that
counter visual skimming. Through intricate patterning, I also celebrate the redemptive nuance
of work made by hand. While addressing issues of beauty and handicraft, my art becomes an
intimate vehicle for reflection or reprieve.
Detail - Papercuts: White/gold 2010 44" x 43"
Acrylic, hand cut paper
RENI GOWER
www.renigower.com
Papercuts: White/orange 2009 78" x 56"
RENI GOWER
www.renigower.com
Papercuts: White/phthalo 2010 83½" x 57"
LENKA KONOPASEK
www.lenkakonopasek.com
My paper cuts focus on natural and manmade disasters. Initially, I was attracted to the paper
pop-up technique for its playfulness and accessibility. However, I wanted to bring a more
sinister subject to the work. Consequently, there is a quiet beauty in my 3-dimensional cut outs
that is deceiving. Over time and with careful viewing, the work raises questions about longevity,
the consequences of human behavior, and differences in cultural or national attitudes.
Even though carnage from a natural disaster or war is disturbing and damaging, brute force and
brutality can be intoxicating and seductive. With my cutouts, I contrast a finely crafted and
strangely beautiful object against harsh repulsion to draw attention to the beauty of violence.
I am interested in the conflict of conscience and the consequences that result.
Overpass 2008 20" x 27" x 32" Paper cutout - Pedestal
LENKA KONOPASEK
Detail - Retaliation 2007 18" x 26½" x 34½" Paper cutout - Pedestal
LENKA KONOPASEK
Indoor Tornado 2009
Installation Variable
Height 130" – 180" / Base 40" wide / Top 96" circumference
LAUREN SCANLON
www.laurenscanlon.com
My recent work uses bedsheet designs as an entry point for investigating the pattern, structure
and impact of a specific line of romance novels that I read when I was very young (10 years old.)
I use the patterns and pages to think about what the books mean to me, and what I think they
might mean in a larger, cultural sense. Points of intersection include: pattern and repetition,
mass production and industry, domesticity and domestic labor, personal story, gender roles,
women’s experiences, intimacy, sex, shame, purity or cleanliness, trash and dirty laundry.
The papercuts have been created by removing sequential sections from a particular Harlequin
Presents paperback, stitching the pages together with gold thread (referencing wish fulfillment,
fairytales and domestic labor) and then cutting a design based on a selected bed sheet pattern.
There are few books I would endorse destroying, but I am happy to cut and re-define the shapes
of these pages. What is revealed and what is concealed becomes an important part of the work.
I intend for portions of the text to remain readable.
A Girl Alone (Lorraine III) 2011 17½" x 15¼"
Hand cut romance novel book pages and gold thread on paper
LAUREN SCANLON
Dare I Be Happy? (Marigold)
2011
52" x 48"
LAUREN SCANLON
Detail: Dare I Be Happy? (Marigold)
2011
52" x 48"
DANIELLA WOOLF
www.daniellawoolf.com
I limit the materials I use to create my work. These self-imposed restrictions increase my
ability to investigate expression. Integral to my practice is daily handwritten journaling.
I deconstruct this information, fragmenting and restructuring language. The secret contents
are intact yet undecipherable.
I bring a textile sensibility to the ancient mediums of paper and encaustic. In merging these
disciplines along with my limited choice of materials, I create a newly formed language. This
becomes a structural vocabulary created out of thousands of units of information. The work can
manifest as large totemic installations or small intimate pieces yet retain the luminous and
transparent qualities of encaustic. Within these structures I explore identity, privacy and
memory.
This amalgamation of processes transforms remnants of time, personal history and the
environment into a language of artifacts and personal archaeology.
Detail – Social Register 2009 36" x 36" Sewn parental rolodex, encaustic
DANIELLA WOOLF
Detail - Half Soles 2011 96" x 96" Sewn shoe receipts, encaustic
DANIELLA WOOLF
Detail - A Few of Her Favorite Things 2010 96" x 96"
Sewn 3 x 5 inventory cards, encaustic
CHECKLIST / Papercuts
JAQ BELCHER www.jaqbelcher.com
253 West 72nd Street New York, NY 10023
Bhakti
2009
39½" x 39½"/ framed
Transition
2008
31" x 30½" / framed
Spiral Nine
2010
30½" x 30½" / framed
Solace
2009
108" x 108"
(917) 848-4692 [email protected]
Hand cut paper (12960 seeds) -Suspended
BEATRICE CORON www.beatricecoron.com
372 Central Park West #20D New York, NY 10025 (917) 460-3214
Invisible City
2008
45" x 324"
Hand cut Tyvek
Reefcity
2008 48" x 31"
Hand cut Tyvek
$15,000
$9,000
$9,000
$6,000
bc@beatricecoron
$15,000
$2,500
MICHELLE FORSYTH www.michelleforsyth.com
360 W. Main St Pullman, WA 99163 509-592-3784 [email protected]
February 4, 1999*
2010 36" x 54" x 2" Paper, watercolor, gouache, screenprint, felt, beads, pins $12,000
For March 24, 1989 2011 120" x 120" x 8" Paper, watercolor, screenprint and ColorAid paper
$18,000
New York Times, July 18, 1996*
2008
21" x 31"
Hand punched paper
$1,800
New York Times, March 26, 1911*
2008
21" x 31"
Hand punched paper
$1,800
CNN,February 28,2001*
2008
21" x 31"
Hand punched paper
$1,800
Anonymous (eyewitness)*
2008
21" x 31"
Hand punched paper
$1,800
*(Framed)
RENI GOWER www.renigower.com
10407 Morning Dew Lane Mechanicsville, VA 23116 (804) 550-2616 [email protected]
Papercuts: White/phthalo
2010
83½" x 57"
Papercuts: White/orange
2009
78" x 56"
Papercuts: White/chartreuse
2011
