| The cut paper, sculptural work of artist Jane South goes to show that sketching out one’s depictions before their execution can lead to a whole lot more than just a blueprint of the final product. In South’s case it led to the discovery of an entirely new medium and even to an additional dimension in her work. One day, in trying for the illusion of three dimensions on paper, the artist decided to exactly reverse this typical basic pictorial endeavor. Elaborate geometric line sketches in three-dimensional, paper strip form have pretty much been her bag ever since. In the artist’s recent show at Soho’s Spencer Brownstone Gallery, her multi-dimensioned oeuvre appears more imposing than ever. |  |
Paper Industry – Whitney May
The cut paper, sculptural work of artist Jane South goes to show that sketching out one’s depictions before their execution can lead to a whole lot more than just a blueprint of the final product. In South’s case it led to the discovery of an entirely new medium and even to an additional dimension in her work. One day, in trying for the illusion of three dimensions on paper, the artist decided to exactly reverse this typical basic pictorial endeavor. Elaborate geometric line sketches in three-dimensional, paper strip form have pretty much been her bag ever since.
In the artist’s recent show at Soho’s Spencer Brownstone Gallery, her multi-dimensioned oeuvre appears more imposing than ever. Each of the highly intricate paper sculptures is reminiscent of as many shut off or out of use machines. While at first glance cohesive in size, color and industrial-inspired appendages, the structures are, upon any closer investigation, utterly useless. Both their material make-up and their non-functional, yet mechanical-looking anatomy underscore their intentionally pathetic nature.
The result is a subtle, but straightforward comment on the place of industry in the modern-day. The reddish and grayish of each of South’s assemblages in this show directly reference the outmoded, rusted metals that make up the persisting residue of the last century or so of industrialization. If totally non-functional hooks, amoeba-like cages and serrated hamster wheel bulges are everywhere adorning the walls of this gallery space, it isn’t because South fails to understand the logistics of basic machinery. It’s instead due to the fact that she comprehends its impotence in the face of oncoming technologies in addition to the digital.
The cage-like, multi-tiered organisms that the artist has been creating over the past few years are immaculate however—in form if not function. Always imaginable as two-dimensional, illusionary sketches on paper, the hand-cut paper sculptures are nothing short of architectural in constitution. Although hardly load-bearing, South’s flimsy constructions signify her mastery of this particular variety of craftsmanship, which could easily be mistaken for architectural know-how.
If the painstaking hand-cut, hand-painted and hand-folded paper industry that South builds up in these works wasn’t quite so delicate, intricate and elaborate, it might well fall into line with such geometric abstraction as Russian Constructivist Kazimir Malevich’s architectonic sculpture work. Heavy planar theory is less so the basis here however; South’s every finished work wholeheartedly exclaims this through its focus on the bold and exacting forms of the imperfect machine rather than on the so-called flawless and eternal shapes making up the geometric universe.
If her shapes appear without blemish in form, look again. South had to paint every crosshatch and she folded every single strip of paper. Like objects of industry themselves, the artist’s constructions are consistently imperfect although eerily without defect at first glance. Crisp, clean lines of rusting color are the name of the game here, and current-day mechanical futility is the message and moral of the story.
