Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Mathilde Roussel Sculpts ‘Skins’ Out of Paper

French artist Mathilde Roussel has been turning heads with her strange suspended installations. (We first posted her living grass sculptures on our Facebook page here.) Roussel’s work expresses complicated feelings and life’s changes through manipulation of the material. She previously explored the human form, shown endlessly falling or embracing in mid air, sometimes leaving behind a shell of clothing or skin. Like the empty chrysalis of a butterfly, these ‘skins’ serve to represent the memory of our former selves. Read more after the jump.

French artist Mathilde Roussel has been turning heads with her strange suspended installations. (We first posted her living grass sculptures on our Facebook page here.) Roussel’s work expresses complicated feelings and life’s changes through manipulation of the material. She previously explored the human form, shown endlessly falling or embracing in mid air, sometimes leaving behind a shell of clothing or skin. Like the empty chrysalis of a butterfly, these ‘skins’ serve to represent the memory of our former selves.

Roussel’s experimentation with form continues in her latest series of leathery looking objects made of paper. It is first hand colored with graphite, then, carefully scored with a scalpel to reveal intricate displays of light and shadow. Feather light, these dark shapes appear heavy, as if hung in a meat locker rather than an art gallery. (Curiously, Roussel’s works in progress closely resemble hanging animal hides, bones, and “paper fur”.) Her artwork has become a search for the shape, color, and deep emotional layers of the physical body.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
The beinArt Surreal Art Collective has announced a compelling stretch goal after an extraordinary beginning to their Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign. With additional contributions, they hope to open a beinArt Collective Gallery and Shop. A real-life creative hub which would focus solely on strange, surreal and imaginative figurative art. The artists of the Collective have rallied together and contributed an extraordinarily long list of rewards for backers, including original artworks, limited-edition prints and books! These generous, heavily discounted deals will only be available for the duration of the campaign, which will finish in 8 days!
Porcelain has been a highly prized material for centuries, impenetrable, tough and strong, yet it has the magical translucence found in sea shells from which it earned its namesake. These contrasting aspects of porcelain are what make it so fascinating for sculptor Katusyo Aoki, first featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 21, who has chosen this material to express a multitude of emotions. She is perhaps best known for her intricately carved skulls that are colored in a variety of pure white and blue tones, relating them to a macabre religious object. Her recent pieces have included associations to 18th century designs, Norse folk magic, and more modern references to abstract art, as in her taller, distorted pieces that resemble tree branches or ocean waves. For her current exhibition at Jason Jacques Gallery in New York, "Dark Globe", Aoki combines her swirling designs with regal, yet dark subject matter.
Rainbow-colored mannequin legs, animal bones, skulls, and gold- these are just a few of the materials used in John Breed's eclectic installations. If his choice of medium sounds frenzied, it might stem from his creative background. Now based in the Netherlands, Breed received training from a calligraphy master in Kyoto, Japan, before he moved to New York to take on graffiti, paint frescos in Rome, and study landscape painting in China. A world traveler and natural born experimenter, every piece that Breed creates is a culmination of his extensive skill set.
Alex Ubatuba’s glass “Living Light Sculptures” series recalls both real-life bioluminescent organisms and otherworldly flora and fauna. The glass artist has been developing this specific set of works over the last few years. This surprisingly calming work has found its way at major shows and art fairs, Burning Man, and beyond.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List