flowers for a queeny (a royal portrait)
Words on work
My work is in transition. I have shifted from years of making narrative sculptures out of wood to a new creative impulse of working with paper. There is a corporeal kinship between wood and paper and a natural transference of aesthetics and skills. I am ushering in this transition with a welcome exchange of familiar materials. The process can be as simple as trading a cut made with a band saw for a line made with scissors, and is as immediate as applying a hole punch in place of a drill bit.
A pair of scissors is a drawing tool. Cutting a line, like a road map on the surface of paper releases shapes that can be fastened, linked and connected into a structure that becomes a foundation on which to build. Paper lends itself to improvisation; it can be so delicate that it retains the imprint of memory, and so strong and versatile its materiality exists in a place between fabric and wood.
With a pair of scissors and paper a corset is constructed, a rib cage is made, armor fashioned, woven with warp and weft into a synthesis of color, pattern, decorative trim, ornamentation, frippery, and finery. My work is a potent diversion and coverup, a decorative camouflage, like a bird’s plumage enticing its admirers to take a closer look.
Lanie Gannon