New Book Highlights the Experimental Genius of Contemporary Paper Art

Images From Paper Art Book Called Paperists

Diana Beltran Herrera

Artists around the world have proved that paper is more than a foundation for drawing. Its simple versatility makes it an ideal medium for all kinds of fantastical works, like tiny flowers and three-dimensional sculptures of birds. Now, viewers can admire the wide-ranging potential of paper in a new book published by Gingko Press. Entitled Paperists: Infinite Possibilities in Paper Art, the 256-page-long illustrated text features art from numerous contemporary paper artists, including Pippa Dyrlaga, Yulia Brodskaya, and Sena Runa.

From collages to paper quilling and beyond, readers will see how creatives achieve mind-boggling detail through folding, curving, cutting, or gluing a single sheet of paper. The preface of the book features a passage by artist Hazel Glass, and it captures the spirit of the works included. “Paper,” she writes, “a kind of material that is mostly viewed as dull and rudimentary, becomes elegant and sophisticated in the hands of a paper artist—revolutionary and inspiring.”

In particular, the book highlights how paper artists are pioneering a medium that is still relatively new by exploring its untapped potential in imaginative ways. “These new roads bring a special sort of delight to viewers, as they encounter the unexpected,” Glass continues. “We know that this material is the same as the one we use to package pasta or even blow our nose, yet here it comes, taking on a magical transformation that art gifts every material. It is only paper. But it is becoming giant textural tapestries, collaged portraits, delicate sheets of lace, flowing quilled decorations, layered illustrations, folded-sheet fashion, carved book sculptures, elaborate origami installations, confetti mosaics, and miniature silhouettes… ”

You can purchase Paperists: Infinite Possibilities in Paper Art via Bookshop.org.