VCUQatar Gallery Features Hand-Cut Paper Works by International Artists

Culminating a four-year and twelve-venue tour, Papercuts features exquisite hand cut paper works by an international roster of artists. Jaq Belcher, Béatrice Coron, Michelle Forsyth, Reni Gower, Lenka Konopasek, Lauren Scanlon, and Daniella Woolf skillfully use simple tools on paper in a process dating back to 6th century China. With great effect, light and shadow transform the ancient technique of papercutting into dynamic contemporary installations filled with delicate illusions. Highlighting slow work wrought by hand, these meditative works are charged with personal narrative, cultural metaphor, and pristine beauty. Papercuts was curated by Reni Gower.

Each artist contributes a unique sensibility within a complex (often installation based) construct that has hand cut paper at its core. Whether manifested as silhouettes, romanticized fictions, enigmatic reenactments, cryptic scripts, or poetic abstractions, the artists address historical, cultural, and personal identity.

“Laboriously cut by hand, the works in the exhibition are poetic interplays of light and shadow,” says artist and curator Reni Gower. This project has been sponsored in part by Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.