An exhibition : 'Paper' at the Saatchi Gallery, London

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

The Saatchi Gallery is one of my favourite London art spots. Always full of such interesting and unique contemporary works with what feels like very little art snobbery (despite it being owned by a ridiculously rich man and being in the middle of a very fancy pants part of london!)

Saatchi Gallery, London

Obviously, after finding out that there was an exhibition on Paper artworks while we were in London, we had to go there! It was full of some amazing works by an entirely new barrel of paper wizards (new to me only, probably quite well-known in the world of art) - both paper sculptors and those simply working 'on' paper.

Marcelo Jacome - Kite Planes 1

My favourite piece of the exhibition was Marcelo Jácome’s Planos-Pipas (‘kite-planes’ in the artist’s native Portugese). Filling up a whole room, you could duck under and walk around and get totally lost in it's colourful brilliance. It was made of just bamboo, paper and thread and felt like it was just happily floating in space. Needless to say, I spent awhile in that there room!

Marcelo Jacome - Kite Planes
Marcelo Jacome - Kite Planes
Marcelo Jacome - Kite Planes

Another highlight was the paper cut trees series by Japanese artist, Yuken Teruya. He converted a whole range of paper bags (varying from a McDonalds takeaway bag to a Louis Vuitton shopping bag) and painstakingly cut out intricate little trees from them. The result was a series of almost private lightboxes mounted on the wall at eye level. The shadows cast by the trees were almost as great as the little figures they came from too. Truly beautiful and ridiculously ornate.

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Yuken Teruya - papercut trees 3
Yuken Teruya - papercut trees 4
Yuken Teruya - papercut trees 1


The exhibition is on until 3rd November 2013 (it looks better in real life than in my below average photos)
The Saatchi Gallery is located 5 minutes walk from Sloane Square station

The Wind Portal Installation // Najla El Zein

Monday, 23 September 2013

Wind Portal by Najla El Zein 3

This stunning installation by Lebanese artist and designer, Najla El Zein, was commissioned by the V&A museum for the 2013 London Design Festival. The 5,000 (hand folded!) paper windmills are joined together in strands to create an incredible 8 metre high gate that in combination with the provided (artificial) breeze, spin and whir as you walk through it.

Wind Portal by Najla El Zein 1
Wind Portal by Najla El Zein 4

It is not actually a physical gate but more of an optical illusion. It appears from a distance as a wall of paper that as you approach it seems to open up to let you through (apparently this is a effect known as 'trompe l'oeil')The exhibit is a fabulous combination of very clever design and divine construction.

Wind Portal by Najla El Zein 5
Wind Portal by Najla El Zein 6

All images via Najla El Zein
The exhibit will be at the V&A until 3rd November 2013. Catch it if you can! 

Moffitt.Moffit. for Raleigh Paper

Monday, 20 May 2013

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Here lie two things I love almost as much as my family... Colour and Paper!!

Clever and oh so sleek Sydney design firm, Moffitt.Moffitt. worked with supplier, Raleigh Paper (now under BJ Ball) to promote the importance of paper in creativity and communication. They created a series of sculptures and artworks in glorious colour which were then used across promotional material.

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The limited edition booklet documented the creative process of construction and then an A1 poster showed off it's gloriousness.

Moffitt.Moffit. for Raleigh Paper 1

Flowers in the heavens // Benja Harney

Monday, 22 October 2012

I am very slow in posting about this as it was way back in September when I was bowled over by this beautiful installation (whilst pushing a rather shouty one year old hastily through the building) Hanging below the dome of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney are these incredible paper florals in mouth watering colourful hues.

Benja Harney - qvb, sydney

Created by the hugely talented, Benja Harney, and produced in a factory on huge scale... "unlike any project he's done before" he says. That man's creative flair knows no bounds!

Benja harney

photos from Benja's Paperform blog (thankyou!!)

Anna-Wili Highfield // Wolf of wonder

Thursday, 19 July 2012

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I posted awhile ago about Anna and her amazing bird sculptures but today I just saw this wolf so had to share it. I can't stop staring at it... as though if I look away it's about to jump out and gobble my ear off. What a clever lady!

Sydney Biennale // Li Hongbo

Monday, 2 July 2012

I don't know if it's just that my eye naturally gravitates to paper artworks or if in fact almost everyone in the Sydney Biennale is favouring paper as their medium of choice, but it sure did make me happy to see so much of it this weekend. We caught the ferry out to Cockatoo Island to have a look at the installations and one artist in particular stole my paper heart... the work of Beijing artist Li Hongbo.

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Walking into his installation felt like entering Willy Wonka's Paper Factory. A sun streaked room completely filled with hundreds of paper fans of brilliant colour growing up from the floor all around us. A vision of beauty... or so you'd think...

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... but in actual fact all these beautiful blooming flower-like growths were actually formed of various gun models. Handguns, machine guns and all manner of guns... cleverly transformed into beautiful blooms. SO-DARN-JOLLY-GENIUS!

Some words from the artists mouth (or pen probably?!) More here:
The ‘flower’ in my work looks so bright and grandstanding, whether people can really comprehend the damage hidden behind it. When the muzzle points to any creature, no matter for what purpose, it represents the end of life or a painful struggle. We are all losers when the fall of lives reveal in our sight. 
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There was abit of a queue to get in the room which almost put us off, but it's well worth seeing if you're in Sydney... even now that I've given away the punchline!

