Peter Callesen

Nature's Maze By Peter Callesen

In this piece i can see a man and a woman  standing on opposite ends of the paper  with           paper obstacles in the way and dead end paths. The delicateness of the figures could represent how fragile life is and how the smallest disruption can knock you of your path. This piece reminds me of a classic love story, for example Romero and Juliet as the two figures are facing each over but have no way of crossing to the other side to be together as they are held down by their shadows on the paper. 

The art work could represents how fragile nature is and how easy it is for it to crumble away and disappear. I know this because you can see that the paper is torn up into smaller pieces on one side wasting away and it looks like melting ice. This piece has a scene of poetry, I believe it represents a juorny that we all take in life where the path ahead never looks easy and simple but behind you is a straight line showing were you have already step. You have to work hard for what you want. I think the Callesen uses white paper to create a scene of purity and to allow the images to speak for them selves, however when i look at the piece the white paper helps to create a sense of melancholy in his pieces. I think it emphasizes the loneliness of the piece and gives the message that life is a blank canvas and you have to write your future and make a mark. I think the artist made the piece to celebrate life and death, I also think he gets his inspiration from fairy tales and we fantasies life to be like but he  shows us the harsh reality. I would like to ask the artists why he is so interested in life and death and where he got his inspiration from. I would also be interested to know why he has specifically chosen to use paper as there are many other everyday object that everyone uses. Peter Callesen says something really intresting "The thine white paper gives the paper sculpture a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my work. The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them. The negative and absent 2 dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the 3 dimensional reality it creates, even though the figures still stick to their origin without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in many of the cuts."
Peter Callesen when i asked my peer what they think about peter Callesen's work and this one in particular they said interesting things. Pamela said that the art work appears to be telling a tragic story about a two people trying to get to each other. She said that the white paper looks like broke ice and the further the couple get from each other the more the ice brakes making the chance of reaching each other evermore impossible.
Johnny said....
The research has confirmed some of my views on the artists work. For example i interpretated his work as a romantic tragedy and i found that that is a reacuring theme in his pieces. However I have found out the relevemce of the A4 paper and why he uses it;
"By taking away all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white A4 paper sheet for my creations, I feel I have found a material that we are all able to relate to, and at the same time the A4 paper sheet is neutral and open to fill with different meaning." The artists says that the paper is an ordinary everyday object and people have forgotten its significance and rarely see it as a material but just as a method of recording and transporting information.

I think this work is relevant to my project as I could use it to tell a story of my summer memories. During the summer I had a tragic love story and I could easily use Calleson's technique to represent this memory and I think it has a strong link. I was also thinking about how Peter Calleson represents life and death showing what object is really there, the remains in the 3D form and in the negative he shows peoples expectations and what they want to see For example an angel in the negative, this is a fantasy from a dream world, and in the positive 3D sculpture a skeleton showing the reality of what happens after death. I wanted to use this in my work using shells that i collected on the beach. In the negative space i wanted to represent the animal in the shell using it as a home and in the sculpture show an empty shell and the remains of the sea creatures home to show that life moves on and is a cycle.

I would give this work the tittle 'Life', I think this is an appropriate title as the piece shows the natural course of life: a straight path is left behind to show the past and the future is shown as an undecided path with lots of obstacles in the way just like a maze. At the end is the goal and in this case its love, however it could also represents the fact that in life you cross over peoples' path and make memories together. other tittles could be 'Natures downfall' this would effect the interpretation of the work as people would look at it from a political view point where human are involved with destroying nature. For example global warming and the ice melting, the viewer would interpret the piece as what the effect of human's waist is doing to the planet. If I found myself inside this work I think I would feel lonely and this would be emphasized by the white background.

I would like to compare Peter Callessen's work to Jen Stark Recognized by their mesmerizing spirals, loud colours, and op-art attributes, Jen Stark’s paper sculptures draws inspiration from an array of natural phenomenons within mathematics, nature, and cosmic space. Her current solo exhibition at theCOOPER COLE Gallery demonstrates a continuation of her studies in optical illusions, colour gradations, and paper’s transformative qualities. Through an amalgamation of the visual qualities found in mandalas, topography, botany, and light, Stark’s work seems to uncover the underlying pulse of the universe. By visually mimicking the elements of time, nature, and space, Stark’s sculptural works stand as a testament to unity and oneness within the world. The entrancing installations create an alluring atmosphere between the surreal, fantastical, and psychedelic, ultimately welcoming viewers escape into the technicoloured realm of Stark’s vivid imagination.

I think the element which are most successful in his work is the technique he uses to make his 3D outcome. I love the way he builds the sculptures all from a signal sheet of paper, it really show skill. I believe that he would have to calculate and mathematically analysis sketches before creating it. Overall the intricate designs in his woke fit together perfectly to creat a beautifully smooth sculpture. In his piece Natures Maze I particularly like the element of the meaning behind the work, the tragic romantic fairy tale. The elements I don't think are successful in his work is the fact that he doesn't use any colour in many of his pieces. On one side I like the fact that he feels his pieces don't need colour as the meaning speaks for themselves. However I think in some cases the use of colour would make his pieces more effective and would help to emphasize meaning and create a feeling for the viewer.

I would like to create a response to communicate how I feel about my summer and the different emotions that are significant to each memory. One idea that I have relates to someone that i met during the summer as my contact with him is fading and becoming less so is the memory of him that I was holding on to disappearing. I could show this in my piece by creating a memory that we both share out of paper or tissue paper to show how fragile it is and then cut sections out or tear into it to show that its disappearing and its significance is not as strong as it used to me. I think my ideas relate to my research because it uses Callesen's idea of a tragic love story also I would take inspiration from his work were he says he uses paper to emphasize the fragility of the stories and use it in my own project as i think this idea is very effective as paper is naturally a delicate material...... In preparation to start my idea i need to draw out sketches to see if it will work and also do a few experiments before perfecting my final idea.

i love that you can't tell the size of the piece

This piece represents life and death. It depicts silhouette of angels in the negative of the paper this emphasizes that they are dreamy and mythical. Callesen then expertly folds the paper to create 3D forms out of the cut out paper. In this piece he deformed the angels and manipulated them into skeletons with wings,

again creating a religious theme as angels with wings don't exist in our conscious world.this work reminds me of myths and legends but it also has a biblical reference of life and death. Peter Callesen mainly uses plain white A4 paper to create his pieces. the composition in his work is symbol and it ranges in scale. in some pieces he used 7 meter long paper. however he is more famous for using to mundane A4 sheet. he uses scalpels to cut out his intricate

  designs and then reinforces the delicate white paper with glue to help give it structure.

This piece interests me as it seems like the human form has skinned himself to reveal his true nature, in this case his 'negative' form. it also reminds me of negative stereotypes and maybe represents how you have to be stronger as a person and fight back without hiding behind your own skin. Callesen work is very metaphorical and he uses it to convey messages about life, faith death and rebirth though a mix of page and performance art through research I discovered that his work has a much deeper meaning then what first meets the eye. he reflects on how we are often trapped by our shadows and past in life and he shows this by leaving his sculptures firmly attached to the paper without any means of escaping.