art and language, artist research - Peter Callesen

Peter Callesen is a paper artist who works by cutting away from a sheet of paper and folding it into something new, he normally leaves the negative space he creates alone so it complements the new creation he has made, almost as if the paper character has risen up from the paper and the cut out is his shadow. I really like his work though i have never touched a scalpel in my life up until now i really liked working in this way, made a change from all the fine liner work that i usually do.

Here he has cut out a human shape and has turned the cut out into a skeleton , the fact he works on paper make his images look so delicate and fragile and i also think that reflects in his work because he deals with delicate concepts such as life and friendship. 

I wanted to try one of my quotes in this style because i had never done anything like it before and it will allow me to learn a new skill.

I like the double shadow effect created by the light hitting the cut out. I made one of my quotes using a similar technique and when the light hit them the shadows made were awesome. 

I know there are a lot of trees in the Hunger Games, this technique seems appropriate because the negative space that is created can give off a feel for something that is missing, the skeleton image makes me feel like he has left his human body behind.  When working in this way i found that as much as a liked it the whole process of drawing it out and then cutting it out really took it's tole on my time schedule so i wondered if i could mimic this effect digitally. It was this realization that made me move onto making digital silhouettes in stage two.