83½" x 57"
Papercuts: White/gold
2010
44" x 43"
$5,000
$5,000
$5,000
$4,000
LENKA KONOPASEK www.lenkakonopasek.com
919 S. Windsor Street Salt Lake City, UT 84105 (801) 647-0788 [email protected]
Indoor Tornado 2009
Installation Variable*
Paper cutout -Suspended
$8,000
Retaliation
2007
18" x 26½" x 34¾"
Paper cutout -Pedestal -†
$2,500
Overpass
2008
20" x 27" x 32"
$2,500
*(Height 125" – 180" / Base 40" wide / Top 96" circumference)
-† (minimum base size 30" width x 36" depth)
LAUREN SCANLON www.laurenscanlon.com
5223 Rangeview Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Gates of Steel (Helen)
2011 76" x 61"
Dare I Be Happy? (Marigold) 2011 52" x 48"
Southern Nights (Barbara)
2011 52" x 48"
Sweet Torment (Sorrel II) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
Sweet Torment (Sorrel III) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
Collision (Selena I)
2010 17½" x 15¼"*
The Love Battle (Wilda II) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
A Girl Alone (Lorraine III) 2011 17½" x 15¼"*
*(Framed)
(310) 721-9898 [email protected]
Hand cut romance novel book pages and gold thread $5,500
DANIELLA WOOLF www.daniellawoolf.com
614 Walnut Avenue Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 458-1262 [email protected]
Half Soles*
2010
96" x 96"
Sewn shoe repair shop tickets, encaustic
A Few of Her Favorite Things*
2010
96" x 96"
Sewn inventory index cards, encaustic
Yours, Mine, and Ours*
2011
96" x 96"
Sewn paper collage, encaustic
Social Register
2009
36" x 36"
Sewn parental rolodex, encaustic
*(May be suspended or hung against the wall)
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$5,000
$400
$400
$400
$400
$400
Crates / Boxes / Core Exhibition
Jaq Belcher: 2 boxes at 44" x 55" x 4½" / 2 boxes at 35" x 44" 5½" / 35-40 lbs each
Béatrice Coron: 1 tube at 50" x 12" x 12" / 10 lbs
Michelle Forsyth: 1 box at 36" x 26" x 16" / 2 boxes at 30" x 24" x 16" / 20 lbs each
1 box at 64" x 46" x 6" / 50 lbs
Reni Gower: 1 box at 78" x 9" x 9" / 10 lbs
Lenka Konopasek: 2 boxes at 21" x 40" x 29" / 1 crate at 30" x 30" x 30"/ 20 lbs each
Lauren Scanlon: 1 box at 19" x 24" x 19" / 20 lbs / 1 box at 84" x 11" x 11" / 28 lbs
Daniella Woolf: 1 box at 26" x 23" x 10" / 20 lbs / 1 box at 20" x 20" x 12" / 10 lbs
Total Cubes: 130
Free Shipping Estimates Available from TCI, International
Contact Colleen Kennelly: [email protected]
Transport / Storage / Care of Works on Paper
•
•
•
•
Wear white cotton gloves when handling unframed works on paper. (Gloves provided)
Use a climate controlled van for shipping or FedEx Ground.
Ask for an early-evening pickup to minimize the time work spends in transit.
Store away from direct heat, out of direct sunlight, in a climate controlled storage room.
Crates / Boxes / Additional Optional Works*
Additional Cost to Venue includes:
2-way Shipping and Round Trip Travel Expenses / Lodging if artist installation required
Michelle Forsyth: 2 boxes at 30" x 24" x 16" (November 7, 1940 - for Tubby) 20 lbs each
Reni Gower: 1 box at 78" x 9" x 9” (Papercuts: White/pink and Papercuts: White/violet) 10 lbs
Lenka Konopasek: 1 box at 17" x 36" x 30½" / 1 box at 17½" x 30½" x 30" / 20 lbs each
(Suburbs with Tornado / Oil Platform on Fire)
1 box at 24½" x 30" x 30" / (Ruin with Tornado) / 20 lbs
Daniella Woolf: 7 boxes at 25" x 19" x 15" (Forest of Words) / 10 lbs each
1 box at 8" x 8" x 8" (Shadow Language) / 2 lbs
Total Cubes: 81
*See Checklist and Images for details
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL WORK
360 W. Main St
Pullman, WA
99163
509-592-3784
November 7, 1940 (for Tubby)
2008
[email protected]
72" x 144"
Cost to Venue:
2-way shipping from artist’s address: 2 boxes at 16" x 24" x 30"
Installation: 5 days / the artist plus one person
Travel Expenses for Artist Installation: Round trip airfare from Pullman, WA / lodging
$18,000
10407 Morning Dew Lane Mechanicsville, VA
Papercuts: White/pink
Papercuts: White/violet
Papercuts: White / cerulean
Papercuts: White/cb
Papercuts: White/turquoise
2011
2011
2012
2012
2012
23116
81" x 56½"
43½" x 41"
80½" x 56"
44" x 42"
51" x 49½"
(804) 550-2616
[email protected]
$5,000
$4,000
$5,000
$4,000
$4,000
Cost to Venue:
2-way shipping from artist’s address: 1 box at 78" x 9" x 9"
Installation: 1 hour / 2 people
Papercuts: White/pink
Detail: Papercuts: White/violet
Papercuts: White/cerulean
Detail: Papercuts: White/cb
Detail: Papercuts: White/turquoise
919 S. Windsor Street
Salt Lake City, UT
84105
Suburbs with Tornado
Ruin with Tornado
Oil Platform on Fire
2009
2009
2011
14" x 26½" x 34"
23" x 25" x 28"
16" x 29½" x 30"
(801) 647-0788
Paper cutout -Pedestal
Cost to Venue:
2-way shipping from artist’s address: 1 box each at 20" x 30" x 40"
Installation: Pedestals required / minimum base size 30" width x 35" depth
Detail: Suburbs with Tornado
[email protected]
Ruin with Tornado
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
614 Walnut Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA
95060
Forest of Words
2010
Dimensions variable
(831) 458-1262
[email protected]
Sewn journal paper, encaustic
$20,000
Cost to Venue:
2-way shipping from artist’s address: 7 boxes at 25" x 19" x 15"
Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Suspended from ceiling mounted brackets
Shadow Language
2008
144" x 144"
Sewn paper grids, encaustic
Cost to Venue:
2-way shipping from artist’s address: 1 box at 8" x 8" x 8"
Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Pinned to wall with straight pins on an 8" center grid.
