My Belgian Muse
Isabelle de Borchgrave
Isabelle de Borchgrave is a Belgian artist who works in paper. She paints, sculpts, and manipulates paper to create illusions of fabric, from satin to lace, silk to taffeta. She combines her love of fashion, history, and painting in her famous trompe l’oeil costumes. These paper costumes range in scope and style inspired by Renaissance paintings to Coco Chanel, The Ballets Russes to Mariano Fortuny. For an artist whose art pays tribute to many artists from the past, it is not surprising that de Borchgrave believes that by knowing the past we better understand the present. Her artwork reflects a profound respect for the skill and talent of those artists and crafts-people from prior centuries and different cultures. Her work opened my eyes to the possibilities of creating with paper.
Paper as an art medium: Much can be learned about a society by paying attention to the materials it uses. This observation was made by two very different artists: Isabelle de Borchgrave and Ai Wei Wei. On a massive scale the popular use of certain materials is dictated by availability and cost; on a personal scale, that choice has a history of reflecting prestige and power, especially when choosing rare or hard to obtain materials. Today, attention to using materials is often a matter of conscience.
I’m asked why have I chosen to work with paper? In the beginning was a love of the process of making paper and an admiration for those who do so. The process struck me as refreshing and clean compared to the processes I was taught as a printmaker which relied on acids, oil-based inks, acetone, and mineral spirits. (Today printmaking techniques are taught using water-soluble materials). I also love the different textures and malleability of papers. Handmade paper has personality. I sometimes “feel” the maker behind the product. Paper is deeply connected to nature; its fibers come from plants, which I also love. In the last two centuries, paper has become affordable and readily available. Through the internet a person can order paper from almost anywhere in the world. I believe we are experiencing a global golden age of unique, hand-made papers.
Ai Wei Wei has asked, “What kind of material reflects that society?” My answer is: as a Westerner living in the 20th and 21st centuries, I believe both plastic and paper reflect our society. I choose paper.
My Asian Muse
My Art and Ukiyo-e
The cultural breadth and historical depth of art are broadly influential for me, as they are for most artists; but a special source of my personal inspiration and influence are Japanese woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries. Their mixture of warmth, novelty, color, and compositional elegance—coupled with the attention paid to ordinary things and ordinary people—never fails to charm and delight and motivate me in my own work. In fact, I’d very much like to fulfill the prediction of the famous creator of “The Great Wave” woodblock print, Katsushika Hokusai, when he said:
“ At seventy-five, I have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish, and insects. When I am eighty, you will see real progress. At ninety, I shall have cut deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred, I shall be a marvelous artist.” Hokusai