Paper Research Project
For my paper research project, I choose to look into the artist Hoang Tien Quyet and his beautiful wet fold origami. Quyet's work is wonderfully unique due to the way he uses water to give his creations life and making it distinctly differently from traditional dry origami.
I think what stands out to me most about Quyet's paper animals is how they just hold such a delicate sense of movement. In the origami horse for example, the figure is made 100% better by his simple method of using water to give the usually flat paper more form. The sharp edges are able to be smoothed and curved into more elegant and refined shapes. Another example of this is in the origami rooster, which stands strong off it's platform, and has a body that takes a interesting S shape, giving it the illusion of life.
According to Quyet himself on his personal website, he states that when he first started out creating as a child origami was"...a joy of a kid who could make his own toys". When I view this creations, I still see the childlike wonder that inspired him to continue with origami. Each animal just has such a whimsical nature to it that I can't help but stare in awe of it, not unlike a child.
Along his way in life, Quyet found himself in a place where he could share the joy of creating origami with friends with the same interests, and also eventually was taught the method of wet folding. Wet folding, Quyet says, "really helped him develop his own style". Ultimately, Quyet says he wishes to "breathe life and [his] personality" into each creation, and I do not doubt that for a second. Each animal is so uniquely his. In a world so populated with art, what's most important is that we are pouring a bit of ourselves into everything we make. I truly admire the careful precision of every fold on these animals that all come together to make something wonderful to gaze at.
When I was a kid, I loved origami. I used to have a set of different small colourful origami papers along with a book that would explain different ways to create various animals and toys. Though I was never all that good at it, the fascination I had with it never really went away. Even after I grew out of it I was still sucked back in at times by various origami folding videos that happened to pop up on youtube from time to time. I remember only a few months ago, me and my friend had some spare time while volunteering to wrap gifts at the mall. While we were waiting for more customers to show up, I took some leftover wrapping paper and folded it into a little paper frog to pass the time.
Hoang Tien Quyet's origami animals, like the frog I randomly created that one evening, remind me childlike wonder and the joy of creating something so intricate out of something so simple like paper. It is for this reason that I believe I am so drawn to these lovely little paper animals. It is a mixture of nostalgia and astonishment at Quyet's talent. Origami, while beautiful, takes a certain skill to execute well (one that I wish i possessed lolol). I don't know if I can do many of Quyet's paper folding methods within my own project, but if I can I will definitely draw on his themes of childlike wonder and life within inanimate objects.
Sources
Comments
Post a Comment