When artists create art made from paper, it is referred to as paper sculpting art. Paper sculpture artists can create a range of different artworks, such as paper busts, paper statues, and even abstract art made from paper. There are even some paper artists who have taken this art form to the next level, creating some of the most famous paper sculptures in the history of art.
Producing paper sculpting art is a complex and challenging process as paper sculpture artists need to make sure that the artwork is stable and won’t degrade quickly.
Paper, being a rather fragile material to use for making sculptures, needs to be used in a very specific way, as well as approached with a great deal of precision and patience. Many people consider origami, the famous Japanese art of folding paper into various forms, to be a type of paper sculpting art.
There is a significant distinction between paper sculptures and origami; unlike the original Japanese origami, paper sculpture is constructed from many pieces of paper rather than just one.
In paper sculpting art, paper is not only the material object used but also the subject of the piece. Let’s explore the best examples of famous paper sculptures and the paper sculpture artists who created them.
1. The Tuileries (1979) by Gilbert and George
Gilbert & George are most known for their brilliantly coloured graphic-style photo-based works, but they also made many “living sculptures” between 1970 and 1974. In 1974, they produced their most renowned work, The Tuileries.
They include themselves as subjects in a number of their artworks, providing their bodies as the canvas for their artistic expression and wearing similar outfits to present themselves as a unified creative entity.
2. Paper Plates (2008) by Hamra Abbas
This series is a subtle illustration of Abbas’s unique ability to mould craft with technology. It combines traditional geometric designs from the iconography of Islam with high-tech manufacturing thanks to her work with an Islamabad paper plate business. She works in a variety of media, including paper collages, soft plasticine sculptures, paintings, and videos.
Abbas’ Paper Plates, which are visually similar to the Victorian lace doily, use cultural icons to discuss manufacturing and globalization ideas. Hamra Abbas uses a variety of mediums to investigate identity, cultural history, and religion.
3. Sorrow (2009) by Sher Christopher
Sher Christopher, a British artist who is inspired by literature, life, music, and films, appreciates the challenge of producing only art made from paper. The sculpture is very personal to the creator. Her mother was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009, and had just a few months left to live. It was the most tragic news Christopher had ever received. She couldn’t work during that period and reported feeling completely lost.
This image kept appearing in her dreams and thoughts, and it was the only one that could reflect her emotional turmoil.
The setting in the artwork is empty, merely functional, just as the world seems around you all you feel is despair and profound loss. The artist believes that black is a colour that provides us security in times of loss since we don’t bother about what to wear or how we appear. The redshirt refers to her mother, an incredibly brilliant, creative, passionate, and amusing person, and the red also represents the artist’s anger and grief at how the sickness claimed her life.
4. What Lies Beneath (2011) by Gabby O’Connor
What Lies Beneath is an eye-catching artwork that resembles an overhanging iceberg. However, it will not give you frozen fingers or make your breath frosty as it is not really made of ice. Instead, the eye-catching piece was made using blue-green staples and tissue paper. This paper sculpting artwork was first exhibited in the House of Walwera in Auckland, New Zealand, and is made up of thousands of little triangles which were coated in shellac. The light streamed through the artwork like stained glass, creating an ethereal glow that is both peaceful and mesmerizing.
5. Vortextural (2013) by Jen Stark
Vortextural is a well-known paper sculpting artwork by paper artist Jen Stark. As with many of her works, Vortextural features a spiralling vortex of colours that draw the viewer into the work. Jen Stark’s art resembles psychedelic vortexes, multi-coloured gateways that are able to transport you to another realm. Her creations encompass full-colour spectrums made from laminated paper, radiating outward from a prismatic centre. These contrasting colors and the repetitive nature of her art provide a sense of motion and cyclical renewal as if you are looking into a hypnotic tunnel.
Stark’s art centres around this hypnotic feeling, both in terms of its aesthetics and the time-consuming process of stacking hundreds of layers of materials.
6. No Title (Troublehead) (2015) by Peter Callesen
No Title (Troublehead) by Peter Callesen features a three-dimensional head made from paper and is one of the artist’s most famous paper sculptures. Peter Callesen is considered to be one of the most well-known paper sculpture artists, and he has impacted many of the artists who work in the medium today. Peter Callesen uses white A4 paper to make a large array of objects, as well as installation. He turns paper into amusing sculptures, animals, people, or natural motifs.
