Richard Sweeny
Sweeny was born in England in 1984 and began exhibiting his mesmerizing sculptural skills in 2002 when he attended the Batley School of Art and Design, before furthering his study at Manchester Metropolitan University. The artist mainly works with paper, transforming an everyday, mundane material into a spectacular three-dimensional form.
“Icosachedron II.” Paper and Adhesive. 2006
The piece above titled, “Icosahedron II” is particularly exciting to me. The intricate cut outs of each fold present a unique, fluid shape that exerts energy and interest. When looking closer at the piece, Sweeny has utilised the natural shadows to create an explosive piece, and this interjection of shadow also strengthens the delicate shape of each cut out as the exposed light is juxtaposed against the darker hues. Furthermore, the way that Sweeny has conjoined each singular form to create this overall piece of art eludes a sense of unity, allowing the artwork to no longer be a two-dimensional paper material but instead become a product of design and creative thought.
“Vortex I.” Paper and Adhesive. 2012
This is another spectacular piece constructed by Sweeny. Each singular geometrical fold is transformed into one fluid piece resembling a wave of energy and unison. I love how each turn and crease captures the light in a unique way, exerting interest and invites the audience to explore the unusual sculpture. The beauty of this product lies in how the artist manages to tell a story through the simple use of paper, inspiring artists, like myself, to look beyond and seek sustainable objects to create something magical.
Marie-Anne Thieffry
Marie-Anne Thieffry is a self- taught French artist whose artistic discipline revolves around using cardboard to create three-dimensional designs. Thieffry owes her inspiration to light and bases a lot of her sculpture work on capturing and manipulating light. Her work consists of utilising the raw material to create something almost majestic in appearance, the soft elegance of the contours is contradicting the firm, rigid characteristic of the cardboard, hence creating something paradoxical. This is demonstrated in the piece titled “Suki” as seen below. The manipulation of the cardboard material creates a crude, harsh texture yet Thieffry has created an elegant form through the curvaceous structure. I love the transparency of the material used, allowing fragments of distorted light to escape through. This ambiguity created by the artist is very interesting to me and something I want to consider when creating my own lamp structure, considering how the material I use can be elusive due to the materials density and transparency. I think Thieffry successfully creates a raw, beautiful piece by transforming mundane cardboard into something so complex yet so rudimentary.
“Suki”
Kate Collins
Kate Collins is a designer based in Glasgow who works with paper to construct lighting and wall art installations such as shown below. Collins utilises tone and colour variations and bases her art on geometrical forms. Collins demonstrates precision in the piece titled “Large starflower” and I’m drawn to her use of two bold colours, creating a modern, bespoke style. The triangular forms are exciting and create interest, and I love how each geometrical fold demonstrates Collins care and attention to detail within her art. The distinguished colours also create interest and purpose, transforming the basic material of paper into a defined installation, inspiring the magnitude of possibilities within art; mundane paper can be manipulated into complex geometrical shapes to create something beautiful.
“Large starflower” “Lotus shade in white and Turquois”