$8,000
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL WORKS
CHECKLIST / Papercuts
Available at Additional Cost to Venue (2-way Shipping / Travel)
20 Lakeview Avenue Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6J 3B1
Return work to 360 W. Main St Pullman, WA 99163 416-949-7110 c. [email protected]
November 7, 1940 (for Tubby) 2008 72" x 144"
$18,000
Ships: 2 boxes at 30" x 24" x 16" / 20 pounds per box
Installation: 5 days / the artist plus one person
Travel Expenses: RT airfare / lodging for artist install
Papercuts: White / pink
2011
81" x 56½"
Papercuts: White / cerulean
2012
80½" x 56"
Papercuts: White / violet
2011
43½" x 41"
Papercuts: White/turquoise
2012
51" x 49½"
Papercuts: White/cb
2012
44" x 42"
Ships: 1 box at 78" x 9" x 9" / 10 pounds
Installation: 1 hour / 2 people / each
$5,000
$5,000
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
Suburbs with Tornado
2009
14" x 26½" x 34"
Ruin with Tornado
2009
23" x 25" x 28"
16" x 29½" x 30"
2011
Ships: 1 box each at 20" x 30" x 40" / 20 pounds per box
Installation: 3 Pedestals required / minimum base size 30" width x 35" depth
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
Forest of Words
2010
Dimensions variable
Ships: 7 boxes at 25" x 19" x 15" / 10 pounds per box
Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Suspended from ceiling mounted brackets
Shadow Language
2008
144" x 144"
Ships: 1 box at 8" x 8" x 8" / 2 pounds
Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Pinned to wall with straight pins on an 8" center grid.
$20,000
$8,000
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS / Papercuts
JAQ BELCHER www.jaqbelcher.com
253 West 72nd Street New York, NY 10023 (917) 848-4692 [email protected]
Bhakti
2009
39½" x 39½"/ framed
$15,000
Transition
2008
31" x 30½" / framed
$9,000
Spiral Nine
2010
30½" x 30½" / framed
$9,000
Solace
2009
108" x 108"
Hand cut paper (12960 seeds) -Suspended
$6,000
 Artist assistance desired for installation of suspended work Solace: 5 hours / 4-5 people
 Framed works: standard wall mounted installation.
 Installation System: Suspended with wire / Seeds scattered on floor / Install as far away from wall as
possible to eliminate cast shadows / Wear gallery gloves.
 Travel Expenses: R/T airfare and lodging for artist assistance.
BEATRICE CORON www.beatricecoron.com
372 Central Park West #20D New York, NY 10025 (917) 460-3214 bc@beatricecoron
Invisible City
2008
45" x 324"
Hand cut Tyvek
$15,000
Reef City
2008
48" x 31"
Hand cut Tyvek
$2,500
 Installation System: Magnets attached to flat head metal nails every 2 feet
 Gallery to provide nails and magnets. Magnets may be purchased through
http://www.emovendo.net/magnet/14x-18-disc.html
 Invisible City Installation: 2 hours / 3-5 people / 30 magnets (¼" diameter x ⅛" thick) required
 Reef City Installation: 1 hour / 2 people / 3 magnets(¼" diameter x ⅛" thick) required
 To create greater dimensionality through cast shadows - float the papercuts off the wall – by using an extra
magnet as a spacer between each nail and papercut.
20 Lakeview Avenue Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6J 3B1
Return work to 360 W. Main St Pullman, WA 99163 416-949-7110 c. [email protected]
February 4, 1999 2010 36" x 54" x 2"
Paper, watercolor, gouache, screenprint, felt, beads, pins $12,000
For March 24, 1989 2011 120" x 120" x 8"
Paper, watercolor, screenprint and ColorAid paper -Pedestal
$18,000
New York Times, July 18, 1996
2008
21" x 31" / framed
Hand punched paper
$1,800
New York Times, March 26, 1911 2008
21" x 31" / framed
Hand punched paper
$1,800
CNN, February 28,2011
2008
21" x 31" / framed
Hand punched paper
$1,800
Anonymous (eyewitness)
2008
21" x 31" / framed
Hand punched paper
$1,800
∆November 7, 1940 (For Tubby) 2008 72" x 144" Paper, watercolor, gouache, screenprint, felt, beads, pins
$18,000
 Artist Assistance Required for Installation of November 7, 1940 (For Tubby)
 February 4, 1999: (Framed)
 For March 24, 1989: (Floor installation - 4 hours / 1 person)
 ∆November 7, 1940 (For Tubby): 6 days / 2+ people / De-install: 3 days/ 2 people
 Framed works: standard wall mounted installation.
Papercuts: White/phthalo
2010
83½" x 57"
$5,000
Papercuts: White/orange
2009
78" x 56"
$5,000
Papercuts: White/chartreuse
2010
83½" x 57"
$5,000
Papercuts: White/gold
2010
44" x 43"
$4,000
∆Papercuts: White/pink
2011
81" x 56½"
$5,000
∆Papercuts: White/violet
2011
43½" x 41"
$4,000
∆Papercuts: White / cerulean
2012
80½" x 56"
$5,000
∆Papercuts: White/turquoise
2012
51" x 49½"
$4,000
∆Papercuts: White/cb
2012
44" x 42"
$4,000
 Installation System: Magnets attached to nail / washer / spacers (All hardware provided by the artist)
 Installation: 2 hours / 3 people. Hang all large Papercuts at the same height. Wear gallery gloves.
 Travel Expenses: R/T airfare and lodging for curator to provide installation assistance on all works.
Indoor Tornado 2009
Installation Variable*
Paper cutout -Suspended
$8,000
Retaliation
2007
18" x 26½" x 34¾"
$2,500
Overpass
2008
20" x 27" x 32"
$2,500
∆Suburbs with Tornado 2009
14" x 26½" x 34"
$2,500
∆Ruin with Tornado
2009
23" x 25" x 28"
$2,500
∆Oil Platform on Fire
2011
16" x 29½" x 30"
$2,500
*(Height 125" – 180" / Base 40" wide / Top 96" circumference)
-† (minimum base size 30" width x 36" depth)
 Artist assistance desired for installation of Indoor Tonado
 Installation System: Suspended with wire / 4 hours / 3 people / Wear gallery gloves.
