Go and See the Paper Sculpture Show
2008-08-14

Go and See the Paper Sculpture Show

two works at the Paper Sculpture Show

How often does a catalog overshadow the actual exhibition? In this case, it's a close call which is better. The Paper Sculpture Show, which originated at the Sculpture Center in New York, invites visitors to get involved by assembling sculptures designed by twenty-nine artists.

Stepping into The Paper Sculpture Show at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery might lead some visitors to wonder whether they've stepped into an art show or an art class. Stacks of paper and small, folded sculptures dot each plywood table. A docent stands guard over a table of scissors, glue, tape, X-Acto knives, a Polaroid camera, thumbtacks and map pins.

Every year, The Paper Sculpture Show is held from September 7 to December 7. SculptureCenter, in collaboration with Cabinet magazine and Independent Curators International, presents The Paper Sculpture Show, a traveling exhibition that premieres at SculptureCenter and will tour to eleven United States venues through 2008 with additional venues to be announced.Curated by Mary Ceruti, Matt Freedman and Sina Najafi, the show opened in New York a day before it opened at CMU Stemming from a humorous beginning, and taking cues from the Fluxus art movement, as well as from material-conscious contemporary artists, both the show and book are amusing.

For example, Minerva Cueva's "Homemade MVC Student Identification Card," asks people to make their own fake student ID cards. The gallery supplies a Polaroid camera and film for "students" to take pictures of themselves and use in the making of their card.

What distinguishes The Paper Sculpture Show from other exhibitions is that there's still not as much sculpture on display as there could be, and it takes participation to fully understand the exhibition.

In blurring the distinction between you and the artists, this exhibition poses a number of questions. At what point is a work of art complete? Who is the author of an object imagined by one person and completed by another? What is the relationship between two-dimensional image and three-dimensional object, instruction and inspiration, originality and repetition, mass production and the handmade? And, where do we locate failure or success in a project like this?

The open-ended nature of these questions and the answers they provoke have resulted in the staggeringly wide range of art projects included in the exhibition. Folded, cut, crumpled, and even burned, paper here proves itself to be a generous host capable of accommodating sculptures inspired by cultural examples as diverse as paper-doll books, Mad magazine "fold-ins," and exploded schematic diagrams. Using only this humble material, which is ubiquitous to the point of invisibility in everyday life, the artists in The Paper Sculpture Show offer a visually stunning, conceptually rich, and playfully hands-on exploration of artistic practice today.

The Paper Sculpture Show is hip and with-it, and Pittsburgh is not behind the times when it comes to sponsoring this show; it's still as new as can be. For these reasons, it deserves attention -- and lots of it. So you can guess how spectacular the coming Paper Sculpture Show in the next month will be.

Janine Antoni, Crumple, 2002-2003

Details
About SculptureCenter
SculptureCenter, an active contributor to New York's cultural community since 1928, is a non-profit organization that champions contemporary sculpture in all of its forms. SculptureCenter's mission is to engage with artists in evolving the definition of contemporary sculpture. SculptureCenter's programs identify new talent, explore the conceptual, aesthetic, and material concerns of contemporary sculpture, and encourage independent vision through solo exhibitions of mid-career and established artists. These programs include exhibitions, artist residencies, public art projects, publications, lectures and other public events intended to further the historical documentation and critical dialogue around contemporary art and sculpture in particular. In 2001, SculptureCenter purchased a former trolley repair shop in Long Island City, Queens. This newly renovated facility, designed by artist and designer Maya Lin, includes 6,000 square feet of interior exhibition space, offices, and outdoor exhibition space.

About Cabinet
Founded in 2000, Cabinet is an internationally distributed non-profit magazine of art and culture. Cabinet aims to explore cultural issues with the same sense of curiosity, seriousness, lightheartedness, and commitment that contemporary artists employ when exploring the world around them. At once an artist's book with a sense of humor and a serious venue for cultural analysis, Cabinet publishes the work of a wide variety of artists, critics, scientists, and cultural historians.

About ICI
Independent Curators International's mission is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through traveling exhibitions and other activities that will reach a diverse national and international audience. Collaborating with a wide range of eminent curators, ICI develops its program of innovative traveling exhibitions and substantial catalogues to introduce and document challenging new work in all mediums by younger as well as more established artists. Since its founding in 1975, ICI has created nearly one hundred exhibitions that collectively have included the work of more than 2,500 artists. ICI exhibitions have been presented by over 450 museums, university art galleries, art centers, and alternative spaces in the United States and abroad.