The First Cut

Recently I went Manchester City Museum to see the new exhibition The First Cut, Paper at The Cutting Edge. In the first year we were given a project on manipulating and sculpting paper, and as most of the artists exhibiting were people I looked at for inspiration in the projects I thought it would be a good idea to see them in real life.

A lot of the pieces were dotted around and mixed in with the other exhibitions but most of the works were on the second floor. There was a mixture of massive pieces made from huge pieces of paper that covered the walls, to small butterflies that fluttered magically over the walls, and tiny, intricate sculptures made from a single piece of paper.  

The group of internationally well known artists include Rob Ryan, Su Blackwell, Claire Brewster, Peter Callesen, all with different styles and techniques of working. 

One of my favourites and an artist I have always looked towards for inspiration is Rob Ryan, who is a British artist specialising in paper cutting and also screen printing. All of his designs art very intricate and time consuming, all with amazing narratives and great story telling pieces. This piece was one of Ryan's largest paper cuts to date, measuring 1.5m x 3m. The about of time and detail in this piece is amazing, people were trying to figure out if it was multiple pieces of paper, or a single piece of paper.  

Another artist that I love the work of and have looked to in the past is Su Blackwell, again another artist who has amazing story telling and narratives in her imaginary and fairy-like pieces. My favourite piece was an a small box on the wall with a glass front, inside was a fairy tale like scene of a house lit up from the inside, and garden all made from an open book. I think that this is a wonderful piece of work because it was quite high on the wall children were asking their parents to pick them up so they could see, and then when they looked inside they were amazed by what they saw, and thought it was magical and beautiful. This piece manages to appeal to both children and adults because of the beautiful sculpture and story telling.  

I thought that this exhibition was wonderful because of the range of artists, different styles of work and range of techniques, all created from the same material... paper. I thought that the work was really imaginative and creative, and would love to go back and recommend it to everyone.