Little Shirts in Lightbulbs // Nadia Tan

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Who would have thought it... to not only make miniature clothing but to then magically put them into lightbulbs!?? I do so love how peoples brains work and Nadia Tan has one very creative brain.

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I was first taken by her little paper creations above but then upon seeing her blog realised she is far far from being a one trick pony - little animals from clay, painted mugs, tea, handbound books, mobiles and muchas more - she is one clever lady! You can find here etsy shop here too.

Penguin

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Curious creatures // Zim&Zou

Thursday, 8 March 2012

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Zim&Zou are pretty handy with a scalpel and manage to transform all manner of ordinary objects into glistening paper masterpieces. These wonderful little creatures, from the Cabinet of Curiosities series, were made for the PICK ME UP Contemporary Graphic Art Fair to be held in London at the end of March. All those tiny little feathers! oh my!

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Love these neon retro analog pieces too.

Spring Orchard // Gloss Creative

Monday, 12 September 2011

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An amazing celebration of spring and craft has taken shape in the form of a massive orchard installation. It can be found at the GPO building in Melbourne and was created by the talented folks at Gloss Creative. There are over 2000 pieces of crafted paper and 30 feet of rope used as part of the artwork, aswell as many hands and hours of making. I hope it grows and makes it to Sydney!

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Found via one of my very favorite blogs... plenty of colour

Paper Lanterns

Monday, 4 July 2011

I posted a few years ago about Jurianne Matter's gorgeous paper products here and now theres a whole new range of lanterns to love. Gorgeously dutch in aesthetic... earthy colours and little glowing trees... so cute! You can buy them in 3 packs here

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The little tree cards are also quite lovely.

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(found via Bloesem)

A4 Paper Festival... almost here!

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Am very much looking forward to next week as the A4 paper festival is coming to Sydney town.  I talked about the Paper Convention launch awhile back and now the festival is really happening. HOORAY! The exhibition opening is on Tuesday night at the Paper Mill and features some supremely talented artists.

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Doubley exciting is that there are side events a plenty too. It'd be great to go to them all but that'd be just greedy... I have however just snapped up some tickets to a talk by Japanese paper extraordinaire, Yoshinobu Miyamoto...

Yoshinobu Miyamoto

... and a workshop run by Bianca Chang which is pretty darn exciting also. I am hoping to come out with some wonders just like hers (yeah right!!)

Bianca Chang

A giant congrats to Lisa for making such a great thing happen in little old Oz... I salute you from my little paper boat!

Wow!

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

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Who would've thought an object with such ugly connotations could look so amazing?! Part of a sculpture created by Yang Yongliang that is made up of black and white collaged photographs. 

Nativity // House Industries & Alexander Girard

Friday, 14 January 2011

Nativity

Christmas is over now. I know this... all the same, if I had a spare wad of bills I'd be snapping up this wonderful creation from House Industries to have on display all year round! My parents have a really old nativity and hours of entertainment were spent shuffling the inhabitants around (often in not so biblically accurate ways i must admit)

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What gives this set even more significance is that it's based on illustrations by textile designer Alexander Girard and this great poster in particular (& the famous little man above has the same arms as the angel in the poster) How great is that?!

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Neon mobile // Clara von Zweigbergk

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

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As I mentioned earlier in the week... festive decorations are on my mind at the moment... and while this one isn't strictly christmassy, it certainly is cute! Swedish designer, Clara von Zweigbergk is responsible for this joy and has even made a little video so you can get busy with it too.

(Found via Seesaw Design)

Tree of Codes // Jonathan Safran Foer

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Jonathan Safran Foer's, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close might just be my favourite read... and now on a complete tangent but equally brilliant, he's gone and created this most beautiful being.
VE2_exterior_insidecover
Tree of Codes was created by die cutting pages from Schultz's, The Street of Crocodiles, to tell a story of different (& delicate) proportions. Amazing!



Originally deemed as the book that could never be made, Belgian printers DieKeure proved everyone wrong and now exists this amazing and interactive sculptural book.

Three cheers for them!
VE2_interior2

[all images via Visual Editions]

Paper + Lego

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

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Two great things have joined forces courtesy of the wonderful cupid arrows of Muji! Lego that includes paper to create ever greater wonders is a winner in my book. Available here in an assortment of flavours (Circus, Animals, Sea, Transparent and Christmas)

MUJI-&-LEGO

BIG love

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Who says there's no original creative thought in todays age? I am gobsmacked and inspired on a daily basis by great art and design from around the web and world. Like this 'passion' made of matchsticks by Pei-San Ng... so simple and so grand.
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(found via The Cool Hunter)

Words + Scalpel = Annie Vought

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Wowee... these papercuts have officially made my heart flutter and my eyes go crossed! By way of documenting artifacts that once were (it hurts me to say that about handwritten letters), Californain artist Annie Vought finely cuts them out of paper to huge scale and frames them or hangs them... introducing them to a good friend the shadow while she's at it. Wonderful!

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this phone is pretty remarkable also...

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See many more here (and some amazing internal organs here too)
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