JP/20/PAPER

JP/20/PAPER

Paper art versatility on display at Erasmus Huis

Mario Koch
The Jakarta Post/Jak

Erasmus Huis, Kuningan, South Jakarta, is holding an exhbition
titled Paper Art, through Oct. 30. It shows the work of 11 Dutch
artists, inspired by the unique quality of paper as a medium of
expression.

All the participants come from different backgrounds. With
techniques ranging from drawing or painting to sculpting, none
started their career using paper as a base for their work.

Attending the opening of the exhibition on Oct. 4, one of the
artists, Marian Smit, told The Jakarta Post:" I started off being
a weaver, as working with textiles was very popular with Dutch
artisans in the 1970s. But in due course, many of my friends
started experimenting with paper, so I also gave it a try.

"I became fascinated immediately," she continued. "I didn't
need a loom anymore and everything became much less expensive.
Paper is very easy to find and one can instantly set out to
create something."

Her works presented at Erasmus Huis consist of loose
sculptures made by binding screwed-up, colored Japanese silk-
paper onto rugby ball-shaped pieces of silicon.

Visitors to the exhibition will definitely enjoy the extensive
versatility of the artwork on display.

Couzijn van Leeuwen utilizes materials he finds, especially
cartons. These are cut into strips that he molds into autonomous
sculptures using staples. For the current exhibition, he built an
entire living-room in African colonial style, including a bird in
a cage and a bedside carpet that looks like a rhinoceros.

The lively, seemingly moving sculptures by Martine Horstman
are made by combining and folding colorful cards, which are
starting to become available free at cafes and bars all over the
world.

A very different example of utilizing paper for art is
presented by Nel Lissen. She specializes in jewelry-like
necklaces and rings, composed of repeated shapes of wrapping
paper. With the paper folded and shackled, the form and color of
the pieces changes constantly when worn.

Paper art is relatively new to the world of visual arts. Only
in the late 1950s did interest in traditional methods of paper-
making develop in the U.S., largely due to the work of paper-
obsessed Dard Hunter.

From 1911 onwards, he was keenly interested in the craft of
paper-making, which had almost ceased to exist in the Western
world. Not only did he set up a paper mill that followed 17th-
century tradition, but he also published more than 20 books on
the subject.

The craft of paper-making can be followed in Erasmus Huis by
watching Aliza Thomas. Using a pulp of mulberry fiber, water and
pigments, she produces the material for her works right on the
spot. These are colorful, multilayered creations, for which
inspiration is drawn from Asia.

"I started by studying sculpture in Brussels and Paris. But as
I moved a lot, I could never keep the things I had made and ended
up placing them next to city lampposts," Aliza said.

"When I then learned paper-making in Japan, I decided to
create flat sculptures from handmade paper," she explained. "Even
if it is easier to move those now, when one doesn't sell, I just
put it back into the vat and make new paper out of it."

To increase the international recognition of paper art,
several foundations were brought into being, the most well-known
being the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper
Artists (IAPMA), founded in 1986.

In the Netherlands, home country to the participating artists
in Erasmus Huis, the popularity of paper art has largely been
increased by the biannual Holland Paper Biennial in the museum at
Rijswijk.

Anne Kloosterboer, conservator in Rijswijk and curator of the
exhibition in Jakarta, told the Post:" We want to show these
artworks to the Indonesian public to make them interested in
paper art. This country has everything -- both natural resources
for making paper and creative and talented people. Still, there
seem to be hardly any paper artists.

"Paper is such a great material. It combines strength,
flexibility, transparency and fragility and thus is an
inexpensive, inexhaustible source of expression," she concluded.

Centuries-old craftsmanship, together with modern, abstract
artistic viewpoints, makes for an experience of its own in
Erasmus Huis.

October's Paper Art exhibition is definitely worth a visit.

in box
Paper Art exhibition
through Oct. 30
Erasmus Huis
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3
Jakarta 12950

Mondays to Thursdays 9 a.m. through 4 p.m.
Fridays 9 a.m. through 2 p.m.
Saturdays 9 a.m. through noon

admission free