'ORIGAMI' on view at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton |
 |
 |
| Friday, 25 April 2008 05:32 |
|
SOUTHAMPTON, NY - Based on an 800-year-old tradition of paper folding, modern origami has grown into a highly sophisticated international art form. The Parrish Art Museum in Southampton will showcase nearly one-hundred original works by some of the world’s leading contemporary origami artists with the presentation of Paper Transformed – Origami. The show will be on view through June 22, 2008. Organized by Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA and drawn from from its V’Ann Cornelius Origami Collection, the exhibition demonstrates the diversity of technique and wide range of interpretation possible in origami today, as well as the intricate compositions hidden within a piece of paper. The word origami was coined in the nineteenth century from the Japanese words for fold (ori) and paper (gami). For at least 400 years, the Japanese have been folding paper for pleasure. Creasing a thousand cranes out of white paper (the only kind originally available) was thought to bring good luck. Before 1900, there were rarely more than thirty folds in origami patterns; now there may be hundreds—yet only one piece of paper may be used and it cannot be cut or glued. Whatever the final product, it must come from the original piece of paper. This exhibition presents a breathtaking expanse of large- and small- scale works from traditional origami forms such as cranes, frogs and turtles, to mythic creatures like dragons, unicorns and goblins. Other representations include the human face and body as well as abstract works and geometric forms. All of the works in Paper Transformed – Origami were created from pieces of paper using only the artists’ hands as tools without any additional aids, such as cutting or gluing.  Included are examples by Dr. Robert Lang, a former physicist and engineer who is recognized as one of the world’s leading origami artists. Lang’s incredibly complex and animated designs of a bull moose, pond turtle, rosy finch and tree frog, among others, take on distinctly life-like qualities. A pioneer of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami with mathematics, Lang has implemented his techniques in air bags and on telescopic lenses used by NASA in space.Florence Temko, another of the renowned artists whose work is on view, has written more than 70 books on origami and has created more than 2000 original models. The Temko designs brought together in this exhibition are evocative of modern masterpieces, from a vivid red rooster employing sleek lines and folds, to a remarkably elegant and abstract black and white representation of a penguin. Other works exemplify the early decorative origins of paper folding including Japanese artist Tomoko Fuse’s brightly colored boxes. In fact, origami’s modern rebirth began when a Japanese metalworker, Akira Yoshizawa, began creating new origami figures in the early 1930s. His works was publicized through books and exhibitions and this new form of origami spread to America and Europe in the 1950s. After origami’s rejuvenation, it enjoyed an unprecedented wave of growth and the art continues to expand and mature today. While visitors will have an opportunity to observe a dazzling array of subjects crafted from uniquely colored and textured papers, they will also be able to create their own origami. Florence Temko has produced several unique folding patterns, which will be available for visitors to use on site. In addition, a chess table with origami pieces will be erected in the galleries for visitor play. Paper Transformed – Origami was organized by Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA from its V’Ann Cornelius Origami Collection. Bonnie Roche, AIA, is the Designer/Coordinator of this exhibition on behalf of Mingei International. The presentation of this exhibition at The Parrish Art Museum is made possible, in part, through generous support from George P. Mills, Dorothy Lichtenstein, The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Information on all of the museum’s programs and exhibitions is available online at www.parrishart.org. Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
Related Articles :
