Papercraft Research

 

Papercraft Research 

What is Papercraft?

 Papercraft is the artistic medium that uses the paper to create 2d or 3d objects. With using a medium like paper there are many ways in which the paper can be manipulated. It can be folded, cut, formed, taped together into the artist's vision.  

Hari and Deepti renowned papercraft artists comment on the nature of paper craft:

Paper is brutal in its simplicity as a medium. It demands the attention of the artist while it provides the softness, they need to mold it into something beautiful. It is playful, light, colourless, and colourful. It is minimal and intricate. It reflects light, creates depth and illusions in a way that it takes artist through a journey with limitless possibilities. 

Hari and Deepti carefully layer intricately cut pieces of paper within a shadow box to create scenes. The layers are then lit from the back by LED lights to create striking silhouettes. Each layer is cut from sturdy watercolour paper going from foreground to background. 

Each Image is visually impactful and seem to tell part of a story. They feel like a scene from an epic or folktale frozen in time. I believe their choice in using warm yellow orange lights are to evoke these fantastical feelings. What also lends itself to the stirring of those feelings in the viewer is the contrast between the pieces when lit and unlit. A somewhat flat image suddenly transformed appears to be almost magical.

I am really just inspired by the overall look of these pieces. The way it image is striking and stands on its own. I have always had a fascination with fantasy and folktales, so the look of these lightboxes really draws me too them. The way the lights illuminate the paper is something I too want to achieve the gradual transition of the paper from semi opaque in the midground to the opaque in the foreground. Most of all I really just like putting narrative in my art, I hope I can do so in a similar way as Hari and Deepti have.