Delicate organic sculptures dance overhead in these captivating works by Netherland-based artist Peter Gentenaar. In many of his installations, the artist suspends his magnificent, large-scale paper pieces from the ceiling to create a surreal environment filled with abstract bursts of colorful clouds. The shapes and flowing gestures are reminiscent of organisms or cloth that is submerged in water.
Gentenaar’s passion for paper, and dissatisfaction with commercial papers, led him to develop his own system for paper production. With the help of Jo Persoon at the Royal Dutch Paper Factory, he learned to build his own beater that produces the kinds of long fiber papers that he prefers.
Each sheet of handmade paper is thin, but strong, and reinforced with ribs of bamboo. To develop each unique sculpture, Gentenaar begins with a two-dimensional sheet that he lays out and allows to dry. Over time, the paper shrinks by up to 40 percent, stretching and pulling at the bamboo frame and crunching into the unpredictable shapes that cascade throughout a space in a billowing ruffle of colors.
