Following our previous workshop in which we looked into abstract art and paper modelling following the general theme of data, we were given a range of artists to look into who all work in abstract paper art and alteration.
Abstract Art is a free flowing and expressive art form which doesn’t follow criteria and rules, often seen as relatively spontaneous and natural. Abstract art uses visual language of shapes, colour and lines to create a piece that is a slight representation or likeness of a chosen subject, encompassing the idea of emotions and natural concepts. The below artists have each followed an abstract style of paper alteration and repurposing, using a variety of free and interesting methods to create a diverse range of effects and piece styles from a single A4 piece of paper.
Francis Bruguiere:
Francis Bruguiere is a San-Fransisco born painter, musician and photographer. In 1905 he visited New York, which subsequently fuelled his passion for photography, and by 1912 he had developed a strong interest in abstract art. Bruguiere moved to New York 1918, and spent much of his career photographing for multiple companies such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Vanity Fair and the Theatre Guild, continuing to to experiment with photographic abstractions and cut-paper designs, as well as abstraction films and and light abstractions later on. “(Francis Bruguière | International Center of Photography (icp.org))”
Bruguiere viewed photography as a medium for investigating mood, form and space, and spent much of his life feeling restless, seeking the cutting edge of inquiry in the arts – he was articulate, deeply informed and talented in photography. “(Francis Bruguiere | Broadway Photographs (sc.edu))”. He exploits the endless light and free malleability of the base of paper, manipulating the medium in a huge range of subtle and complex ways to create diverse patterns, textures and forms
(due to rights restrictions photos or examples of his works could not be downloaded from any official sites)
Jaroslav Rossler:
Jaroslav Rossler is seen as one of the most important Czech avant-guarde photographers – his work from the first half of the 1920’s is an example of the most radical examples of abstract and constructivist art “(Fototorst – Jaroslav Rössler)”. Jaroslav Rossler was one of the most distinctive artists of the Czech avant-garde, known for elements of Symbolism, Pictorialism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and New Objectivity as well as abstract art and experimented with a variety of media and methods throughout his career.
He conducted investigations into photograms, enlarged details, double exposure and diagonal composition, and much of his art focused on the stark contrast of an object against a plain or simplistic background in order to reduce his chosen subjects to their elementary lines and geometrical composure. Later in his career he moved to Paris and began renewed experimentations into solarization and photographing through a prism. (“Jaroslav Rössler | Robert Koch Gallery | Photographer | Artist“)
Vjeko Sager:
Vjeko Sager is an artist, philosopher, educator and curator whose work has been awarded, exhibited and represented in both public and private collections globally. Described as an architect of the mind, Vjeko is an artist who rejects comforting visions and traditionalism, refusing to answer to figures of authority and or the dictation of common sense. Instead, he opts to take the route of pushing boundaries and testing waters in terms of knowability and understandable elements, completely overlooking the need for reason within his art and a deeper desire to understand the space around us. According to Sager himself, “my sketches act like a signage on the road, showing me which way to go and which directions to avoid” and are the only media he sees suitable for keeping up with his changing and evolving interests and passions, but he often experiments with a variety of medias, such as photography, sketches and physical, moving artwork, for example his Moving Island Project, which was a sketch and performance hybrid of throwing stones from alternative islands into the water. (“Vjeko Sager“)
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Jerry Reed:
Jerry Reed entered a career in art directly a career in the pharmaceutical, and although turning away from direct scientific observations, his work often indirectly reflects how society’s institutions effect the citizens. Reed often spends a long period of time working on his own chosen project and self-lead assignments, using images and visuals as support for his social interests. He uses light, contrast and and shadow to create line and form, successfully attracting the user’s attention to the emphasized elements and therefore allowing the work to speak directly. He sees the importance of allowing a creation to emphasize a message or tone that reflects the artist, and puts this concept above any other when completing his works. (“Jerry Reed (newlightimages.com)“)
Reed is an artist who is inspired by the idea of redirecting how he personally creates images, turning to the internally directed of the author as opposed to the viewers, and he takes full authorship of his creative process along the way, from paper sculpture to fine art. His current project Paper Work is a three year work of 26 images for which he has shaped 2D paper to add some interest and dimension, before lighting them dramatically using Fresnel lighting to emphasise the 3D qualities of the pieces, preserving them through the use of photography: (“Abstract Forms (photopedagogy.com)“)
James Welling:
James Welling is an independent New York City artist, who first began working on watercolour pieces in the fields behind his family home – he studied artistic based and modern dance courses in a variety of universities and companies, during which he began working Super 8 films, as well as exploring the idea of minimal and post minimal art, from mobile sculptures documented in his films to monochromatic painting sets and photography. Welling’s photographical style developed quickly, and became the basis for some of his largest projects, for example “Diary Landscapes”, started in 1977 and ending in 1982. This was a compilation of details in his grandparents handwriting from their diaries from the early 1840’s, along with Connecticut landscapes – this was published as a book in 2015.
Welling explored a variety of different avenues within photography, including architecture, models, intense colour, aluminium foil and colour photograms among many. He is known as an artist who is extremely significant in the transition between black and white photography and representing images in intense colour. (“James Welling“)
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