Artist Builds Exquisite Miniature Buildings From a Single Sheet of Paper

Architectural Paper Sculptures Peter Callesen

Paper artists continue to find new ways to transform the two-dimensional medium into captivating creations. Danish artist and architect Peter Callesen uses ordinary sheets of white A4 paper to build miniature buildings and structures that look like replicas of the real thing.

“By taking away all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white A4 paper sheet for my creations, I feel I have found a material that we are all able to relate to, and at the same time, the A4 paper sheet is neutral and open to fill with a different meaning,” Callesen explains to My Modern Met. “The thin white paper and the small scale of the paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works.”

From storybook castles to tall pagodas to ancient Greek ruins, his works span numerous different styles. In each one, Callesen cuts, scores, and folds the paper to construct his buildings. Even when he’s done, however, he leaves the completed edifice within the paper it came from, highlighting the magical transformation that took place to create it. “The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them,” Callesen continues. “The negative and absent two-dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the three-dimensional reality it creates, even though the figures still stick to their origin without the possibility of escaping. In that sense, there is also an aspect of something tragic in many of the cuts.”

You can see more of Callesen’s art via his website, and keep up to date with his latest projects and exhibitions by following the artist on Instagram.