Paper Cut Arts

Paper Art by Bovey Lee

Bovey’s paper cutout drawings seek to preserve, promote, and extend an ancient Chinese folk art through invention by adding personal and contemporary elements.

http://www.boveylee.com/

Artist Statement(by his blog)

The underlying themes in my cut paper works are power, sacrifice, and survival. Within the parameters of these three themes, I create layered and dramatic narratives referencing my life experiences, reactions to headline news, and concerns for urban and environmental issues. I hand cut each work on a single sheet of Chinese rice paper. In my recent installations, I have also cut using Tyvek and vinyl.



I define what I do as drawing with a knife. My life long love affair with art begins with practicing Chinese calligraphy and pencil drawing since age ten. When I cut paper, it is a visceral reaction and natural response to my affection for precision, detail, and subtlety. The physical and mental demand from cutting paper is extreme and thrilling. Working in silence, my works slow me down and allow me to think clearly and decisively.



I work with Chinese rice paper on silk because both materials are culturally significant and sustainable. Made from mulberry tree bark, rice paper is tissue thin, dense, and soft to the touch. Silk is light but very strong and is also natural and renewable.



My creative process is three-fold – drawing, digital rendering, and hand cutting. I form ideas by sketching before creating a digital template. The template is a visual guide that consists of downloaded images, my own photographs, scans from magazines and books, and vector graphics. The final step is for me to hand cut the image with an X-Acto knife.



Employing the natural, off-white color of the rice paper, light play and shadow are essential to the overall impact of an image. Shadow gives life and dimension to the cut paper works. It offers a sense of reality contradicting the fictional scenarios within each image.



Each impossibly thin strip of paper that I cut connects to form a larger picture, the deep paradoxes in my works contrast starkly with the airy, fragile laces of the cutouts. As a creative medium, cut paper best combines my skills, creativity, and personality, and frees me to create these dramatic stories.