Italy-based Korean sculptor Jukhee Kwon gets a lot out of books, specifically paper sculptures created by slicing into volumes in geometric patterns that cause pages to descend to the ground or explode outwards. Here, a New Testament morphs into ‘Campana’ (bell), a gravity-defying cascade of a delicate form. (On view at Ierimonte Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 16th).
Sublime images of cliff faces by Japanese artist Hiroshi Senju (as seen here in detail) begin as mulberry washi paper, sourced from a specialist paper maker who can only make the paper in winter. After creating texture by hand-rumpling the large paper sheets, Senju uses handmade brushes and natural and synthetic pigments to render the natural world as apparition. (On view at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 13th).
Young Columbian artist Maria Berrio envisions harmony between humans and nature in richly patterned Japanese paper collages that delight the senses. In this detail, a lush landscape is setting to a thoughtful folkloric character perfectly at home as human and monkey habitat merge. (On view at Praxis International Art in Chelsea through Oct 28th).
French artist Nathalie Boutte captures the allure of the unknown past in her collage recreations of 19th century daguerreotypes and historical photos. Here, Boutte remakes Seydou Keita’s well-known 1958 portrait of a hip young Malian man using strips of paper covered with varying amounts of text. The effect (seen here in detail) is to blur Keita’s sharply clear image, suggesting that the passage of time diminishes the potential to see the subject clearly. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 21st).
Mark Bradford, Waterfall, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2015.