 Gallery to provide 2-5 pedestals / base size 30" width x 36" depth
 Gently remove dust from paper cutouts with soft clean brush (Provided in Condition Report Box)
LAUREN SCANLON www.laurenscanlon.com
5223 Rangeview Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90042 (310) 721-9898 [email protected]
Gates of Steel (Helen)
2011 76" x 61"
Dare I Be Happy? (Marigold) 2011 52" x 48"
Southern Nights (Barbara)
2011 52" x 48"
Sweet Torment (Sorrel II) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
Sweet Torment (Sorrel III) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
Collision (Selena I)
2010 17½" x 15¼"*
The Love Battle (Wilda II) 2010 17½" x 15¼"*
A Girl Alone (Lorraine III) 2011 17½" x 15¼"*
*(Framed)
 Installation System: 3 unframed works suspended from mounted wall brackets: 2 hours / 3 people.
 Wear gallery gloves.
 Framed works standard wall mounted installation.
*Installation System for suspended works uses 8’ Sheet rock Metal Drywall Corner Bead (available at Lowes), push
pins and brass brads
Half Soles*
2010
96" x 96"
Sewn shoe repair shop tickets, encaustic
$10,000
 Installation: Wall mounted: 3 hours / 2 people Suspended: 3 hours 2 people
A Few of Her Favorite Things*
2010
96" x 96"
Sewn inventory index cards, encaustic
$10,000
Yours, Mine, and Ours*
2011
96" x 96"
Sewn paper collage, encaustic
$10,000
Social Register
2009
36" x 36"
Sewn parental rolodex, encaustic
$5,000
 Installation: Wall mounted with toothpicks inserted into predrilled holes. 2 hours / 1 person
*(May be suspended or hung against the wall)
∆Forest of Words
2010
Dimensions variable
$20,000
 Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Suspended from ceiling mounted brackets
∆Shadow Language
2008
144" x 144"
$8,000
 Installation: 8 hours / 2 people / Pinned to wall with straight pins on an 8" center grid.
∆ -INDICATES OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL WORKS
 Refer to Condition Report Binder for detailed installation instructions.
 Instructions are also packed with individual works in their shipping boxes.
Gower can assist with the installation of all works with the exception of Forsyth’s November 7, 1940 (For Tubby)
$400
$400
$400
$400
$400
Observations
By Teresa Bramlette Reeves
I was asked to write a short essay about the work in this show. My qualifications for
this job include an affinity for paper (the result of years of working on that surface with
various drawing and painting tools and media), and a deep interest in the visual
presentation of ideas (gained from my practice as an artist, art historian and curator). I
know only one artist in this show personally, Reni Gower. I have few, if any,
preconceptions about this work or the individuals involved. I have simply looked at the
work, read the artist statements, and thought about the confluence of certain themes
and practices. Each focuses on their process—the ancient technique of paper cutting-but the seven women also share certain post-minimalist strategies, such as the use of
repetition, grids, and often, a reduced palette. The labor intensive, craft-like nature of
the sometimes obsessively detailed and always quite beautiful work, also suggests a
feminist impulse. I will discuss my observations in greater detail below.
Paper cutting has various names in various cultures: Papel Picado (literally punched or
perforated paper) in Mexico; Scherenschnitte in Germany; Wycinanki in Poland and
Silhouettes in France, to name but a few. Spreading from China and Japan to Central
Asia and from there to Europe and on to colonies in the Americas, the art of cutting
paper also flourished in areas that were not influenced by the historical east to west
trading routes. Though often considered primarily a preoccupation for women (in
certain areas, it was a necessary skill for a future bride of a particular class), men have
often practiced and perfected this mode of picture making.
Paper, even a modern, synthetic product such as Tyvek, is a thin, relatively fragile art
material. The cutting, accomplished with sharp knives, lasers and/or stamping devices
is, in comparison, a rather violent tool. Delicate, yet decisive, the work is unforgiving.
You can’t cover imperfect marks with more paint or graphite. Nor can you erase. You
can only subtract from your substrate, creating an ever more porous skin. And even as
it breathes through these punctures, the structure weakens. This fallibility becomes the
strength and the wonder of the work. It adds to the precious quality and thus, the
technique can influence the concept. Pure white designs seem sanctified, images of
disaster are laced with a sense of human frailty, and printed materials become tinged
with nostalgia. Everything is dearer because it is so easily lost.
Reni Gower, Jaq Belcher and Lenka Konopasek all utilize the purity of white paper.
Belcher talks about her reductive, quiet process as a way to induce a meditative state.
She changes the paper’s smooth surface by creating tags or lifted areas that catch and
hold light or cast shadows. Or she will gather the excised bits into new arrangements.
In these gatherings there is a suggestion of stars and galaxies, leaves or tears or rain
drops--a mass composed of tiny parts.
Gower has an equally reduced approach and she writes of the work as offering her a
kind of escape. Removed from the duties of daily life for a few hours, she sits with a box
cutter in her basement studio and methodically, carefully, slowly slices through a sheet
of heavy paper to reveal a series of intricate patterns. With the precision of a surgeon,
she removes unwanted material while maintaining the integrity and overall health of
the body/structure. The beauty of the interconnected lines brings to mind lace,
wrought iron, filigree, window tracery, and the Celtic knots that were her inspiration.
Color is sometimes utilized in the background, creating an aura of reflected light that
adds to our sense of awe.
Both Gower and Belcher rely on the pristine nature of the paper, the intricacy of
repeated patterns, the strength of simple shapes, and an implied infinity.