7. Bust of Michelangelo’s David (2015) by Li Hongbo
Li Hongbo has often been cited as the world’s most famous paper artist. He is a world-renowned artist known for his amazing paper sculpting art pieces. His sculptures are typically assembled with glue, and he produces blocks of paper that he forms into various people, objects, and paper busts of Classical Greek and Italian statues by glueing together up to tens of thousands of separate sheets.
The Bust of Michelangelo’s David is one such example. It could easily be misidentified as a porcelain reproduction of a famous sculpture. Only upon careful inspection does one see that the sculpture is entirely constructed of paper.
8. Magic Circle (2017) by Rogan Brown
Bacteria can be found all around as well as within us: a thriving environment that, along with fungi and viruses, forms our microbiome. Rogan Brown’s elaborate paper sculpting artwork envisions what it could look like to observe such a microbiological colony up close: a kaleidoscope of repetitive designs and natural shapes. Rogan Brown studies natural structures and organic development. Brown’s works are mostly made of paper; he cuts the material with a scalpel knife, and the task of making a single piece can often require months.
Rogan Brown’s art combines art and science by depicting cell structures, bacteria, diseases, vegetal shapes, fossils, coral, insects, shells, and so on. Paper cutting was chosen as a medium for his investigation of our shifting experience of nature because of its simplicity and accessibility.
9. Mountain Gorilla (2021) by Calvin Nicholls
Calvin Nicholls, a Canadian artist, produces multi-layered paper sculptures. Since 1986, he has spent 4 weeks to 2 years on each work. Drawings are used to create a pattern for the components, which are then cut out with X-acto knives and scalpels. Nicholls’ work has been shown all around North America, and he has produced over 500 paper sculptures to date.
Nicholl’s explorations with paper sculpture started in 1984, and paper sculpture soon became a significant feature in the majority of his design clients’ projects and campaigns. It was just a matter of time until his lifelong passions for art and animals collided.
He had recently finished a bird of prey with expanded wings for Noranda Recycled Papers when he realized how well the layering of feathers matched the craft of paper sculpting. His first limited edition print series debuted in 1989 in Ontario at the Buckhorn Wildlife Festival, and in 1992, the nationwide Trust commissioned 15 wildlife sculptures for a nationwide campaign.
Notable Paper Sculpture Artists
UK-based artist Helen Musselwhite, draws inspiration from nature, particularly the English countryside, which she adores. Her colourful, unique, and cheery creations put a smile on anyone’s face. In 2005, artist Zoe Bradley found her passion for paper while working on experimental hand-pleated displays for Michiko Koshino, the Japanese fashion designer.
Although her career in fashion looked promising, it was the use of paper as a medium that proved to be an essential turning point in her career as the first step towards the fascinating paper sculpting artworks for which she is now famous.
Zim&Zou are two Nancy-based French artists, Lucie Thomas, and Thibault Zimmerman. They studied graphic design together but subsequently opted to focus on installations built of handcrafted things made of physical materials such as wood, paper, thread, and so on, rather than computer design. They construct all of the pieces that make up their installations by hand, from sketching to cutting and assembly.
Naomi J. Kendall experimented with paper as a building medium as a child, aspiring to be a sculptor. Over time, the paper itself became the focal point. Her work has a three-dimensional feel to it since she cuts, folds, and weaves it by hand. Museum trips, colourful fabrics and ceramics, and the little corners of the world she explores all inspire her work.
Raya Sader Bujana dropped out of school after studying architecture in Barcelona and Venezuela to focus on what he does best and loves most: paper art. He has made stop-motion movies, commissioned works, and sculptures, collaborated with companies such as DOIY and Camper, and is now working on new exhibitions. His strong foundation in architecture, as well as his appreciation of nature and its complex patterns, influenced his work.
Maud Vantours, a graduate of the Duperré school in Paris, works and lives in the city. Colour, material, and patterns all play an essential role in her work, particularly paper, which has become her favourite material. She sculpts it in three dimensions, layer by layer, superimposing paper and colours to produce inspiring volume patterns. Maud’s work elevates a commonplace element into a work of art.
In today’s digital age, paper art can seem more intriguing than ever. A simple sheet of paper has many possibilities: it may be folded, laser-cut, stacked, and sculpted into paper statues, paper busts, and many other weird and wonderful forms. Due to the nature of paper, it is not an easy material to work with and requires many years of practice to be able to master the art form. Maybe our list of famous paper sculptures will encourage you to find out more about art made from paper!
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