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Origami and Art Paul Jackson writes: Any writing about art must be a personal opinion, not in incontrovertible statement, so here is my view on origami as art. When I began in origami in the 1970´s, the idea that origami could be art was almost unthinkable. It was a pastime, a craft, a form of visual mathematics, but not art. However, as time passed and origami deepened and widened, a few innovative curators in the 1990´s began to show it in museums as a form of art. Since then, origami has become almost mainstream. But is a model of a giraffe a work of art or simply a model? When does a model become a work of sculpture, a work of art? And who decides? We can say that if someone calls their work ´art´, then it must be art, even if it´s bad art! We can say that if something is shown in a gallery or museum, it must be art. We can say that if a piece of origami is sold, it is a work of art. But personally, I´m not sure that a model of a giraffe, or a flower, or a cube is truly a work of art, however beautifully made it may be. That´s because for me, an origami model is simply itself, a representation of an object – a giraffe is a giraffe …full stop. By contrast, a work of art has layers and layers of context, many references, and many different interpretations. For me then, origami becomes art when it is something more than self-referential. Whether it is good art, is another discussion. Throughout my origami life, I have attempted to find alternative languages of folding that do not simply Around the world now, a number of origami people are beginning to create what I would consider to be works of art using folded paper. In all cases, the folding technique is the servant of the idea, while in model-making origami, the folding technique remains the master. In my opinion, when the technique is the work, it is not a work of art. |
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