PAPER ARTISTS
LaBotanica takes a particular and surprising look at 3D Collage Art through the eyes of these talented artists from France and Netherlands, who work with different identifying styles and techniques.
We discover refine beauty of Nature and enjoy its finest details which are captured in these collage masterpieces. Using various and curious materials such as laser cut paper and paper sculptures, or carefully dried flowers stems with pins, these talented and dedicated artists express their artistic vision in the unique shapes and patterns that are special, memorable and create a truly Fine Art.
Anne Ten Donkelaar
Flower Constructions
Where in the nature do you go to get your inspiration? I have a small garden where I grow flowers. Here I get a lot of inspiration. When it’s winter I like to visit flower shops for inspiration.
How do you know when your work is finished? It’s a feeling, I can’t really tell. There has to be harmony and balance but this is based on my feeling.
Are you a perfectionist? In my work I do like it to be perfect. When I think I’m finished and want to start with the glue, I ‘m still changing parts.I’m not quickly satisfied.
Eliza Kopec
Paper Sculpture Reliefs
What is your main source of inspiration?
Until a few years ago I was inspired by texts, a quote or a scientific article – as long as it appealed to me. Nowadays I use mathematical number ranges or ratios, such as the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio or primes as a starting point. Those numeric formulas intrigue me, there is a certain aesthetic embedded in them. An invisible beauty that I want to show. I absolutely do not have a mathematical background, but it fascinates me enormously.
Does your work contain a special meaning?
No, when you’re talking about a meaning, you are talking about a story and that is what I have abandoned a long time ago. My work is what it is. There is nothing more to it. But there will always be people who see a lot more than I do. They are looking for something behind it, imagine different explanations. Fine by me, I let them do so. But personally I have no associations.
What is more important to you, the process of the making or the end result? The process is important, because it is the way to the final result. While I work, I am very curious how it’s going to be. And whether I like the end result. Because that is after all the most important thing: to find beauty. Exactly what it is that makes it beautiful for me, I cannot explain. After all, the definition of beauty is very personal. The concept of beauty means something different to all of us.
Rogan Brown
Paper Sculpture Reliefs
Why are you using paper for your art works?
I want to communicate my fascination with the immense complexity and intricacy of natural forms and this is why the process behind my work is so important. I have chosen paper as a medium because it captures perfectly that mixture of delicacy and durability that for me characterizes the natural world.
How long are you working on one piece?
I don’t count the hours so I don’t know exactly. The longest has been 4-5 months of full time work. Time is the key; it is really the subject. There is a yoga-like dimension to my working process, slow repetitive actions that are a kind of meditation. Sometimes the process is extremely frustrating and I have to master my impatience or my lack of self-discipline or my lack of belief. People respond very positively to this aspect of the work, it inspires them. There is a deep thirst for the hand crafted.
What is beauty to you?
If I could define beauty in words I suppose I would be a writer, not an artist; my work is my attempt to define beauty. Beauty is everything I strive for; it is intuitive, visceral, physical, emotional, spiritual but also intellectual. It is my belief that it is one of the most important goals of visual art: to reinvent and re-present beauty – to make it new. I reject the dominant view in contemporary conceptual art that sees beauty merely as a cultural construct or ideological formation.
Contributing Editor: Olya Titova