Konopasek, though equally minimal in her methodology, depicts realistic scenes of
destruction. A whirling tornado touches down in a neighborhood; a fire spreads
through urban streets. Everything is silent and white, but the threat of damage is
apparent in the randomness of nature and the carelessness of man. Within these
miniaturized tableaus Konopasek seeks the sublime, the seductive beauty of unstoppable
power, the thing that causes one to stare fixedly at a raging fire or marvel at the storm
sweeping across the landscape. The whiteness in this work, and that of Gower and
Belcher, becomes the screen for our own projections. We are drawn into the worlds
they make, sliding in and out and through the perforated surfaces.
While Konopasek offers dramatizations of an event, Michelle Forsyth provides
abstractions. She uses photographs of disaster sites, such as the Exxon Valdez oil
tanker spill of 1989, as a jumping off point. Breaking down the image into a series of
“pixels,” dots or swirls that loosely follow value and shape (in the manner of Seurat or,
perhaps, Chuck Close), Forsyth creates a colorful topography that mimics the horrible
beauty of, for instance, oil floating on a rolling surface of water. One is offered multiple
perspectives of the invoked disaster—from above, from the peripheries, close up, and far
away. The result is a varied understanding of the event based on one’s point of view,
which is richly metaphoric and telling. In addition, the subtlety of the allusion to the
original source increases the sense of disconnection that many feel in relationship to
problems occurring outside of their immediate environment.
Selected text is central to Lauren Scanlon and Daniella Woolf. Scanlon merges pages
from paperback romance novels and floral bed sheet designs in work that was influenced
by her grandmother’s fondness for both. The erotic appeal of the so-called “bodiceripper” tales, and the sheets that are often the surface for real, dreamed, and imagined
sexual encounters stand in marked contrast to a Southern Baptist heritage that would
push both conversations under the proverbial cover. The intimacy suggested by
Scanlon’s sources is now expressed through veils of text and delicate hand work.
Appropriately, in this context, sex itself is nowhere to be seen.
In contrast, Woolf takes mundane, utilitarian aspects of an ordered life (as expressed in
index cards, blueprints, journal pages, and other ephemera) and puts them on display. A
personality is revealed by what he or she saves or via notes, drawings and personal
photographs. We see the archive, the collection as a whole, and then we peruse the
details, preserved for us as art.
Text is also central to Béatrice Coron’s work in this show, though not in a direct way.
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s book, Invisible Cities, she invents fictional worlds that are
detailed in cross sections that show the various strata (those living above the surface
and those working below the ground). Working in black Tyvek that is then placed
against a white wall or surface, the cut outs are reminiscent of silhouettes and perhaps,
for some, the cut paper work of Kara Walker. Coron’s landscape references both the old
world and the new with a steampunk aesthetic. Workers toil in dark recesses while
other inhabitants dance in grand ballrooms. Travel and movement through space is
suggested via trains, balloons, ships, stairways, cranes, paths, ladders and more. Day
and night are both evidenced. It is an active, if two-dimensional, shadow realm.
Each artist gives us the opportunity to marvel at her skill, while also offering a sense of
Place--a threatened terrain, a quiet space, an urban landscape, a bed chamber, a
storeroom of memorabilia. Each location provides a point of departure, the trailhead for
our mental hike. Thus, just as the artist has had her own experience with the work
during its creation, we too are privy to our own journey.
It is within this notion that I locate one aspect of the feminist bent I find in (or perhaps,
impose on) the work. The lure of the miniature, which is specific to the work of Coron
and Konopasek and can be linked to Forsyth and Belcher, becomes a point of projection
for interiority or inner life. Susan Stewart, in her wonderful book On Longing:
Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection, describes the
miniature object as having just that appeal. (Think about the actions of a young girl
playing with her baby doll, imagining her future or unconsciously re-enacting aspects of
her own life.) In this sense, one is given a way to control and/or understand part of the
greater world—a world that has been predominantly shaped by men.
Other clues to my impression of feminist leanings among this group of artists is their
unapologetic embrace of beauty, and the contrast between the delicate skin-like working
surface and the visceral nature of the cutting tool. By refusing to counter stereotypes of
art made by women, and through references to the scarred or cut body, these artists
update ideas central to Feminist work of the past few decades.
We are attracted by the beauty of this work and then pulled into each private space to
explore, caught in a fragile web of finely cut lines.
Teresa Bramlette Reeves is currently the Director/Curator for the Art Museum & Galleries at Kennesaw
State University. Her background includes work as the Gallery Director/Curator for the Atlanta
Contemporary Art Center, teaching at Georgia State University, and curatorial assistant roles at The
New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Guggenheim Museum. In addition to having organized
numerous exhibitions and projects, Bramlette Reeves is a practicing artist who has shown extensively and
was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Grant, and Fellowship Residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Cite
International des Arts (Paris), Hambidge Center, and the P.S. 1 National Studio Program.
PO Box 656 Carrboro NC 27510‐0656 Phone 919.942.8235 [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GOWER AND REEVES WIN AWARD The SECAC Award for Outstanding Exhibition and Catalogue of Contemporary Materials is given in recognition of an exhibition (within the last two years) of contemporary materials that by its design, installation, and/or catalogue is considered exemplary. This year’s winner was for Papercuts, curated by Reni Gower, Professor in the Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jurors found that the premise of the show as a bold idea and found the essay informative. Papercuts is an exhibition that has been displayed at numerous venues across the country including: The Center for the Living Arts, Space 301, in Mobile, Al, The Welch School Galleries of Georgia Sate University, Atlanta, GA, The Heron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, IN, and The University of Akron, Myers School of Art, Akron, OH. The catalog essay is by Teresa Bramlette Reeves, Director of the Kennesaw State University Art Museums. Founded in 1942 as a regional conference, today SECAC is a national non‐profit organization devoted to the promotion of visual art education, history, theory, design, and studio practice in higher education through facilitating cooperation among teachers and administrators in universities, colleges, professional institutions and the communities served by their institutions. SECAC (Southeastern College Art Conference) is a non‐profit organization that promotes the study and practice of the visual arts in higher education on a national basis. SECAC facilitates cooperation and fosters on‐going dialog about pertinent creative, scholarly and educational issues among teachers and administrators in universities, colleges, community colleges, professional art schools, and museums; and among independent artists and scholars. Membership includes individuals and institutions from the original group of southeastern states that founded the conference: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Over the decades, however, SECAC has grown to include individual and institutional members from across the United States, becoming the second largest national organization of its kind. SECAC is an affiliated organization of the national College Art Association and participates in its annual conferences. January 27, 2012
http://www.burnaway.org/2012/01/papercutsdismantles-old-notions-of-the-art-as-mere-decorativecraft/#comment-28523
Papercuts Dismantles Old
Notions of the Art As Mere
Decorative Craft
Written By Jerry Cullum on
January 1, 2012 in Art Reviews
Jaq Belcher, Solace, hand-cut paper
(12960 seeds), 108 x 108 inches. Photo
courtesy Welch School Galleries.
