There is a part of me that finds using very basic everyday materials like paper and colour pencil very appealing. I think this is why I find Richard Tuttle's works very interesting as he has this ability to make the most humble materials beautiful.
After many crumpled sheets of paper later I have finally managed to fold a v-pleated structure! I tried out various types of paper from old envelopes to cartridge but the former became too slack after the manipulations and could not be coaxed into pleats, whilst the cartridge was too thick. The best paper turned out to be good old Smythson writing paper. I am not entirely sure of the weight of the paper, probably 80 gsm but it works the best at this scale (roughly 210x210mm).
I am not sure where these drawings/sculptures are taking me....whether they function as maquettes for larger scale work or if they are simply the start of a series of small-scale 'drawings' or 'sketches'. If they are the former, then materially would I explore other options or would I scale-up using massive sheets of paper? How big can I go with commercial paper or would I make my own? As a material, I really like paper for many reasons. It is so versatile as it can be drawn on, easily shaped by hand, but also has a very humble quality about it. I remember seeing work by Vanessa Rosaria Larsen at the New Contemporaries which essentially revolved around graphite drawings based around the pleat pattern.
I particularly liked this piece as it was pinned to the wall in only two places and the tension of the pleats created a pull that lifted the corner of the paper off the wall and gave it a feeling of movement as well as heightened dimensionality.
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