Paper Cutting Sculpture
This work has affinities in its composition and technique with a landscape by Shūbun (flourished 1414–63), with an inscription by Kōsai Ryūha (1375–1446) (Private Collection, Tokyo). However, that work has a larger and more confident scale, a more coherent relationship of foreground to middle-ground and is stylistically more advanced.
The sculpture is a response to Landscapes in the Styles of the Old Masters, a Haboku-style landscape, and Fragrant Garden under a Hazy Moon. These works influenced both the structure and atmosphere of my paper sculpture. From the old masters, I took inspiration from the balance and depth often found in traditional landscape paintings. I wanted my piece to have a clear sense of space and flow, so I arranged it with stairs that lead up to a Japanese-style house, creating movement and direction for the viewer’s eye. The trees were also an important factor as well, so I added them in my work as direct inspiration from this piece.
The Haboku-style landscape influenced how I approached landscape. I used crumpled copy paper to suggest the forms of the mountains and rocks. I was also inspired by the way the foreground and middle ground were shown, creating a sense of hierarchy that was eventually added to the final paper sculpt.
Fragrant Garden under a Hazy Moon inspired the mood and softer details of my work. I included a small back garden, ponds, and a waterfall to create a calm, reflective feeling. The shimenawa ropes around the rock pillars and the torii gate at the base of the stairs add spiritual meaning and cultural symbolism, showing respect for nature, the culture, and sacred spaces.
I paid attention to balance, texture, repetition, and scale when designing each part. The stairs and rails create repetition and guide the eye upward, while the garden and water add contrast and softness. I did my best to imagine the space as an actual real-life space. How do they get to their house? How do they not fall off? Where do they relax? What features do they find spiritually important that would cause them to place a Shinto shimenawa rope indicating a purified space where a Kami spirit lives in? All these little details are imperative to the narrative of this piece. Overall, my piece combines structure, nature, and symbolism to reflect the beauty and calm of the very artworks that inspired it.