The Welch School Galleries’ Papercuts exhibition
(a touring show curated by Virgina Commonwealth
University professor Reni Gower) is a reminder that
a surprising amount of contemporary art is making
use of the ancient craft of papercutting, beyond the
suddenly fashionable paper wigs of Atlanta’s own
Paper-Cut-Project. (The cutout outlines of the Paper
Twins are a separate practice from the art in which
the cut pattern itself is the art, no drawing involved.)
Some viewers may remember ex-Atlantan Julie
Püttgen’s exhibition of international cut-paper art a
few years ago at Georgia Tech’s Paper Museum, a
show that featured some of the same aesthetic
devices found in this current exhibition, but fewer of
them than you might expect. Since this exhibition,
like Püttgen’s earlier one, includes artists from a
number of countries, the extended international
appeal of the medium is evident.
Reni Gower, Papercuts: White/orange, 2010, acrylic and handcut paper, 78 x 56 inches. Image courtesy Welch School
Galleries.
Like many of her contemporaries, curator Gower resorts to a monumental scale, designed to
undercut (as it were) the medium’s traditional intimacy. Beginning from traditional Celtic
knotwork patterns, she produces nearly floor-to-ceiling pieces in which the voids and shadows of
the cut patterns interact with a pale pastel background rectangle painted on the wall (apparently;
there is no explanation given of this physical detail, but the color seems too subtle to be from a
reflective backing on the paper itself).
Installation view of Papercuts, Jaq
Belcher's Solace (left) hangs beside
Béatrice Coron’s Invisible City
(right). Photo by Rachel
Chamberlain.
This gentle formalism is taken
to its visionary limit in Jaq
Belcher’s mystical geometries,
which quote the mathematical
strategies, though not the
specific imagery, of everything
from Islamic tilework to
Tibetan mandalas. Her
rectangular sheet of paper
containing a regular pattern of
leaf-shaped ovals hangs above
a square arrangement on the
floor of the cut-out ovals, themselves punctuated by a consciously off-center circular void. The
bright whiteness of the paper itself becomes an essential part of the perceptual experience.
Lauren Scanlon, Gates of Steel (Helen), 2011, handcut romance novel book pages and gold thread, 76 x
61 inches. Image courtesy Welch School Galleries.
One way or another, the rest of the show is
entangled with history. Lauren Scanlon
might be regarded as the biographical bridge
between formalism and engagement in
human affairs; she cuts bedspread patterns
out of the sewn-together pages of the
romance novels she read at age ten, and the
romantic geometry of the floral imagery
taken from bedroom paraphernalia suits the
torridly florid prose of the cheap-paper texts
she has dissected.
Michelle Forsyth combines a rather esoteric
formalism with a fascination with the sites
and reports of historical disasters. One body
of work consists of quoted descriptions
hand-punched into sheets of paper; New York Times, March 26, 1911, for example, consists of
the dot-matrix text “Her dress caught on a wire, and the crowd watched her hang there till her
dress burned free and she came toppling down.” Forsyth also produces elaborately constructed,
even more obliquely titled assemblages of circular pieces of paper that are meant to form details
from photographs of disaster sites; it is to my discredit that I was unable to discern any
meaningful visual pattern in the examples on view, which despite their complex combination of
visual references offer more conceptual pleasures than perceptual ones.
Lenka Konopasek, Indoor Tornado, 2009, materials and
dimensions vary. Image courtesy Welch School Galleries.
Lenka Konopasekis the other connoisseur of
catastrophe in this exhibition, but her cut-paper
sculptures of fire and collapsing structures are
simultaneously easy to read and edgily
provocative in their appropriation of a pictorial
style generally associated with childhood
innocence rather than the manmade disasters
visited on urban societies. Her small cityscapes
are accompanied by a spectacular evocation of
natural disasters in a floor-to-ceiling
representation of a tornado.
Béatrice Coron, Invisible City, 2008, hand-cut Tyvek,
45 x 324 inches. Image courtesy Welch School Galleries.
For all the spectacle of Konopasek’s tornado
and Gower’s large-scale knot patterns, Béatrice
Coron’s wall-spanning homage to (not
illustration of) Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities is
the standout piece of the exhibition. Executed in
the black-paper silhouette form made familiar in
the U.S. by Kara Walker,
Coron’s Invisible City consists
of an immense number of
autonomous vignettes of urban
activities ranging from the
everyday to the utterly
mysterious, from children’s
games and animals foraging in
trash receptacles to skeletons
dancing and engaging in piano
recitals. The effect is brilliantly
mesmerizing, and the slippages
of visual narrative involved are
sufficient to guarantee long and
fascinated viewing.
Béatrice Coron, Invisible City
(detail), 2008, hand-cut Tyvek, 45 x
324 inches. Image courtesy Welch
School Galleries.
Daniella Woolf’s wall
hangings of stitched-together
notecards or shoe-repair claim
tickets exist at the opposite
end of the visual spectrum
from Coron’s imaginative
extravagance. Though there
are ample details to be had
amid the patterning, they are
the details of daily repetition,
the notes we make, or the
little devices by which we
keep track of transactions.
The scale of the works, somewhere in the vast midrange between endearing intimacy and
attention-arresting monumentality, conveys the way in which a long succession of small events
adds up to a quotidian reality too big to ignore but too undifferentiated to hold our interest.
