Artist Research for my PAPER project.

I've taken it upon myself to look into some other artists work as well as browsing through my piers blog pages. Looking into other artists work can, in my opinion only improve your own work. Whether it's because you take ideas and techniques from their pieces or use them as inspiration. Here are a few artists I stumbled upon while searching the internet and other sources.

Richard Sweeney

It only seems to make sense to look further into Richard Sweeney' work, considering he is helping out in our workshops and passing on some of his techniques. I have chosen a few pieces that I think really show his unique talent and skill at manipulating paper.

These first 3 pieces are not only cleverly crafted, they are also beautifully photographed to show a variety of angles and the light and dark of the piece. The paper appears to continuously keep on going as if it has no end.

The piece below is a fantastic example of Richard's work as it shows multiple techniques and both curved lines and smooth surfaces. 

This is a piece that answers the brief to design something to hang and fill the space in Somerset House. It's as if the paper takes the form of a falling ribbon caught in motion.

I really think that this piece works well with the photography. The concertina folding effect adds body and form to the simple material. 

Su Blackwell

While browsing the internet, I discovered an artist called Su Blackwell who's primary source is books. I found this very interesting as an existing raw material and the way she develops the books into art is truly inspirational. Here are some pieces that I think show her wonderful talent.

This piece is "Alice, a mad tea party" designed in 2007. All of the details, even the smallest items such as plates on the table are made up of pages from the book in which the paper sculpture is stood on.

Here is another Alice in Wonderland based piece titled "Down the rabbit hole" from 2008. You can clearly see on this piece where the hole has been cut and the pages are all revealed.

I love this piece and think that it is fascinating. 2009's "Hope" shows butterflies of all colours and sizes emerging from the pages of this book, as if finally released.

This is one of Su Blackwell' most recent sculptures (that I found), It was created in 2010 and is called "Hazel tree". The image below this one shows a close up of the leaves on the tree and the delicate branches. It must have been a very pain staking process to perfect this piece.

Not only does Su Blackwell design small scale pieces out of paper, she also created larger scale things such as this shop window display for a Christmas window at Nicole Farhi in London.

These last two examples of her work show an instillation designed called "The grass grows between her toes" created in 2010. It shows a very delicate and precise base to a much more simplistic top half.

Hopefully I will learn lots from both of these artists and be able to take ideas, technique and inspiration further into my own work.