Installation view of two
of Daniella Woolf's
works: (left) Half Soles,
2011, sewn shoe receipts
and encaustic, 96 x 96
inches; (right) A Few of
Her Favorite Things,
2010, sewn 3 x 5
inventory cards and
encaustic, 96 x 96
inches. Image courtesy
Welch School Galleries.
Taken collectively, then,
Gower’s selection of
works demonstrates the
capacity of a medium
once dismissed as a
minor decorative art to
embody complex conceptual messages as well as thoroughly contemporary aesthetic strategies.
That alone makes a visit eminently worthwhile, above and beyond the pleasures of encountering
such different types of emotionally arresting work.
Papercuts, curated by Reni Gower, will remain up at the Welch School Galleries of Georgia
State University through February 3, 2012. A closing reception will be help on Friday, February
3, from 5 to 8PM. The galleries are open Monday through Friday from 10AM to 6PM.
'Papercuts' at Space 301 a 'poetic interplay of
light and shadow'
Published: Mobile Press Register / Monday, October 10, 2011, 8:59 AM
http://blog.al.com/entertainment-press-register/2011/10/post_82.html
By Thomas B. Harrison
Cover for "Papercuts" exhibit at Space
301. (Courtesy Reni Gower)
The artists who contributed their
work to the “Papercuts” exhibit at
Space 301 hail from Australia,
France, Czech Republic, Canada,
and the United States, and they
bring a broad range of international
perspectives to the contemporary
art of paper cutting, says curator
Reni Gower.
“Using all manner of tools and
paper, the artists create works that
range from narrative commentaries
to complex structural abstractions,”
she says in her curator’s statement. “Their works are bold contemporary statements that celebrate
the subtle nuance of the artist’s hand through a process that traces its origins to sixth-century
China.
“Light, shadow and color play key roles, transforming this ancient technique into dynamic
installations filled with delicate illusions.”
“Narrative metaphor and transformative time infuse all the works. Whether manifested as
silhouettes, romanticized fictions, enigmatic re-enactments, cryptic scripts or poetic abstractions,
the artists address historical, cultural, and personal identity.
“ By encrypting their content with obsessive labor intensive processes (cutting, rolling,
punching, folding, pinning) the artists submerge themselves and their viewers in a meditative and
liberating experience.”
“Papercuts: The Poetic Interplay of Light and Shadow” will open with a reception 6-9 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 14, during the LoDa Artwalk and remain on view through Dec. 17 at Space 301 on
Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile. (See information box.)
The exhibit will travel to six additional venues into 2013. Mobile is the first stop.
Beatrice Coron, "Invisible Cities" detail. (Courtesy of
the artist)
Gower, curator for the exhibit. is a professor
in the painting and printmaking department
at Virginia Commonwealth University. She
also was curator for the exhibit “Constructs,”
which was shown in Space 301 during
September.
“This series began in 2009 while I was
teaching a five-week summer school drawing
course at the Glasgow School of Art in
conjunction with Virginia Commonwealth
University’s Visual Artist and Writers
Workshop in Scotland,” she says, “At this
time I was also researching Celtic motifs as a
cultural symbol.
“Subsequently, I developed stencils based on these symbols as the internal structure imbedded in
my paper-cut works. When I returned to the United States, I began investigating the history of
paper cutting and looking for contemporary artists who were transforming this ancient art in new
and exciting ways.”
Around the same time, several museum featured contemporary cut paper works, according to
Gower.
Those included the New York Museum of Art and Design’s “Slash: Paper Under the Knife” that
was part of its “Materials and Process” series that examines the renaissance of traditional
handcraft materials and techniques in contemporary art and design; and the Hunterdon Museum
of Art’s exhibition “Cutters,” which included media other than paper.
“While inspired by these exhibitions, I did not want to replicate them in either scale or scope,”
Gower says. “Ultimately, the concept of ‘Papercuts’ evolved fluidly over the course of one year
and I chose to showcase multiple works by a small group of artists.
“Each artist contributes a unique sensibility within a complex (often installation-based) construct
that has hand-cut paper at its core. The laborious processes employed by these artists infuse their
works with meditative and reflective qualities that are charged with narrative, metaphor and
beauty.”
Artist Lenka Konopasek, a native of the Czech Republic, lives and works in Salt Lake City. She
describes herself as “mostly a painter, but I always liked working with 3-D objects.”
“I started working on the paper cutout as an addition to my paintings dealing with natural and
manmade disasters,” she says in her artist’s statement. “Initially I was attracted to the paper pop-
up technique for its playfulness and accessibility. But I wanted to bring in a more sinister subject
to the work.
“Like in my paintings, there is a quiet beauty in these 3-D cutouts that is deceiving. Upon a
longer observation they bring up questions of longevity, consequences of human behavior,
differences in cultures and national attitudes.
“Whether people engage in wars with nature or with each other, the results are equally disturbing
and damaging. Human imagination for cruelty is boundless, and any war or disaster brings it on
like nothing else can. I am interested in the conflict of conscience during these edgy situations
and its consequences.”
Konopasek says she prefers to “emphasize the contrast between a first-glance appearance of the
strangely beautiful image and my fascination with them and the harsh consequences of the
disasters depicted in them.”
The artist is currently working on series of paintings about natural disasters.
“My work will be featured in the New American Painting magazine and Studio Visit magazine
later this fall,” she says. “I am creating a couple of 3-D pieces for the National Museum of Dance
in (New York) and getting ready for a one-person show in the Salt Lake City Public Library next
year.”
Australian born Jaq Belcher lives and works in New York City, where she is a studio member of
the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Recently her papercuts were featured in the exhibition
“Cutters” at the Hunterdon Museum of Art.
Belcher’s work “explores aspects of consciousness and alternative states of being,” according to
her artist’s statement. “Her focus is on the process of reduction and repetition, the manipulation
of matter, . . . which allows and requires stillness. The process hones concentration and therefore
the power of the mind through focus.
Belcher’s exploration of that idea began taking a visual direction when she pondered the beauty
of a single expanse of white paper, she says in her statement: “How can one enhance such a
simple and beautiful void? And so the process of reduction was born with the resulting works
being beautifully patterned and complex.
“They are Belcher’s proclamation . . . to the power of silence (and) testify to the idea of ‘being’
in the moment and completely ‘present.’”
Belcher’s works are intended for natural light, which allows the spectrum of white light to be
visible through reflection and angles of the paper. The artist says she “references ideas in eastern
and western meditation practices, inner alchemy, esoteric philosophy and sacred geometry.”
“The pieces I have in ‘Papercuts’ represent a cross-section of varying ways I work,” she says.
“The title of the show merely refers to the most basic observation of my work. The work I show
are sheets of paper that are the result and remains of various rituals, ideas, travels or concepts
that I may have studied or read about prior to beginning a work.”
[har: Belcher says she admires the work of artists Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Shirazeh
Hoshiary, James Turrell and Marina Abromovitch. She is working on a solo exhibition to be
shown at Tinney Contemporary in Nashville in December. She will then resume work on a body
of much larger works “so I can experiment with the ‘fields’ of energy on a larger scale and play
with the geometry and scale of the human form.” : ]
French artist Béatrice Coron lived in Egypt, Mexico and China before relocating to New York
City. In addition to the art of paper cutting and artist’s books, she also creates public art
commissions in stainless steel and aluminum. Her work has been actively exhibited in France
and the United States and is included in major collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, National Gallery of Art and the Walker Art Center.
“By cutting paper I look for hidden secrets behind the surface,” she says. “My work tells stories.
I invent situations, cities and worlds. These compositions include memories, associations of
words, ideas, observations and thoughts that unfold in improbable juxtapositions.
“These invented worlds have their own logic and patterns. The ‘whole nine yards’ format
requires viewers to discover the territories as in an atlas, where every place is connected and
each viewer has to find his or her way.”
Coron says her work in this show is 9 yards long and 45 inches high, “a panorama. I made while
in residency at Lehman College in the Bronx because they have very long walls.”
“I used Tyvek that I placed on the wall, three levels of it, then I made rough sketches and started
to cut with an Exacto knife,” she says. “I couldn’t finish the work during the residency . . . (and)
a few months later I had a residency at Gallery Aferro in New Jersey, and I worked each
papercut separately.
Lauren Scanlon cutting paper in
her Peoria Cordage studio.
(Courtesy of the artist)
“I still call it an edition of
three, but in fact they are
multiple originals — the
skyline is the same but
some scenes change on
each of them. In this edition
of three, there is one white
and 2 black.”
Southern born and raised,
Lauren Scanlon is an
independent,
interdisciplinary artist. She earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from the
University of Memphis and worked as a human statue in New Orleans and Asheville, N.C.,
before earning an MFA in printmaking from Ohio State University in 2007. Her work has been
shown extensively throughout the Southeast and Midwest and she has received awards, grants
and residencies.
Represented by Penland Gallery, N.C., her work is in the print and artist book collections of
MOMA, the University of Maine and Penland School of Craft. Scanlon has eight pieces in the
“Papercuts” exhibit. Three are large scale — two are 4 by 4 feet and one is about 6.5 by 6.5 feet;
five are smaller, around 9 by 12 inches.
“The pieces are made from romance novel book pages that I have sewn together with gold
thread,” the artist says. “After they are sewn together, I cut the pages into a pattern based on
bedsheet designs.
“I use an Exacto knife, book pages and gold thread. I’ve been working with these bedsheets and
book pages for a few years now. I’m interested in patterns of all kinds — and narratives (or
stories), and disrupting patterns or changing them. I’m making some new work now that focuses
more on disrupting patterns.”
Scanlon was an artist-in-residence at Soaring Gardens in Pennsylvania for September, and
currently she is work on a residency at the Millay Colony.
Michelle Forsyth is a Canadian artist working in Pullman, Wash. She is an associate professor
and head of painting at Washington State University.
“All of my work is made on and with paper,” she says. “This impulse stems from a childhood
spent on a sailboat where the portability of the material provided an economic means to occupy
time. Mark making — from thousands of tiny, sinuous brush strokes and cut and stacked paper
flowers, to hundreds of diluted layers of watercolor —is an expression I find akin to mourning.”
Thematically, Forsyth’s work focuses on subjects associated with tragedy and loss.
“Much of it is made in response to a large archive of images that range from depictions of human
suffering to documentations of sensational or epic disasters. Viewing this kind of imagery
through digital media sources serves to both distance us from these events and create ways of
looking that are, at once, both voyeuristic and apathetic.
“As I find myself confronted by the onslaught of these images in our culture, I mourn our
tolerance of violence in the media and our inability to express a sense of public grief. Through
the production of my work I seek to find ways to express a sense of vulnerability and pathos in
response to tragic public events.”
Forsyth says she is particularly interested in exploring “the fluidity of memory and work to reexamine past events in new ways.”
“Counter to the images of spectacle that serve as the source material for this work, I have been
traveling to sites of historical disaster to document what is left there after the passage of time,”
she says. “The resulting work, based on my own photographs, is done by hand, which facilitates
a slowness that runs counter to the ubiquity of their original sources.
“Using a compassionate process that is part requiem and part cathartic obsession, I translate
these presences into thousands of sinuous loops of undulating color, intricately stacked and cut
paper flowers, and diluted layers of watercolor to inscribe these images with traces of my own
gestures, simultaneously testing the imprint of my own presence while evoking ideas about
memory, loss and grief.”
© 2012 al.com. All rights reserved.
’PAPERCUTS’ at SPACE 301
WHAT: “Papercuts: A Poetic Interplay of Light and Shadow”
WHEN: Oct. 14-Dec. 17
WHERE: Space 301, Conti and Jackson streets, downtown Mobile
RECEPTION: 6-9 p.m. Friday during LoDa Artwalk; curator’s talk with artists at 7 p.m.
ARTISTS: Jaq Belcher, Béatrice Coron, Michelle Forsyth, Reni Gower, Lenka Konopasek,
Lauren Scanlon, Daniella Woolf
HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; noon until 5 p.m. Sunday
ADMISSION: free and open to the public
INFO: 251-208-5671 or www.space301.com

Papercuts - Virginia Commonwealth University

Transcription

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